Going Home

By Katie Downing

            When the holidays came around, I had to begin to plan how I was going to have time at home and have time for training and competition for my wrestling.  This Thanksgiving I remembered how good it can be for a wrestler to go home, and to get back into the hometown wrestling room.   From time to time, it’s important for wrestlers to remember where they came from, where they started, and what wrestling has been to them over the years.  I realized this last week that one place that exemplifies what wrestling is all about is at a small town JV wrestling practice the morning after Thanksgiving.  As I drove to the high school Friday morning, it seemed that to everyone else, Thanksgiving break meant doing absolutely nothing until noon.  To the local wrestlers, it meant preparing for competition.  I expected to walk into a room full of guys who would have two second attention spans, early morning post-feast grogginess.  These guys represented their coaches and school well, though.  Effort was a given, and they were focused and willing to work even though the conditions of the day were more likely for sleep and laziness.  These guys weren’t getting ready for a big-time international tournament that promised prestige, or a well funded event that promised bonus money.  These guys sacrificed their morning to get ready for a high school JV tournament that was probably just the next stepping stone toward making the varsity team in the future.  It says a lot for the sport of wrestling that wrestlers are willing to do what it takes without question at all levels.  That is dedication. 

            Every wrestler that continues in the sport after high school should take the chances to go back home and to get back into the hometown room.  It can do a lot for a wrestler to remember where they started, and it can do a lot for their hometown program to have their own come back to help the team.  As a college or international level wrestler, you have the chance to expose your hometown wrestlers to an entirely new level of wrestling.  It’s good for high school and youth wrestlers to see where they can take themselves in wrestling, to wrestle against a level they may strive to someday achieve for themselves.  As a high school wrestler, you have opportunities to help the future of your high school wrestling program by helping out at the junior high or elementary level wrestling programs in your area.  Younger wrestlers especially benefit from having older wrestlers to look up to.  It also doesn’t hurt if you’re struggling to break into the ranks as a freshman in high school or college to go and help out at the lower levels where wrestlers will admire you no matter how much of a beating you take in your regular practices.  Local wrestling programs survive on the work of graduates and families of current wrestlers.  Local programs can also enrich the fortitude of wrestlers that come back to visit by reminding them where they came from and the foundation upon which they stand