The Common One: Washington

Friday, April 5, 2013

Yours is the Earth. My Father, High School Wrestling and the Profession of Becoming

In Pennsylvania, the sport of wrestling is a culture. I come from a wrestling family. My uncles, my cousins, my brother and my father wrestled. My cousin’s husband is a high school wrestling coach in a small town in Western Pennsylvania. My aunts, my grandmothers, my female cousins all have their own wrestling stories from having attended numerous matches. I have watched my mother laughingly ‘arm drag’ my high school coach as well as my six-year-old nephew.

Even though I was one of the smaller kids growing up, there was never any doubt that I would wrestle.

For the uninitiated, Wrestling is a niche sport, odd, cultish and difficult to appreciate. The sport involves quick reflexes, strength, agility, strategy, determination, endurance, and a monk like approach to training. The athletes push their bodies, run countless miles, weight train, and obsess over their diet and weight.

Then, when the time to compete arrives, the wrestlers are completely alone. The pressure of winning or losing is magnified during the walk out onto the mat, facing down the opponent. Not only does the body have to be ready, the will to win has to be as strong. Even then, preparation is no guarantee of a win.

As is the case that not every High School Quarterback gets the chance to play at a pro level, very few wrestlers ever get to compete at the highest levels.

However, for those that have gone through a season, or several seasons in their youth, the lessons and habits learned through training and competition are drawn upon daily.