Why You Should Join Wrestling

With 30 seconds left in the match, you have 2 seconds before the coach starts yelling out more moves if you don’t decide what move you want to do. You decide to take a shot, flip up the opponent’s arms, and grab their legs.  3 seconds left … 2 … 1. The ref blows his whistle at the end of the third round. You get off the ground, shake your opponent’s hand, and take off your ankle band. The ref takes your arm and lifts it in the air to show that you have won. Wrestling is a sport that appears complicated to an outsider, which is why someone might be intimidated to try it out. If you think this way, you're not alone. However, some people might be able to convince you to give it a try. 

What is Wrestling?

Wrestling is not like other sports. Unlike other sports, wrestling is a single sport; it’s not a team sport. Sure, you might have a team, but while you're out on that mat, it's a “you sport”; you do what you have to do to win. I shouldn’t say it is not a team sport, but at the same time, it isn’t, because yes, you have a team, but your team is practice and support; they are there to make you more confident in yourself and to improve and make you better. Your team shouldn’t be putting you down and making you less confident in yourself. As a team, they should be motivating and supporting you throughout your matches, and you should be doing the same for them. Wrestling is an amazing sport that works on movement and speed. And I promise you that you'll have an amazing time as long as you give it a try.

How does it work?

How this sport works is pretty simple for some people, at least. It starts with a lot of practice time to make sure you understand the concept of the sport. Then you move into the more challenging part, which is actually getting to the tournaments. When you're there, you might feel scared, nervous, or even might not want to be there. But it’s all worth it to get to the mat, sign in with the table workers, get out on that mat, and kill it. Before the match even starts, usually coaches will get you up about 4 matches before yours, so you can warm up ( Warming up helps you very well in your matches). Then, when it is your match, you go up to the table. There are usually 3-4 people at a table. You tell one your name, and the ref will give you a color (usually green and red ). You go over to the line in the center of the mat and put on your color ankle band. The ref will then blow the whistle when you are set. After the ref blows the whistle, you have 1 minute and 30 seconds to try and pin your opponent. If you don’t get them on the first round, that’s okay, you still have 2 more, and if you don’t win by a pin, you win by points. When you're done you DO NOT just get off the mat and run over to your friends. Be a good team player, shake your opponents' hand and their coach's, and then go by your coach.

Why you should join boys'/girls' wrestling 

The wrestling teams are separate this year; boys and girls have different practices, coaches, and teams. So if you are a girl and you didn’t want to join wrestling because you didn’t want to wrestle a boy because it makes you feel uncomfortable, then maybe think about how this year and most likely throughout all the years of MHS will have a girls-only team and a boys-only team. But if you're a girl, I highly suggest you join wrestling because it is a great way to make new friends, and it can help your mental health. Also, throughout the past few years, the girls' wrestling team has gotten a lot bigger, but we would probably like it if it got even bigger. 

New girls' wrestler, Zhamiya Schultz, shared what she thinks people should know about wrestling. “One thing that new wrestlers should know is to take their time and not rush and figure out the moves before they fully commit,” Zhamiya said. “ Some struggles that you will face as a wrestler are that you will be mentally and physically tired, and you just have to deal with it.”