The date is 700 B.C., roaring spectators cheer as wrestlers clash in the dust, each striving to prove themselves in a battle of honor, technique, and strength. Since the dawn of civilization, wrestling has been a staple of competitive sports; however, today it exists in a far more regulated state.
Recognized as the oldest competitive sport, modern wrestling shares many similarities to that of its ancient counterpart. Like the modern sport, ancient wrestling requires the execution of holds, throws, takedowns to pin their opponent’s shoulders to the ground and gain points. Three points total are necessary to win a match.
A sport that you compete in both individually and as a group, wrestling fosters a tight-knit team while pushing each individual to their best. You celebrate each other’s victories and comfort each other through losses. The leadership in wrestling is particularly notable, “I can remember when I was a freshman, hearing captains talk after practice or when we were running, and how big of an impact that made on me—it inspires me,” says Jack Rakestraw, one of the Enloe’s wrestling team captains that just recently won a Cap 6 conference championship. Jake and the other captains have been wrestling since freshman year and have closely bonded with each other, having experienced the same hardships and celebrations for almost four years.
Now, as they have become captains, they are learning to be good role models and not take leadership lightly. “All these kids look up to you, so you have to set a good example,” says Quincy Cormier—another Enloe wrestling captain who recently hit 100 wins.
In ancient times, wrestling was an event in the Pentathlon—a mighty ancient Greek competition consisting of five events. Wrestlers would pray to Heracles for strength, and Hermes for speed. When they competed and practiced, they would listen to flute music, as rhythm was an important part of wrestling. Nowadays, they listen to rap, pop, country, or electronic music.
When you get into the wrestling ring, it’s like a switch flips. “You get disconnected from the world, it’s just you and that other guy… people will be shouting and you won’t hear a thing,” says Cormier. Wrestling is something you really have to lock in for, but this is enticing for many. “I like the intensity of it, even in practice, everything is focus-oriented,” says Rakestraw.
Wrestling is a self-improvement-based sport that is accompanied by a variety of benefits mainly centering around the mat room, “Obviously It’s nice to win, but 90 percent of wrestling is being in a mat room and practicing with your friends, trying to be better, it makes you stronger physically and mentally,” says Cormier. You get to practice and work out with “muscles you didn’t even know you had.”
“[Wrestling] creates a discipline. It instills hard work within you that you extend to the rest of your life,” says Clark Brewer. The majority of the wrestling captains participate in other sports during the off-season, and their strength and endurance training helps improve their performance in these other sports.
With only five seniors remaining on Enloe’s wrestling team, the majority have quit over the years. Wrestling is regarded as an extremely challenging sport, demanding endurance, body control, mental toughness, strength, agility, determination, disciplined training, and technical skills, such as learning proficient execution of specific holds. With a high quitting rate of about 30 percent, it’s important to appreciate and recognize those that have withstood the hard work and continued wrestling for all four years.
It takes a person with true dedication and passion to continue wrestling throughout all of high school. No wonder wrestlers were the wildly popular heroes of the Ancient Olympic Games. The savage and gruesome roots of wrestling are no doubt a reason wrestling was considered a worthy test of athletes at the Ancient Games. With very few rules, broken bones and snapped fingers were frequent casualties. Now, with the outlawing of moves like twisting, elbowing, and pulling hair, wrestlers like Quincy Cormier still end up with injuries like two fractured pinky fingers.
Next time you have the opportunity, you should go support Enloe’s wrestling team at their dual meets, tri meets, and quad meets; Come see our Eagles hit moves like the fireman’s carry and the high-crotch (high-c) at their tournaments!
