Wrestling has been a sport for thousands of years, and has been a sport at CCHS for around years. However, it’s not just a sport. For some, it’s a lifestyle. Wrestling coach, Jerry Richards, has insight on why wrestling is actually important.
“Part of it was my son, who started wrestling at an early age. I wrestled in the past. And who knows if he would have went into wrestling, but I had somebody at work who had a son in wrestling, he started talking about it, I mentioned [that] I was involved in wrestling. Then, when my son was in first grade, I took him to wrestling and, since I’m going to be there anyway the whole time and I know something about wrestling, I decided to start coaching. I wrestled in college and some back then. Other people my age. But, if I take that out, I would say I’ve been coaching at the high school here for at least probably 15 years. What you learn in wrestling is a slice of life. It’s going to throw a lot of difficulties at you, just like in real life. You’re going to have ups and downs.
“The season of wrestling, you’re going to win some and lose some and you have to learn to deal with that. You’re going to have to work hard. Sometimes, you don’t always get the results you want, but generally speaking, when you put something in, you get something back, and it’s just like life that way. It doesn’t always go the way you expect, but if you keep working at it, good things happen.” Richards said.
Wrestlers come in all shapes and sizes. From weight classes ranging from 106 pounds to 285 pounds, anyone can join if they want. However, weight classes are more important than one might think. In competitions, judges and referees would never let a 106 and a 285 go against each other. The 285 would completely crush the 106.
Sarah Simeon-Tiu, a Junior at CCHS and a 110 pound weight class wrestler, explains why she likes wrestling.
“I started wrestling because I was convinced by a friend to join wrestling because there was hardly any girls last year, so I was part of the girls who were a part of wrestling last year. I’ve been wrestling since my Sophomore year and this year is my Junior year, so I’ve been wrestling for at least two years. Whatever I like about wrestling is just mainly about coming to practice and, you know, I like to be around my friends and stuff like that.” Simeon-Tiu said.
