Wrestling is the hardest sport both physically and mentally.The constant management of weight is what kills me the most, I can take all the cheap shots from opponents and the slams down onto the mat but the cutting weight part is the worst. It was the day before a tournament and I was 14 pounds over the weight I was going to wrestle that weekend. I had to lose it, so i did. I ran with layers of clothing on all night long and I didn 't eat or drink anything for two days, I made myself freeze at night so my body would burn more calories to keep me warm, me and friends drilled for hours to help me shed those final pounds. I went through hell and yet not one person tried to stop me or check to see if i was physically okay. They cared about the medal i was going to get that weekend rather than the fact that i was on the verge of dehydration and malnourishment. People should consider the mental and physical health problems wrestling has on a person such as dehydration, excessive weight loss,going days without eating,and the breakage of a person’s will, however all they think about is the titles and the medals they will receive if they can just make that weigh in.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has always been negligent when it came to wrestling in the past, but in 1997 when three college athletes died due to cutting weight in extreme conditions enough was enough. N.C.A.A set forth weight loss rules the following year. Each wrestler had to take a urinary test to see how much water they were drinking and they also did body fat test. After all that they calculated your minimum healthy weight and that 's as low as you could go without getting disqualified. On top of that you were only aloud to lose two pounds a week, so for ex...
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...ve. You cut too much weight for too long and you don 't want to wrestle anymore. The fun is gone and dread and hatred sets in. I’ve seen it happen and i have experienced it myself. Id go to practice with one thing on my mind, lose this much weight today and this much weight tomorrow, didn 't care if i got better just that i lost the pounds.
Wrestling is a great sport to better yourself and earn a bunch of awards and titles to look back on later on in life. It 's something i will never forget and cherish always. But the memories of losing all the weight and making myself miserable for all those seasons is something i will not miss. People around me were only worried about the medals i had gotten and not about my personal being, that 's where wrestling goes wrong. That 's what needs to change in the future for not only wrestlers but the people around them as well.
There wrestlers such as Piper who realized how this was destroying him mentally. The mental abuse was sometime caused by the physical damage in that took place while wrestling in the ring.
In conclusion, wrestlers should not cut weight rapidly or starve themselves. It can lead to psychological damage, damage to the wrestler’s current body, and their future health. They are willing to risk their lives, but we all should want them to rethink before they do such a thing. We need to show our care and compassion for saving a life. Coaches could take the next step and punish a wrestler for loosing weight too fast and make them sit out. Coaches should also educate the team on how to eat nutritiously and safely. All in all, the behavior of wrestlers has improved in the past twenty years, but there is more that everyone can do to help stop the cutting of weight.
I have many things that I love in this life, one of those things is wrestling. I have been wrestling for seven years and I have developed quite the passion and love for it. Wrestling has always been an interesting sport for me. Growing up in Oregon I watched my uncles wrestle in high school. I watched both of them win their state tournament in their respective weight classes, this is one of my fondest memories of my childhood. One of them went on to wrestle division one, I thought this was the coolest thing in the world. I looked up to my uncles and wanted to be just like them. I did not always wrestle though. The process of pursing my dream as of becoming a wrestler started of with basketball, then went to a rocky start, then being on Worland High School wrestling team.
"They (wrestlers) think they are indestructible. But I’ll tell you what -- those three athletes thought they were indestructible, too. And they aren’t around to talk about it."Wrestlers believe that it is mind over body; they can accomplish anything and nothing bad will ever happen to them. So, LaRosa’s behavior on that fatal day in November wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for many college wrestlers. He was wearing sweats over a rubber suit and riding a stationary bike in a steam-filled shower room. His body temperature reached 108 degrees. He was trying to make weight for his match the next day, and wrestling’s rules did little to discourage such dangerous practices. The logic in wrestling is to make the lowest weight you can in the weigh-ins, which are 24 hours before the match. Then you can replenish and rehydrate your body over the course of the 24 hours between the weigh-in and the match. This will give you an advantage in the competition because you really will be bigger and stronger then most of the wrestlers in that lower weight class.
It took the death of superstars to make the company realize the importance of their superstar's health. World Wrestling Entertainment made drug testing official in 2005 when a superstar by the name of Eddie Guerrero Passed away. The author states "After one of professional wrestling`s biggest star died, World Wrestling Entertainment said it would start random testing for drugs, steroids and prescription drug abuse by its performers"(Wrestling With Drug…).The company began to get serious with their performers by starting new rules and regulations. The company believes drug testing performers will help decrease the amount of drug usage and deaths within the industry.
