One thing I learned about wrestling when I attended practice: there’s lots of sweat involved. The room with the cleanly padded mat is literally a sauna with the stench of hard work whipped on to the bodies of the athletes. Some people think that no-cut sports are only useful to get a prep period, but that was not the type of sport I experienced in wrestling. During my two hours of conditioning and minimal wrestling, not once was the team given a water break. Apparently, we were supposed to lose a few pounds exhuming water from our bodies. Of course it was an exhausting two hours but it was still fun.

The first thing head coach Chris Horpel did at practice was to go through his policies—mostly analogies and stories that related to his amazing past. He told us how he went to Stanford and eventually made his way to the Olympics. He started coaching due to an injury and emphasized the meaning of balance between sports and academics. Sanitation was his second biggest emphasis. Horpel considers the floor sacred once it is cleaned because all sorts of body parts will be pressed against the mat. Athletes are never supposed to wear outside shoes on the mat and everything was to be put on the racks. In a way his policies worked; I got about half of it because I didn’t understand that wrestling would be so sweaty.

The exercises can be summed up with one word: conditioning. The sprinting and running on the wrestling mat was unbelievably hard on my feet. I can say that I am not bad at running, but five minutes on that mat made the bridges of my feet sore. Fifteen minutes into practice I was practically drenched with sweat.

The actual wrestling part was a lot more tiring than the already emphasized hard work stated in the warm up. Technique was something we worked a lot on during practice. Sophomore Jim Norton was my wrestling buddy. Norton is an experienced wrestler and he taught me some knee wrestling which was a easier variation of the actual sport.

Overall I had a great time and learned that wrestling is a lot more than a bunch of boys grappling with each other.