Who Wrestled in High School? Share a story! :)

I wrestled in 9th grade and it was a kiving nightmare for me coming from a positive background in MA, I was not use to a coach always seeing the negative about everything nomatter what we did it was never good enough if you won a match and stuff he would always say the oponet was weak or we should have finished them off quicker and it just was not pleasant to be there.

Very briefly. I grew up in Eastern Washington where the summer temperatures could be 115F (46 in real degrees). The coach said "Run in a water proof windbreaker. And don't drink water. It will just make you gain weight." My dad (a physician) said "You're not doing that." A few years later one of the kids died from dehydration and heat exhaustion :(

The coach said "Run in a water proof windbreaker. And don't drink water. It will just make you gain weight."
That was an all too common practice in the 70's. I hope it is not still today! I'm glad for you that your dad knew better.

I grew up around wrestling. My dad was a Professional Wrestler in the Golden Era. (50's and 60's). I stood ringside as a kid, and took the garments and props from the wrestlers and returned them to the dressing rooms.

During my sixth grade year (elementary school), I had a two older brothers in wrestling so I got to practice with the High School team. By seventh grade, I was the only kid on the Jr. High team who knew what he was doing. I improved each year, and by 9th grade (top of our Jr. High back then) I held many records for the season (most takedowns, most reversals, most near-falls, most wins, most pins, and most quickest pin - 1min 14 sec.). I was also voted the most valuable wrestler that year.

Then, I went to High School. The seniors were good, and I got slammed all over the mat in practice. I was on J.V. for almost half of the year, then the senior who was in the Varsity spot moved up a weight class. I had to challenge another senior for Varsity and I won the spot. I got my Varsity Letter as a 10th grader (which was not common for us in those days), and earned Varsity in 11th and 12th grade.

My later wrestling record did not go as good as I had hoped because of a couple of injuries (a knee popped out of joint once, and a broken nose). Also, by 10th grade, my interests had turned more to Taekwondo. In between seasons one year, I competed in a "Free-Style" wrestling tournament which was interesting. Adults and guys with beards were wrestling in singlets and doing pretty good.

Our wrestling coach would always say:

"For every move, there's a counter, and for every counter, there's a counter."

"The best way to get out of any hold...... is to not get into it in the first place!"

"The best body for a wrestler is an upper body like Mr. Universe, and legs like toothpicks."

"BRIDGE! BRIDGE!"

(Cheers to coach Kruise)

CM D.J. Eisenhart

I grew up in Oklahoma where I wrestled and played football. Wrestling was my favorite, I think I played football for my Dad. If he didn't push the football, I probably wouldn't have played past elementary. I loved every bit of wrestling, from practice, to the meets, and the tournaments. There was nothing about the sport that I disliked, I couldn't say the same thing for my football experience.

I wrestled from elementary to my freshman year in high school. They call it folkstyle now, but I believe we called it collegiate style at the time. We moved from Oklahoma to central Texas during this year and I was unable to continue with wrestling due to it's absence in school sports and there were no private wrestling clubs. So I was forced to continue with football, until a knee injury during my sophomore year ended my desire to play.

I grew up with the Smith family in Del City, OK. If you are a wrestler then you will probably know this family, at least you will have heard of John Smith. I was in the same grade as Mark Smith, the youngest of the Smith family wrestlers. Other than the Smith family, there were alot of great wrestlers that I came up with. Most of the names I have now forgotten. I don't mean to name drop here, just wanted to share a part of my past that I am proud of.

Despite living in Oklahoma, with two powerhouse wrestling programs at the collegiate level, I wanted a scholarship to the University of Iowa. I wanted to wrestle for the great Dan Gable, who was still coaching at Iowa at this time. I also would dream of Olympic glory, even though I hadn't begun to wrestle free-style yet. I figured that I would "pick it up" during high school.

But all of that came to an end when we moved south of the Red River. Now, wrestling has made it to the Houston area and my oldest son, of 10 years, wants to wrestle. You can imagine my excitement...but I must be careful not to live vicariously through him and let him enjoy his experience.

That was an all too common practice in the 70's. I hope it is not still today! I'm glad for you that your dad knew better.

I grew up around wrestling. My dad was a Professional Wrestler in the Golden Era. (50's and 60's). I stood ringside as a kid, and took the garments and props from the wrestlers and returned them to the dressing rooms.

