Eleven reasons why everyone should wrestle
Wrestling is the greatest and the oldest sport dating as far back as 20,000 years ago. I believe, and I hold it in my heart, that nothing can compare to it when developing young men and women. I understand that I have an extreme bias toward wrestling. I have been in the sport for 36 consecutive years as a competitor and a coach. I have dedicated much of my life to wrestling because of the benefits I and many others have received from the sport.
Why is wrestling so great? Wrestling offers people so many positive benefits to its participants. I played other sports growing up. Football, baseball, and one year of basketball. I have coached youth soccer, lacrosse, and wrestling. I have taught thousands of teenagers who have played practically every sport possible, at least those available in the U.S. I would rival some of those sports to wrestling for their work ethic, commitment, and discipline. Some of them, not many. I would put cross-country, boxing, gymnastics, and hockey up there as sports that teach its participants similar lessons. Don’t get me wrong, I loved baseball and football when I was a kid. They were both enjoyable and fun sports to play, and I believe they, along with most sports, teach many valuable lessons. I just know wrestling is the best to educate people about life.
I will admit of all the sports I played as a kid, wrestling was the least fun of them. Wrestling is hard. It is hard physically, mentally, and emotionally. Your body gets beat up and your ego gets damaged often. Each day your mind toggles between feelings of confidence, doubt, and insecurity during a wrestling season.
So why then should every person wrestle?
1. Wrestling teaches people to deal with adversity
According to Merriam-Webster.com, adversity is defined as “a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.” The definition perfectly sums of a wrestling season. Each day presents difficulty and challenges. The sport of wrestling is filled with adversity, and a person can only become more resilient by it.
2. Wrestling teaches people a strong work ethic
As I said, I have worked with thousands of athletes over my 22-year teaching career. I would rival any wrestler’s work ethic to the hardest working athlete in any other sport. Not the hardest working wrestlers, I mean all wrestlers. It’s inevitable that if a person sticks with wrestling, they will do things physically that most people will never do. Most people will never go 100% in live combat with another person. Most people’s success will never be measured in the center of a ring against another opponent. You either win or fail. That alone teaches a wrestler the value of working hard and pushing themselves. To be successful in wrestling, you have to work hard. The Rest of the story and list at http://matbossapp.hs-sites.com/blog/eleven-reasons-why-everyone-should-wrestle
Mike Denney: UNO dropping wrestling still stings
TDR Editor’s Notes ; Great coach and a very good man. Attended a clinic at UNO with a young team. His input and encouragement made a huge difference. Glad to have met him. Best wishes for moore success in St. Louis at Maryville for him and his wrestlers.
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Mike Denney was named head wrestling coach a Maryville in 2011 after the University of Nebraska-Omaha dropped its wrestling program after coaching the Mavericks to a title two months prior. Rest of the story and video at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPlayer.jsp?TIM=1570477428207&twSessionId=pobyjlgxlg&videoId=1689179132
Wrestling Popularity on the Rise
The popularity of the sport of wrestling is one the rise. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) 2018-2019 High School Participation Survey, the port of wrestling has grown in all five categories that were reported on. This is the second consecutive year that high school wrestling has grown in all categories while the overall participation in high school sports has declined, the first overall decline in 30 years. The biggest jump in this year’s survey was within girls wrestling which grew for the 30th straight year. There were 21,124 girls participants in 2018-19, an increase of 4,562 athletes from the year before, which accounts for a 27.5% increase from last year. The number of schools that also offer girls wrestling increased to 2,890, an increase of 22.9%. Boys high school wrestling held steady as the No. 7 most popular sport among boys in terms of participation and the No. 8 spot in terms of number of schools. In 2018-19, boys high school wrestling grew to 247,441 athletes, an increase of 1,877 athletes from last year. The number of boys wrestling teams for 2018-19 grew to 10,843, up 68 teams from the previous year. It’s the second straight year that boys wrestling grew in both participation and teams. The combined number of high school wrestlers, including both boys and girls, showed a 2.5% growth as it grew to 268,565, an increase of 6,439 athletes. Rest of this story at https://youth1.com/wrestling/wrestling-popularity-rise?mc_cid=8391e1e4e3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b#
UNC-Pembroke Releases 2019-20 Schedule
PEMBROKE – Four home dates, including host duties for the 2020 NCAA Southeast Region Championships, as well as road trips to Las Vegas and Colorado, highlight the 2019-20 UNC Pembroke wrestling schedule that was released on Wednesday afternoon by head coach Othello “O.T.” Johnson. Fans can get an early look at the team on October 22 when the Braves suit up for their annual Black & Gold Intra-squad event. Admission to that event, as well as all home dual meets, is free. The Braves will kick off their newest campaign on November 2 when they head to Franklin Springs, Ga., for the Emmanuel-hosted Georgia Open, but will lift the lid on the home portion of their slate just more than a week later with the 39th Annual Pembroke Classic. The Black & Gold will appear in front of the home fans again just more than two weeks later when they battle Limestone on November 26 at 7 p.m. UNCP will load the buses in mid-December for the first of three long road trips when it treks to Indianapolis, Ind., for the UIndy-hosted Midwest Classic. The Braves will compete inside Las Vegas’s Flamingo Hotel & Casino on December 22 as part of the Wartburg College-hosted Desert Duals. That trip will be dwarfed only by one to Kansas and Colorado in early January for a dual meet at Fort Hays State, as well as an appearance in the Tracy Borah Duals on the campus of Western Colorado. Rest of the story at
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
Takedown Report 