Dodgeball, cartwheels, and handstands. These are a few of the unexpected activities that are incorporated into wrestling practice.
“One of the main games we play at practice is dodgeball. If we’re not playing dodgeball, we’re playing some weird interpretation of dodgeball,” sophomore Colby Van Ry said. “Everything we do has a spin of wrestling on it.”
The wrestling team decided to try out the idea of playing games in order to balance hard work and fun at practice.
“Our version of dodgeball isn’t where everyone is throwing at each other with a ton of dodgeballs on the ground. It’s one ball, with twenty people around it, and then we run at each other,” junior wrestler Philip Vu said.
Dodgeball helps boost the team’s morale and improve their wrestling technique.
“The games work on different techniques for wrestling. For dodgeball, it works on speed, footwork, and it’s a lot of fun,” head coach Chris Harlin said.
In addition, the wrestling team includes cartwheels and handstands in their warm-ups and workouts to boost arm strength.
“At the beginning, we run around the mats, do some cartwheels, and walk on our hands. For workouts, we sometimes do handstand pushups,” sophomore Matthew Nonis said.
Although this just sounds like fun and games, wrestling practice is intense and requires an incredible amount of energy and focus. Wrestlers do high intensity workouts every practice. Examples of workouts include using workout ropes to build upper body strength, hanging from an overhead bar and bringing their knees up to their elbows, and cardio.
“Practice is physically exhausting, but putting in the hard work is always worth it in the end,” Vu said.