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Toughest Sport
WRESTLING-THE TOUGHEST SPORT
Wrestling the ultimate tough sport
By John Hunt Sports Editor
This column was written on Jan. 15, 1995 about the sport of amateur wrestling. Several people had expressed an interest in re-running it. So here it is again, almost 10 years later.
Those guys who refer to Arkansas-style basketball as "40 minutes of hell" apparently never stepped on the inside circle of a wrestling mat.
You have team sports and you have individual sports. Wrestling is one of those that's definitely an individual sport and at the same time, a part of the larger "team" concept.
Some sports are tougher than others. Some require physical strength and the ability to run fast. Others require the ability to jump long and high while possessing acute hand-eye coordination.
But as far as the ultimate physical, mental and emotional challenge goes, no sport on earth rivals amateur wrestling. We're not talking about what you see on television with Hulk Hogan and those guys.
Wrestling is one sport where boys turn into young men. Wimps need not apply. When the going gets tough, wrestlers come to life.
And when it comes to "fighting for your life," wrestling is one activity that comes to mind.
I was never tall enough to play basketball and certainly not big enough to join the football team. Wrestling just seemed like my kind of sport where it didn't matter if you weighed 75 pounds or 275.
Why do young men accept such a challenging scenario in which you have an opponent on the other side of the mat who wants to make mincemeat out of your body?
What is the attraction when there's not much glory and certainly not much chance of gaining a college education with a wrestling scholarship?
Wrestling provides that opportunity where you can challenge yourself to be the best you can be. When that six-minute match has ended, you are the one who's accountable for what happened.
As so many wrestling T-shirts proclaim, there are no timeouts, no substitutions, no place to hide and no way to escape. Just WRESTLE.
Talking about putting every ounce of energy into a sport. If you do, have have a better than average chance of succeeding. If you don't, you will get pinned in a hurry and you will be humiliated in front of God and everybody else.
Blood, sweat and tears are commonplace around wrestling mats. A hard crossface across the nose will get your attention and a tight half-nelson that blocks your airways will give you a chance to value life from another perspective.
Wrestlers are among the most self-disciplined athletes you'll find. In many cases, weight loss plays a role and wrestlers must continually keep their eyes on the scales. Sitting down at the dinner table and eating an uncontrolled amount is out of the question.
More often than not, the diet of a wrestler whose weight is a problem includes lots of salad and plenty of fruit. Forget the dressing on the salad. And don't forget about those baked potatoes, full of carbohydrates and starch. Just don't think about butter or sour cream on that spud.
When was the last time you did anything as hard as you could for two minutes? Take off and run down the street as fast as you can for 120 seconds. Swim as many laps in the pool in the same amount of time. Pump the pedals on that bicycle. Sound tough?
That's just the start of what wrestlers must endure during a match. And rthey must endure three of these grueling two-minute drills.
When the whistle blows, it's just you and your opponent.
It's pressure, pressure and more pressure. Pure brute strength matched against someone your size with near-identical physical ability.
There's no chance to set your own pace. Unlike other sports where you can coast if you want, wrestling doesn't allow it. To let up is grounds for a quick pin and the humiliation among friends we mentioned earlier.
As another T-shirt so adequately describes, "It's not a battle...it's a war."
Wrestling teaches more than slick moves on a mat. It exposes a young man to adverse conditions where he must rely on pure guts and determination to survive.
It teaches about caring for your teammates and sacrificing yourself for their benefit. It teaches you how to be mean as a snake one minute and gentle as a lamb the next.
You battle your opponent tooth and nail for all you're worth, but you shake hands and even embrace afterward. congratulating each other for the courage to enter the fray.
It provides a model for respect and admiration of other people. It forces a young man to make the most out of any situation and it teaches self-confidence along with self-esteem.
There are plenty of outstandinging wrestling teams in this city. Literally thousands of hours are spent in the practice rooms, working to perfect certain moves.
All are winners. Even those who get pinned in the quickest times are winners. As the old saying goes, "It's better to have entered the fight and lost than not to have entered at all."
So you want to try your hand at wrestling? Better yet, before the years on your body catch up with the silliness of your brain, get a grip. You still want to walk and talk, don't you?
Instead, go out for a long run. After a long, hot shower, treat yourself to a hearty meal. Then go see the wrestling team of your choice.
Then maybe you'll know more of what I'm talking about.
COPYRIGHT ® 2003 Cleveland Daily Banner, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved
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