During my sixth grade year (elementary school), I had a two older brothers in wrestling so I got to practice with the High School team. By seventh grade, I was the only kid on the Jr. High team who knew what he was doing. I improved each year, and by 9th grade (top of our Jr. High back then) I held many records for the season (most takedowns, most reversals, most near-falls, most wins, most pins, and most quickest pin - 1min 14 sec.). I was also voted the most valuable wrestler that year.

Then, I went to High School. The seniors were good, and I got slammed all over the mat in practice. I was on J.V. for almost half of the year, then the senior who was in the Varsity spot moved up a weight class. I had to challenge another senior for Varsity and I won the spot. I got my Varsity Letter as a 10th grader (which was not common for us in those days), and earned Varsity in 11th and 12th grade.

My later wrestling record did not go as good as I had hoped because of a couple of injuries (a knee popped out of joint once, and a broken nose). Also, by 10th grade, my interests had turned more to Taekwondo. In between seasons one year, I competed in a "Free-Style" wrestling tournament which was interesting. Adults and guys with beards were wrestling in singlets and doing pretty good.

Our wrestling coach would always say:

"For every move, there's a counter, and for every counter, there's a counter."

"The best way to get out of any hold...... is to not get into it in the first place!"

"The best body for a wrestler is an upper body like Mr. Universe, and legs like toothpicks."

"BRIDGE! BRIDGE!"

(Cheers to coach Kruise)

CM D.J. Eisenhart

I can still remember my coach screaming...

"GET TO YOUR BASE!!!"

...sounds so simple in theory, but is sometimes much harder in application, LOL!

Yes, in 11th and 12th grade. I wasn't very good, but I was the only one who could pull off a hip throw!

I wrestled from 7th grade thru the 10th before moving to a school without a wrestling program. Wrestled in intramural tournaments in college. Biggest claim to fame - started out as a 98 pounder and ended up as a heavyweight.

I did for a short time in 11th grade. In retrospect, the coach did not have that much of an idea of what he was doing. One problem I had was I was very tall and skinny. I was fighting guys about 6-8 inches shorter than me, and generally alot stronger.

I'll agree with tellner about the dehydration. It was sick... running in garbage bags, throwing up, not eating for a day or two. After watching one of our "stars" throw up repeatedly, I figured I'd had enough. I'd prefer playing a sport that did not involve torturing your body and severe dehydration, unless you were a heavy weight. One of my best friends was a heavy weight, though barely over the weight limit. He was around 5'6 and rather fat. Was going up against guys typically outweighing him by around 80+ lbs and 6+ inches taller. Was quite odd to see that :)

Fortunately for me, I came up in a time when weight cutting was strictly monitored. We were never allowed to cut down two weight classes and those plastic suits were forbidden. We did alot of conditioning and diet was important to control your weight. The people I wrestled with who had to cut weight was due to their own fault. They did not maintain their diets and were in danger of making weight for the meet or tournament. I, myself, never had any problems making weight. I always stayed below my weight class during wrestling season.

Now, I thought the two-a-day practices for football in the summer time was insane. Have you ever had to hit a blocking sled in full pads on a 100+ degree day? Not fun at all.

I'm not going to share a story, only a gripe.
Here in the deep southern U.S., high school/college wrestling is not popular and rarely offered. I never had the opportunity in high school to train in wrestling. I started martial arts in 10th grade (1991), but had to wait until about 1997 to start developing my ground game.

AoG

Now, I thought the two-a-day practices for football in the summer time was insane. Have you ever had to hit a blocking sled in full pads on a 100+ degree day? Not fun at all.
I'll second that :)

I'm not going to share a story, only a gripe.
Here in the deep southern U.S., high school/college wrestling is not popular and rarely offered. I never had the opportunity in high school to train in wrestling. I started martial arts in 10th grade (1991), but had to wait until about 1997 to start developing my ground game.

AoG

It is the same for Texas. Now the sport is growing here, thanks to all the "yankees" who came down south to work. They brought their love for the game and started private clubs for their kids and now alot of high schools are including wrestling into their programs.

Nice topic and some good stories going here.

I never had to cut weight. I weighted around 165-170 but I usually wrestled 198 and heavyweight. My team had better wrestlers than I in the 'more approriate' weight divisions for me. At least in Michigan, I don't think they don't allow the kids to wrestle that much over their own weight anymore. Sometimes I look back and wish I would have taken wrestling more seriously than as a sport to help keep me in shape for football.

