Wrestling is a relatively new program to Parkway Central, with this year being only its fourth year since its revival at Central, so the freshmen still aren’t sure what they will get out of this sport when it comes to benefits. Juniors Ryan Wilcox and Brady Becker share their opinions about the sport’s community and what it has given them.

“We just have a lot of fun together and there’s a lot of cool people at practice, so it’s really easy to have fun,” Wilcox said.

As for Becker, he really appreciates the connections wrestling has given him, and how many people he has met.

“The friendships that we all have, and the overall environment is really great, and I’ve made many new friends through the team,” Becker said. “I also still keep in contact with the seniors that graduated last year, so we still hang out whenever they’re in town, too.”

Becker elaborates on his thoughts on the team dynamic and how, to the untrained eye it may look like an individual sport but it actually goes much further beyond each person.

“Of course I love winning, but I also love practicing and just having a team around me. Because yes, it is an individual sport but it’s also just as much a team sport because we’re all working hard and trying to get better, together. We’re all in there for the same sole purpose,” Becker said.

When it comes to purpose, and more specifically goals– the team of wrestlers this year refuses to back down from a challenge. With most of them setting their sights high, hoping to make it through conference as a team. But, more importantly, they wish to qualify individually for the state championship and win some matches there, against the best of the best.

As fall sports end, many freshmen are faced with a choice of activities to participate in the upcoming season. For many however deciding which one to do can be a struggle due to heavy competition for varsity spots.

Noah Ulrich, a freshman on the varsity wrestling team, has found his own struggles when going against upperclassmen in his weight class.

“I guess the challenge to try to make varsity because I don’t have any experience and I gotta go against upperclassmen [to] try to secure a varsity spot,” Ulrich said.

Others however, like freshman Ayden Rist have found it less difficult due to non-competitive weight classes. Due to being in the lowest weight class, Rist has little competition within the team.

“It’s sometimes hard being the smallest on the team, but they have weight classes and mine isn’t too competitive because it’s the lightest, so it isn’t too bad,” Rist said.

Weight classes aren’t the only struggle for these freshmen; homework and school projects can be especially challenging to balance, especially for those taking honors courses.

“I just do my school work later at night after practice, which is sometimes hard, but usually it isn’t too bad,” Rist said.

This careful juggling act, familiar to all student-athletes, is no different for upperclassmen, as junior Ryan Wilcox shared.

“It’s more difficult to do schoolwork, and a lot of other stuff, because our tournaments and meets last all day,” Wilcox said. “You just lose a lot of time.”

However many find joy in the sport due to the high amount of contact. However, this can lead to high amounts of injury,  on average the sport contains 37 to 39% higher injury rates than other sports according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

People like freshman Gage Wibracht find that the fun of wrestling far outweighs the risks. “I like the contact and throwing people to the ground,” Wibract said.

People find their fun in wrestling for many different reasons. Some might like the competition while others might like the mental strategy involved. Wrestling has found its way into many corners of the world due to these factors.

People like Rist enjoy it for all its aspects.

“I enjoy the physical contact,  I also enjoy how the sport is good for my mental state, and I enjoy strategizing too,” Rist said.

Speaking of mental state, Wilcox shares his pre-competition ritual in order to gather himself and get into the right mindset.

“I like to jump around a lot to try to get the blood flowing, and then in my mind I’m just thinking about how the match will go,” Wilcox said. “Like if he does a certain move, what I would do to counter that- basically visualizing how the match will go.”

Becker shares a similar plan to Wilcox, focused on staying busy and active in both mind and body.

“I try not to stay still, kind of moving around to get the blood going. I also like to watch the matches happening in front of me to see what is going on,” Becker said. “I just try to imagine myself out there, and believe in myself and abilities.”

One of the most important pieces of any sport is one’s capacity for mental toughness, their ability to bounce back and continue on, with determination, even when you’ve experienced setbacks and challenges.

Becker describes how having built his mental toughness for wrestling has affected other parts of his life.

“I also do bodybuilding, so the mental toughness from wrestling can go along with the gym and whatnot- being able to get through those long sets, but also just the lifestyle of it all,” Becker said. “With having to diet for bodybuilding and wrestling, and having a long season for both sports.”

Wilcox’s thoughts agreed with Becker’s here, especially when it came to the topic of cutting- losing weight in order to fit into your correct weight class.

“Wrestling has definitely made me mentally tougher with the whole thing of cutting. You just have to have a lot of self control to be able to do the things that a wrestler does,” Wilcox said.

The next wrestling meet is on Jan. 29 at Afton High School where both boys and girls will compete in the match.