JoJo Nichting - 12
12/7/2018
Recent rumors have been murmured throughout the Kirksville High School hallways of the supposed starvation, or “cutting weight,” of the wrestling team. Every year, around the beginning of November, the students of KHS prepare to see some of their beloved friends eat little to no lunch.\
Friends of the wrestlers can beg and beg, but the wrestlers won’t give in due to the possibility of not making weight. Many wonder whether there is another answer to this madness.
After the hospitalization of one wrestler, many have questioned the strategies used by wrestlers to lose the extra weight. Assistant wrestling coach Justin Vanhoose commented, “His hospitalization was not related to him cutting weight.”
The anonymous wrestler explained the truth behind their hospitalization, “I was sent to the hospital because of the labs from my blood, they came back showing leukemia and other abnormalities. I also had rhinovirus [the common cold], giving me headaches and fevers all throughout the day and the doctors wanted to get those under control. Yes, being dehydrated and cutting weight probably didn’t help, but all I needed was fluids for that, not to stay in the hospital for almost a week.”
Before determining whether cutting weight is actually healthy, it is necessary to understand the process of making weight and how weight cuts are determined.\
Vanhoose explained, “At the start of every season, the wrestlers go through a certification process to see what their lowest healthy weight class can be. This is based on weight, hydration and body fat percentage.”
Head coach James Alter did not make any comments at the time of publication.
People also may not understand what making weight entails. Vanhoose explained, “There are 14 weight classes: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, 285. If you wrestle 145 pounds you must weigh in at 145.0 or under. If your weight is 145.1 you cannot wrestle.” To add to that, someone who wrestles at 145 could weigh as little as 139 pounds.
School athletic trainer Jess Burgason explained a few effects of cutting weight. “It varies with the amount of weight they are cutting. And the effects can vary depending how much they are cutting and how fast they are cutting it. It can be from effecting their metabolism, to an increase of energy loss or fatigue, to sunken cheekbones. It can also affect their ability to fight off colds [immune system].”
There are, of course, other ways to maintain weight without cutting as furiously as some may see KHS wrestlers do it. An easy option would be to eat a healthy diet before and during the season. This way they can eat without gaining too much weight.
Along with this, the coaching staff encourages drinking a lot of water and eating small meals six times a day.
Burgason suggests, “Starting the process way before the season begins, working with a sports dietitian so they make sure they are getting plenty of the nutrients they need, and wrestle in the weight class that’s closer to your weight class instead of forcing your body into a current weight class.”
In a conversation with Lydia Nelson, one of the two female wrestlers, she explained how she tries to eat a healthy diet and is rarely overweight before a meet. On the rare occasion that she is overweight, she will stay after practice and run for a short amount of time to lose those last few ounces.
Burgason has had a few experiences with the effects of wrestlers cutting weight. She said, “The biggest change is seeing a kid in football look healthy and then in wrestling see their clothes draped off of them, sunken cheekbones, pale color, always tired. I have had a wrestler take a laxative to lose that last 2 pounds and take too much, and let’s say a white singlet and diarrhea doesn’t mix.”
Every wrestler has their own strategy to maintain or cut weight. Senior Blake Howard says he wrestles Coach Vanhoose at practice so he can be pushed harder and work off a little extra weight. He also says, “The day before, at practice, I’ll go all-out to try and lose as much weight as possible, then go home and eat and drink a little. Then float off a pound or two in my sleep. I’m usually on weight from that.”
Even though wrestling is hard work, the athletes find joy in the sport because of the bonds they form during the season. Howard’s favorite parts of wrestling are “the coaches and the bond we have as a team.” Nelson has also enjoyed wrestling, especially this year because she has been winning a lot more.
The wrestling team is usually known for being a tight-knit group. Even after a tough practice, the group will head out to a team member’s house to hang out and wrestle more. They spend long weekends together at many tournaments and even get to have team slumber parties in hotel rooms at many of these tournaments, something many teams do not get to experience.
Cutting weight is proven to be an unhealthy weight loss method that many disagree with. However, if wrestlers do not buckle down and eat healthy on a daily basis, then they will be forced to either not wrestle, or not eat for a day or more before the meet.
The wrestlers’ complaining, sunken cheeks, dehydration, and hunger are not due to the sport itself, but due to their inflexibility to start and maintain a healthy diet recommended by trainers and coaches around them. From all the friends and classmates around the wrestlers, please start eating a healthier diet.