Being a professional boxer didn’t do much for his mental health because he says he would feel on top of the world and yet so lonely at the same time after a fight. Therefore, he suffered not only the physical demands, but the mental demands in the professional arena of the sport.
I had little to no motivation for a while and thought that maybe wrestling wasn’t the sport for me. I had shown promise in practice but as soon as I got on the mat for a tournament or duel I just drew a blank. I wasn’t executing any of the techniques I had learned after so many repetitive drills. I wasn’t the only one that had faced such miserable losses but it felt like it. My teammates helped me through my rut by giving me additional advice during practice and being in my corner while I wrestled matches. It was a great feeling knowing that I had people who had my back whenever I needed help. The wrestling team was a close knit group that dealt with all our problems together. We worked hard and played hard together till none of us could go any further. We were each other’s motivation, rivals, and family on and off the mat. If I had any doubts about a match my team thought the exact opposite and made sure that I understood why they believed so. But what made us a strong unit was the fact that we had similar goals and values. None of us wanted to lose and planned to make it past districts. We all wanted to take home hardware not only for our own self recognition but also to bring back a trophy to put on our principal’s desk who just so happened to love the wrestling program about as much as our team. All of us valued the effort that was put into every early morning practice so no one looked down on each other. The connection we had as a team made my experience wrestling all the more worth
Of the 258,000 athletes that wrestle in high school, only 7,408 are able to continue their career as a wrestler in college (NCAA 1). 2.7% of wrestlers are faced with multiple adversities from weight gain, to the long seven minutes of nonstop action on the mat. Although the seven minutes go by quick when spectating, when you’re on the mat it seems never ending. A lot of work goes behind one's success on the mat. To be successful in college wrestling one must cut weight efficiently, lift weights, and warm up effectively before every match.
When we first arrived I’d thought we’d taken a wrong turn and went to a traveling gypsy convention by mistake. The whole field outside the school was filled with tents of various sizes and colors. 200 wrestlers, about thirty of which were girls, filtered about the area. As my soon-to-be teammates and I headed to the first practice, anxiety gnawed at my stomach like a dog with a bone (FL). I wanted to impress everybody, and prove that I could make it in this sport. Before we started, the coach patted me on the shoulder. “I’ve got your back all right.” he told me. I smiled and nodded. At least one person was looking out for me.
...lives. Without wrestling, there would be no fighting, no self-defense options or maneuvers, or any way for someone to be in the best shape of their life, without being in the military or special workout programs. Involved and used in everyday life, wrestling is not given the credit or respect that it deserves, for the sole fact that it is no football or basketball, and people don’t usually grow up doing it everyday in the local neighborhoods. (Myself).
I’ve recently become a huge fan of pro wrestling, if only ironically. The melodramatic promos, the ridiculous moves, the muscular men few Divas that don’t make my penis retract into my body. They’re all reasons why I love pro wrestling… at least, I did for a while…
The sheer energy of a gymnast alone can be felt by audiences of all ages, but what the spectators lack the ability to feel is the pounding of the bodies that bear the impact of the athletes in action. Gymnastics consists of a mixture of acrobatic performances of four different events for females, and six different events for males (Gianoulis 1). Gymnastics is demanding in a multitude of ways, including: physically, emotionally and mentally. It requires countless hours of dedication. The concerns of most gymnasts are moving up to the next level, or getting a more advanced skill, while the concerns of the doctors, coaches, and parents revolve mostly around the athlete’s health, which is put at stake for the adored yet dangerous sport. Injuries are common among both male and female gymnast alike, but due to the fact a female gymnast’s career peaks at the same time of major growth and development, a female gymnast’s body as a whole is more likely to undergo lifelong changes or affects (Gianoulis 2). Among the injuries of the mind blowing athletes, the most common ones affect the ankles, feet, lower back, wrist, and hands of individuals (Prevention and Treatment 1). From sprains, to the breaks, the intriguing sport of gymnastics is physically demanding on a gymnast’s body.
Ever since the previous season I had my standards set high. I had placed fifth, which was all right for the time being, but I knew as time went on I needed to push myself and increase my level of wrestling. I decided that I would do whatever it took, through thick and thin. I traveled to small local tournaments in Colorado, and a couple out-of-state tournaments, I even traveled to Delaware. It didn't really matter how I did at these tournaments because it was just all practice until February. So, I lifted and wrestled just about every chance I got. It was all in preparation for one match, six minutes.
It entertains me, and they do all kinds of fundraisers and stuff like that to give back, and I find that so important. Therefore wrestling is my always #1 go to and if I had to rate it 1- 10 it would definitely blow the chart