There are various ways to make weight in wrestling and different wrestlers take different approaches. Some wrestlers go to extreme measures to make weight while others just eat right and exercise daily, as recommended. It’s crucial that wrestlers get down to a certain weight to wrestle because only one wrestler can go to a meet per weight class. Wrestlers aim to be the heaviest in their weight class but must be careful to not go over the weight they are categorized into. That requires maintaining weight very strictly.

  Some of the players have been playing for more than just this year, and have experience with the healthy ways to lose weight and the dangerous ways to lose weight. But some athletes say eating nothing is not the way to go.

  Some of the boys take the physical approach and practice certain things while exercising to ensure weight loss.

  “I wear a hoodie and sweats when we run so I sweat a lot,” freshman Zander Fletcher said.

  Head coach Jared Steenburgen says that he encourages his wrestlers to stay at a healthy weight and hit the weight room regularly. Steenburgen says that times have changed since he has been in highschool and wrestling often gets a bad name due to the seemingly unhealthy amount of weight loss.

 Dropping and maintaining weight is not the only component that goes into getting ready for meets. The boys practice different drills at practice to work to perfect their skills and techniques. The boys say that some of the drills are definitely more difficult than others.

  “My favorite drill is called the up-down drill where basically one person starts in their base and the other person is covering them, and the person in their base is trying to stand up. The person covering them is trying to keep them from standing up. I like it because it had as hard as the other drills we do,” Junior Mason Knox said.

  “My least favorite drill isn’t really a drill, it’s more of a warm up. It’s called front rolls. How you do it is you roll head-first and then jump back to your feet and get into position. You do that until you get to the other side of the mat and then you do it again,” freshman Jake Steiner said.

  Some of the players may dislike the hard work and how physically challenging the sport is but they do play for a reason. Each individual player has their own personal reasons for joining the team.  

   “I like that it’s an individual sport and you can’t blame anyone for losing but yourself, and that helps you to know what you’re doing wrong and improve yourself,” junior Colby Schwartz said.

  Although the players have a lot on their plate with the responsibility of such a physical sport that requires a lot of outside involvement, they love the sport and are proud of all the effort that they have put in already this season.