My favorite memory is actually pulling off a pancake at an invitational. The over arm/under arm launch backward and turn. My opponent was huge, I think I may have been wrestling heavyweight that day. Anyway, I got the over/under and the hips in close and launched myself back and arched my back, at this point I thought I was going to die. This huge guy is going to land right on me and put my forehead through the mat and I will die, or at the very least wish I was dead. Somehow I got the big guy airborne and as we were head to the mat I managed to get the twist in to put the guy on bottom. I think the other guy went into shock that I just threw him and I managed to pin him soon after we hit the floor.

That move has since been outlawed, at least in Michigan.

Up there with that memory was my first varsity win. My opponent was absolutely kicking my butt. I was about to lose by technical default down 14-0. I rolled the guy over and pinned him. This would be above my pancake memory, but I felt like the guy quit after I reversed him. That kind of took a little bit away from my victory.

6 years of junior high & high shool. i consider it my first martial art.

one day i came in at 8 am ready to wrestle the 145 weight class. coach told me he needed me at 136 by 5 pm. i actually lost 9 pounds in 9 hours, all water weight of course. weighed in, drank some gatorade, ate some soup, went on to beat the guy in overtime after he tried to gouge one of my eyes out.

not recommended practice, and very likely illegal today. totally unhealthy. at the same time, it's one of my touchstone memories of a time i did something totally unreasonable in order to achieve a goal.

I started wrestling in 9th grade (Intercolligiate style) in 1967. The following year I was a 2 time AAU champion in the 44.5kg (98lb) class and Island Champ (Puerto Rico). I had previously trained in Kodokan Judo since 1965 and acquired Yon Kyu (green belt) and the transition to wrestling from Judo was easy for me. In 1970 (my senior year) my family moved to Florida (my father retired from the USN) & I was regional champ and placed 2nd at the State Championship that same year (103 lb. class) . I graduated high school that year. My coach in Puerto Rico was from Oklahoma State and a very good technician/coach who was a NCAA Champion in his time. My wrestling coach in Florida was from Michigan State and he too was a former champ. I love the sport of wrestling and still follow it today.

I wrestled. I wasn't that good nor bad. wrestled for two yrs. I wrestled 3 weight classes. I started at 171 and then i wanted to be on varsity so i went for a weight higher (I got beat by the guy who was 171 before, but left and came back, on our first encounter, how shameful lol) and beat some and lost alot and then for regionals i wrestled 215 and MAAAN!!! was that hard...i felt like a little fish a HUGE pond (and i was, i weighed alittle over 165 at the time) the proudest time was when i wrestled at team regionals for 215 and i lost but i almost beat him, didn't get pinned (so happy because i stretched my joint alittle there, but was fun and would do it all over again if i could). I had alot of heart, took alot so i gave alot...I want to wrestle somemore.

Wrestled for 6 years, 4 high school and 2 college. Was average, won some and lost some.

Greatest memory; well, in college after the noraml collegiate system ended we continued with freestyle tournaments. We were invited to participate in the Sunkist International meet in Phoenix, AZ, there I got to meet the FEMALE Norwegian wrestling team. http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/images/icons/icon7.gif

Other than that, I wrestled in the 88kg class, and I did a front over-the-shoulder throw (face to face, then you lean back lifting the opponent throwing them over your shoulder to the side) to a heavyweight (they combined the two weight classes due to low numbers in the 88kg class).

Way cool.

SPorK

I wrestled for 2 years in HS, I didint like back then though.

I started wrestling in junior high PE class and was better than I thought. When I went to HS I walked on to the Varsity team (103 lbs) due to a lack of interested wrestlers in my school. Flopped like a fish most of the season. I went up one weight class each year and did better each year than the year before, barely. I seemed to do so much better during practice.

My best technique was from being mounted on my back. I would pop up to all fours, fake like I was trying to stand and slam down to my fore arms. The shake would make the guy slide down (like sneaking out the back door). Then I'd reach up and grab his head around his neck and arm, slide up and if all went well get the pin. It worked well a few times and others it didn't.

The best thing I got out of my wrestling HS career was the physical conditioning. Our coach loved to make us run the hill (5 mile course) next to my school (Piedmont Hills, San Jose) prior to the beginning of each practice. After HS I joined the USMC and easily made my way through the basic training physical fitness program.

I did it for a year. It wasn't a school sponsored team, but rather a group that did it for inner city kids.

