You can smell the sweat and dignity on the mats, hear the sound of grunts and moans throughout the gym walls, as you watch two athletes wrestling it out to see who can beat the other using complete strength and focus. The passion and energy it takes to compete in this sport is what makes JV wrestling so exhilarating to watch.
The JV wrestling team is saying their last goodbyes to the season, with a couple matches left. They can look forward to next year to see their buddies, and start practicing once again.
Although the team did not succeed as well as they planned, they tried, worked, and practiced as hard as they could. Wrestling coach Kyle Rampp is pleased with the season as a whole, and is hoping to learn and develop new ways to come back and win more matches next season. “With JV, there are a ton of first-year-wrestlers, and those who have done it before usually haven’t wrestled in eight months, and might be rusty. JV is more about the learning experience than wins and losses,” Rampp said.
Even though the team was more successful last year, they practiced and put in their best effort, exercising and practicing as many as six days a week. Former wrestling coach and English teach Daniel Pecoraro was especially proud of last year’s team, and hoped the best for this season. “Last year was a good finish. Lots of lower classman showed promise.” Pecoraro said.
Even with their losses, teammates, including freshman Cade Christensen have pulled off comebacks this season, showing the true potential for next year. “One JV tournament, I was about to lose, and then came back, and managed to score.” Christensen said.
The JV wrestlers still have learning experiences and challenges to face that will hopefully benefit them in the future. Wrestling is a challenging sport to learn, with countless techniques and moves to learn. This sport has a huge amount of information to process in just one season. If teammates decide to play next season, there will be even more to learn and practice. “Wrestling is a very mental sport, like a chess game, with moves and countermoves. The way you wrestle a match is constantly changing and as soon as you hesitate, you start to lose,” Rampp said.
Christensen is unhappy about that the season is near to the end. JV wrestling used teamwork and cooperation, making them a closely knit team, however, with the season drawing closer coming to an end, they will not be able to see each other as often. “It’s kind of sad because I don’t know if we are going to hang out again,” Christensen said.
Teammates are looking forward to the next season to once again practice and compete. Christensen is delighted thinking about next season so he and his team will be able to practice and hangout with each other again. “I am definitely planning on wrestling again next year.” Christensen said.
