Growing up in a family where wrestling was the sport every male participated in and going to a high school where we sent about 8 wrestlers to the State Championships every year and a couple to the National Championships, I have always been a fan of the sport. Wrestling originated about 5000 years ago founded by the Sumerians. However, there were some historical tracings of the sport found in Ancient Egypt where drawings were discovered in the tombs of Beni-Hassan. Some of the drawings included over 400+ couples of wrestlers wrestling, wrestling rules and refereeing codes were documented. The sport of wrestling was first played by the Sumerians, Greeks and Romans. The sport nowadays has diffused all over the world. It's an event in the Olympic games. However, there was controversy the last Olympics surrounding whether the event should still be apart of the future Olympics to come and it was finalized wrestling will remain an event. Wrestling uniforms (when the sport first started out) were a piece of cloth wrapped around the lower half of the men's waist--initially just males participated in the sport. The men were barefoot as well. Today, male and female wrestlers wear singlets, flexible-high topped wrestling shoes, headgear and a mouthguard.
The biggest issue surrounding the sport concerns the weight loss aspect also known as "cutting weight." This is a concern for many because these athletes lose weight very rapidly and some athletes may not being doing it the most healthiest ways. Athletes won't eat for days and will continue to intensively train without the proper nutrition. I remember friends chewing starbusrts, wearing black plastic bags over their sweats, running all night to make weight. They would spit the excess saliva created from the starbursts because it was one more way to lose weight and they could "eat" or at least taste the starbursts without actually having to swallow it. I guess it filled some kind of rewarding sensation--taking the place of actually eating. Although this is a major downside to the sport, wrestling is great for all areas surrounding physical and mental strength. Another cool thing about the sport is there are 14 weight class in high school and 10 in the NCAA. All weight classes ranging from the low 00's all the way to the heavyweights being 285 pounds. It's inclusive for many individuals where they are matched up with an opponent who makes the same weight.
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My school offered wrestling as a sport but I never participated in it. I liked how you brought up "cutting weight" because I know a bunch of my buddies who wrestled faced that problem before every match. Good Job.
ReplyDelete-conner morris