Life as a Wrestler

Wrestling is one of the most physically, emotionally, and mentally demanding sports anyone can do. I found this out when I decided last year that I would become a wrestler for the Granite Hills Wrestling team.

Last year I started wrestling as the 182 pound wrestler. Last year, I wrestled many duel meets and tournaments and my final record for my freshman year was 17-6. My freshman season was cut short at the so-cal frosh championship when I was wrestling for 3rd place, and I was bridging super hard trying not to get pinned. I was able to get out, but I heard and felt a pop in my foot. I felt no pain at the time. I unfortunately lost the match. Fast forward to Monday after school: I was at the hospital getting a cast for the two broken bones in my right foot. It was a hard blow to be unable to wrestle anymore because I loved it and enjoyed it. It was tough to go from wrestling to crutching from class to class. I broke my foot in January and wasn't 100% cleared by the doctors until the beginning of May. Even after that, I had a limp for sometime and had an off feeling in my foot when I would run which has gone away now.

This year, I started on JV and was then moved up to Varsity by my coach. On Varsity, I have wrestled the 182, 195, and 170 pound weight class. Wrestling is a tough sport because practice is grueling. What makes wrestling unique is that it is largely mental. Wrestling is about 25% physical and 75% mental because you have to make up your mind on whether you are going to give it all you got whether its practice or CIF or you are just going to mess around an not try. During varsity practice we warm up by running either a lot of sprints,a campus run, or two miles on the track. Then in the room we drill and work on technique for about a hour or hour and a half. Then we do live wrestling or conditioning.

After practice, it’s common for wrestlers to have lost several pounds during practice. The most I lost during practice, which is two hours, was 9 pounds. On the topic of losing weight, probably the worst aspect of wrestling is having to cut weight. Cutting weight is when you lose weight to wrestle at a lighter weight class. This can help the teams line up because if someone who wrestles at a heavier weight wrestles at a lighter weight, they will be stronger than their opponent. But that's all the good it does because cutting weight is a miserable experience. You can't eat or drink as much as you usually do. And sometimes it means wearing sweats to practice or spitting in a cup.