Match I remember most was with a big guy. We didn't have real strict weight classes, and he had at least 30 pounds on me and I'm not small. I was in no danger at all, I just could not get him pinned. So I used some explosive speed, my body weight, and a bit of gravity to knock the wind out of him. Course, he was already on the ground when I did it. Then I did the same move two more times. I still won on points, but my coach wasn't real happy. Called it unsportsmanlike conduct.

Ahhh, youth.

I'm a much more dirty fighter now.

I live in georgia and wrestling is pretty big here.
I wrestled my 8th and 9th grade year. 8th grade was the most fun year of my life due to wrestling because i had a great coach moving up into highschool i had an awful coach. We were encouraged to cut weight like crazy my highschool coach said how much do you weigh? i answered 116 he said good you can wrestle 103..and i did. Once you get the feel for wrestling it becomes a very enjoyable sport, during the off seasons you will miss it dearly

I'm currently in highschool an anxiously awaiting the start of my senior season. I've wrestled at 62 kilos most of highschool usually cutting from about 64 kilos. Cutting weight is allot more of a science now I think and it's done in allot safer more monitored ways. Saunas and sweat suits are now banned entirely in highschool wrestling.

I enjoy wrestling so much more than football. I have very good coaches and they're really encouraging and not negative coaches at all. Football coaches yelled and got down on you and bag ran you and all that stuff but wrestling you worked hard every day and that's the way it is. It's a super friendly awesome team and I enjoy it allot. If things go right I'll be one of our captains this year. Wrestling seems like sport where the presure is totally different than football or other team sports. When you're in the ring no one is counting on you and you aren't counting on anyone, the only person that's going to win is you. I really enjoy wrestling. Sure cutting weight kind of sucks but I never feel unhealthy or anything when I do it. The fitness is sure awesome too. I really learned how to work at wrestling more than at football or anywhere else really.

I wrestled in middle school, like my 6th grade year, and then my high school started a wrestling program my junior year. We had, at most, about 5 active members. I was lightest at 135, and then we had a 171, a 189, a 215, and 275er. Mostly we sucked, but I loved it. Never came in higher than 3rd at a tourney, and then only small ones. Meets we could never do because of our team size, and the larger tournaments meant the larger schools would show up.

Never been in better shape. Ran 5 miles a day, plus the workout, plus practice. I miss that... the shape, I mean. Maybe the running, just a little. :)

That background makes me the de facto "throwing guy" around our school, though.

wrestled 3 years for my highschool. I grew up in southern ohio and wrestling was decently big there. It's helped quite a lot in my MMA training just being familiar with how to roll on the ground and teching you some basic techniques.

Who Wrestled in High School? Share a story! :)

I wrestled in highschool a couple of years.

Just recently we brought a highschool wrestling coach in to work some clinch drills with us for our standup MMA game.

This is a true story of what happened to me. I was in high school and was on the wrestling team. One day before wrestling pratice me and another team mate were wrestling freestyle. He got behind me and grabbed me around the waist. He picked me up to throw me to the mat. When he did I put my arm out to try and brace the fall. When I did this the impact of the throw/slam popped my elbow out of place. My arm was bending backwards. I immediately grabbed my arm in pain and started screaming, then I passed out in pain. The next thing I remember was waking up in the emergency room with a nurse putting a cast on my arm. Thats when I found out that I put the elbow back in place myself and then passed out. The doctors said I was lucky because the longer it's out place the more chance their is for damage to the ligaments & tendons.

The first year I wrestled was my senior year in high school (This year, I am still a senior). My biggest Regret was not wrestling earlier. I love it.

Wrestled 6 years. 4 years collegiate style and 2 years freestyle. After that I assistant coached for another 2 years at my high school. I can't say I was great but I was good. Took League in the 275lb class while only weighing 216. At the time, weight classes went from 189 straight to 275.
I'd say one of the most memorable moments was when Frank Shamrock came to one our freestyle practices and I got to wrestle him. Don't bother asking how that went...you already know. Its a strange experience when you're getting your butt whooped but at the same time thinking "This is the coolest!"

I started wrestling in sixth grade and found out I was a natural. I competed all the way through high school, making captain of my team with another of my classmates both junior and senior years. I then went to Iowa State University and decided to take my freshman year away from the sport, a decision I have kicked myself for every day since because I ended up leaving the school after my first semester because of my grades. I am now trying to get back into competition in freestyle but this is difficult because I am out to sea all the time and getting to practice consistently is impossible because there are no mats on the ship.

