OHS Wresting! arguably one of the hardest sports to compete in is here at Osbourn. Starting November, our wrestling team has been working hard, practicing, and competing with everything they have. But have you ever wondered what truly goes into to wrestling? Are there specific techniques learned? How do they maintain their weight? At what age did wrestling become an interest?

One of the coaches, Mr. Weaver said he’s been involved in wrestling for more than half of his life. In fact less than half of his life was spent not having anything to do with the sport at all. “Wrestling is the hardest sport in high school- the practice is hard and the actual sport. The thing about wrestling is that the team, when practicing, wears each other out in order to improve together. I started wrestling when I was 9 and did it all the way through college. And even after that, I began coaching it, so wrestling has made up 48 years of my life,” explained Coach Tim Weaver.

We all have our passions dreams, and goals that we center our life around. Having something to strive for often pushes you to do your best because you have a finish line to run for, a time to beat, a goal to reach. Most times having some sort of drive helps you do great in things that have nothing to do with your goal due to you already being in a motivated mindset. “Why do I like wrestling?… It just feels good to have something to build my life around, It’s pretty easy to maintain the weight; you just have to carefully choose what you eat. We try our best, because on the day of a meet, we’re still a team and we’re still representing the school. My coaches are a really big help, obviously. When we drill, they help us improve our form and fundamentals,” explained sophomore wrestler Justin Ward.

“It’s a bit hard to maintain weight to stay in our weight class, but we cheer each other on and support each other, so it doesn’t feel as hard as it looks. My favorite coach I’d have to say is Coach Williams” said freshman wrestler Nicky Wessel. “If you’re heavy weight, than it’s pretty easy to maintain your weight. Honestly, I only joined because a lot of my friends were doing it,” said senior Jean Franco.

As we get older, we tend to reflect on our interests from when we were younger. But how does that come into play when it comes to sports? Do people start enjoying a sport when they’re in elementary school, or is it just a spontaneous interest in high school? Do athletes even think about wrestling as a sport before high school? “I’ve been wrestling since middle school, My favorite move is the double leg take down. We get good support from our team, my favorite coaches are Coach Mark and Coach Weaver,” said freshman wrestler Anthony Figueroa.