In wrestling, everything is based upon weight.

Athletes wrestle in a certain weight class and must be within a certain weight to be eligible for meets. Often times wrestlers will do things the day prior to or a few days prior to meets to make sure they are eligible.

“On a weekly basis, rapid weight loss in high school and collegiate wrestlers has been shown to average 4-5 lbs. and may exceed 6-7 lbs. among 20 percent of wrestlers. One-third of high school and collegiate wrestlers have been reported repeating this practice more than 10 times in a season,” according to “Weight Loss in Wrestlers” a study done by American College of Sports Medicine.

This is not a new practice. According to the study, cutting weight has been going on for 25 years.

Here on campus however, Leopard wrestlers are encouraged to maintain their health more than a certain weight and head coach Mike Eaton does not encourage his athletes to cut weight.
Eaton knows health is first.

“The best way for our guys to maintain weight is to wrestle,” Eaton said. “There is no substitute for wrestling conditioning. We choose to be healthy as opposed to eating junk food and laying on the couch. There is no sacrifice. Running long distance and sprints help and other high endurance cardio. Couple that with drinking the right liquids (we don’t drink any carbonated drinks) helps in maintaining weight.”

Senior Camden Droge testifies to the importance of fluids.

“Eat within your means– the real factor in being in weight is water,” senior Camden Droge said. “In the past I have had to cut my water intake. Most guys on the team are on weight, with only a couple that are questionable.”

Most wrestlers realize there is somewhat of a misconception about “weight”.

“It’s common that most people immediately think of weight issues when wrestling comes to mind,” Droge said. “In reality, weight is rarely an issue and guys wrestle at their natural weight. Whenever someone does move down a weight bracket it is usually because they have naturally lost weight through conditioning and wrestling in practice. Most of the time, people hardly need to alter their eating habits assuming that they eat reasonably healthy foods.”

While most students and staff are thinking of all the yummy foods they’ll be eating over the holidays, wrestlers will be watching their weight and practicing.

“We will practice over break December 30-January 1 at 9 a.m.-12 p.m. January 2-4 we will likely be wrestling in Houston at Cy-Fair,” Droge said.

The coaches and athletes do not see practicing over the break and watching what they eat a little closely as a sacrifice.

“That (practicing over break and eating healthy) is not a sacrifice,” Eaton said. “It is a conscious effort to make the right choices to promote a healthy lifestyle. Some people who don’t really understand true commitment call this “sacrificing” but it in reality, this is being committed to becoming a better athlete, a better person.”