Wrestling season is starting, and that means practice has started.  Practices are long, tiring, and intense.  With 41 kids in a wrestling room designed to hold half that, along with doors and windows closed, we get very hot very fast, especially if we are running.

All of these forty-one kids are trying out for fourteen varsity spots, but that doesn’t mean that each of us has a one in three chance of making it.  For example, one guy named Joe is the only heavyweight, but there are nine wrestlers trying to be in the 119 weight class, including me.

I have some unique advantages and disadvantages.  My brother was a leader of the wrestling team until he graduated.  He and his friend built the wrestling team from four members to what it is now, and he is remembered for that.

The seniors know me because of my older brother, and sometimes they still think of me as a ten-year-old, which lets me surprise them sometimes.  But sometimes more is expected of me.  Every time I go into the wrestling room, I am reminded that my brother is a huge part of the school’s wrestling history because he is painted on the wall. He’s the one on the right.

I do have some other advantages too.  Few students who join high school wrestling have wrestled before, so I have more experience than most freshmen.  I went to two camps this summer, have two years of travel experience, and have watched wrestling my whole life.

Since both practice and the ride home are long, I get home around 8 o’clock, three hours later than I normally would.  This makes it harder to get my homework done, but if I have trouble with a course or a teacher, the older wrestlers on the team will help me.  The team wants everyone to do well academically, because even though the county requires that an athlete pass only five courses to compete, our coach requires B’s or better in all seven courses.

It is easy to make friends on the wrestling team.  We spend at least ten hours every week together, and that time is difficult, so we bond quickly.  I suspect that, when I graduate, I will look back on these friendships as the deepest I have made.

How does competing in sports help you make friends?