A Casual Encounter

While I’m training at the OTC, I’m also taking the opportunity to take graduate classes in History here in Colorado Springs. Our biggest project of the semester is due next Thursday while I’m in Las Vegas for Senior Nationals, so I have to get my monster of a paper in before I leave. This year’s paper is going very smoothly, but I still have to tackle Saturday and Sunday marathon sessions at the school library. As I finished up one section of my paper, I went to the water fountain for a drink of water, and to take a moment to mull over the way I wanted to start the next section. (as you can see, my goal to refocus failed because now I’ve stopped writing my paper to write this article) Anyway, on my way back to the computer, an old guy named Spence looked up from his book to ask me if I was a dancer or an athlete. I told him I was an athlete, and he said he could tell because I walked like an athlete. I kinda gave him a semi-embarrassed grin because I thought that walking like a wrestler meant that it looked like I was going to run down anyone or anything that happened to be in my path. As a side note-I don’t’ move like the world’s most graceful or delicate lady. To my surprise, Spence told me I walked like I was gliding along, unlike non-athletes who look more awkward and jerky when they move.

A lot of the time when I meet a stranger, and they hear I’m a wrestler, they say the same old thing, “Oh, I didn’t know they had that!” Then we usually talk about girls being in wrestling, and the fact that it’s an Olympic and Collegiate sport, and that sort of thing. Spence and I only talked for about fifteen minutes, but we discussed a wide range of subjects. It struck me that the single concept of wrestling could be a center point of a conversation about so many things. It says a lot about our sport that the way wrestling shapes our lives also puts us in every day situations that many people will never experience or know about.

Spence and I talked about a natural standard of fitness that would lead to general health throughout our lives, and that many of the habits we develop in wrestling naturally carry over into the rest of our lives. We talked about knowing our bodies, and being able to form diet, strength, and wrestling styles to cater to the physical attributes we are born with. Wrestlers know their bodies better than most athletes, much less the average person. I’d take it a step further to say that sometimes we even know way more than we ever wanted about our teammates bodies too. We know when our teammates have been sick, what kinds of injuries they have, what their physical abilities and limitations are, their moods, and their general outlook on wrestling and life. Spence and I also talked about having focus in life. Spence said that it can be a huge upset in one’s life when they are done competing. I told him I was lucky because I intend to stay in wrestling as a coach. It’s true though, when someone has identified themselves through wrestling for a long time, it can leave them feeling lost when they no longer wrestle. On the other hand, most wrestlers have at least one other thing in their life that they are interested in and enjoy doing. The attitudes, habits, and personal standard we develop through wrestling can translate directly into other parts of life like our educations and careers. Never underestimate the life skills you gain through wrestling when you aren’t even looking.

One example of something you acquire through wrestling is the ability to handle stress. Sometimes when the pressure is on, we may feel like we’re going to break, and that we can’t handle the stress. Wrestlers should realize that many people who have never faced long periods of intensity like we do each year as we get closer to the big tournament, whether it’s states or nationals or facing our most worthy opponents. I am going to miss a class while I’m at nationals in Vegas this week. When I reminded my professor about that, it sparked my classmate’s interest in what it’s like to get ready for nationals. I told them that on one hand, it’s the fun part of the year because most of the work is done, and it’s time to lay it out on the line. On the other hand, it’s the most intense time of the year. The weeks before the world championships are also intense, but it’s at a different level of intensity for everyone in the room, depending on whether or not they are training partners or world team members. Before nationals, everyone is getting ready for the chance to earn their spot on the national or world team.

I told my classmates that you can feel that intensity everywhere you go. There is a sense of urgency about every part of the day because every moment begins to count even more as people get ready to make weight and compete. Everything outside the mat room has to be catered more and more precisely as the competition gets nearer. At the Olympic Training Center, all of the athletes are more on edge, coaches are all sleeping less wondering about their athletes, and the rest of the staff all get more in tuned with everyone’s individual needs. Sometimes you don’t realize it when you’re in the situation, but everyone can feel that the intensity, anticipation, excitement, and stress levels have all gone up a notch. In order to last in our sport, wrestlers all have to find a way to get it done-whatever it takes-and to find a way to deal with the pressure in the best way. When you take a minute to acknowledge the fact that we find a way to make it through the toughest peak training in wrestling, you should know that you can face all kinds of stressful situations in life. You may not realize it, but your mind goes through a process of calculating everything you have to do to be at your peak for the big meet (taking care of your body, training, rest, diet, etc.) and then you ask yourself what you have to do to get it done. That’s the same process we have to go through when it’s finals week at school, or in important career decisions, or any time it’s come to “crunch time.” We are trained to make it happen, whatever the task. As you can see, it doesn’t take much for me to turn everything into preparing for nationals. Everything seems to lead to that. I started out writing this about a casual encounter where I simply talked wrestling with a stranger, and I automatically thought next of my discussion with my classmates and professor about nationals and the preparation for it.

by

Katie Downing