My favorite thing about wrestling is how the best wrestlers are not the cookie cutter, well rounded guys with nothing special. but instead they are the guys who stand out, have thier move, something they are recognized for. I was known for my unpredictability, my co-captain could hit a low single as fast as anyone in the smith family, and out friend James had a body that must have been made of rubber.

I started wrestling when I was six. I wrestled all the way up until I was 14, then I broke my hip in football.

Its almost funny, we were working throws in taekwondo not too long ago, and I actually blocked the throw just out of habit, like I used to use in wrestling.

I started wrestling when I was six. I wrestled all the way up until I was 14, then I broke my hip in football.

Its almost funny, we were working throws in taekwondo not too long ago, and I actually blocked the throw just out of habit, like I used to use in wrestling.



That is funny, throws in Tae Kwon Do.

I wrestled all 4 years in high school at the 160 pound division. We weren't allowed to wear sweat bags to loose weight but our coach said if he didn't see em' then we could use em'. So we wore them under our sweat shirts. My senior year I wrestled at 170 pound division. Wrestling was the hardest sport I ever did but I was also in the best shape of my life. We started our practice with about 4 or 5 mile run then we did calasthenics(sp?), things like neck bridges, push ups, sit up, jumping jacks, sprawls, jog in place for a minute then hit the mat, etc....Then we wrestled for an hour and a half.

When I tested for my black sash it was easy because I was in great shape from wrestling. I tested when I was 17 and was still wrestling. I would get out of wrestling practice at about 7:00 every night and then go straight to Kung Fu class and work out 2 hours there (8:00 to 10:00).

When wrestling season wasn't going on I did kung fu every night from about 6:30 to 10:00.

Those were the good ole' days.

Good to see a number of wrestlers round here!

That is funny, throws in Tae Kwon Do.


We actually do a little bit of self defense/hapkido at the end of class, good of you to catch that though

I went to a couple wrestling camps when I was in high school. The first one I went to was at Ohio State wretling camp back in I think it was 1989. One of the assistant instructors there at that time was Mark Coleman (who later went on to fight in the UFC). He was wrestling for Ohio State at that time. Then in 1990 I went to Clarion University in Clarion, Penn. One of the assistants at that camp was Kurt Angle who was going to school there at the time and was wrestling for Clarion University. Of course Kurt went on to win the Olympic gold medal in wrestling and then went on to be the WWE champion and the TNA-Wrestling champion. Both these guys taught sessions at camp on takedowns. If I'd known they were going to go on to be great stars like they did I would have listened to them a lot more than I did.

Wrestling got me started in martial arts. I wrestled from 5th grade to my sophmore year in college. It helped make me the person I am today. In the Lansing Michigan area wrestling is a big deal and most of the better athletes in our high school were wrestlers. I took my first Judo class to help improve my throws for free style wrestling and Greco. I had a great fall this last year since my two boys 5 and 8 wrestled in their first tournament, one took first and the other took 2nd. I ran into old friends, coaches, and parents who were now grand parents of wrestlers from my hight school years at the tournament. I had forgotten what a large family the wrestling community is and how much fun I used to have. I really have to watch my pushing the boys but Im proud to say that they were the ones who suggested that they start wrestling. I can also say I got the chance to learn from Dan Gable at a camp at Olivet college. I learned an inside switch that I used to win more than one match from him.

Wrestling got me started in martial arts. I wrestled from 5th grade to my sophmore year in college. It helped make me the person I am today. In the Lansing Michigan area wrestling is a big deal and most of the better athletes in our high school were wrestlers. I took my first Judo class to help improve my throws for free style wrestling and Greco. I had a great fall this last year since my two boys 5 and 8 wrestled in their first tournament, one took first and the other took 2nd. I ran into old friends, coaches, and parents who were now grand parents of wrestlers from my hight school years at the tournament. I had forgotten what a large family the wrestling community is and how much fun I used to have. I really have to watch my pushing the boys but Im proud to say that they were the ones who suggested that they start wrestling. I can also say I got the chance to learn from Dan Gable at a camp at Olivet college. I learned an inside switch that I used to win more than one match from him.

Yeah, wrestling was a blast. I know we all had a lot of fun with wrestling. My first time away from home was to wrestling camp at Ohio State. The coach for them was Russ Heckerson. First time away from home was great. There was a high school girls softball camp staying in the dorm across from the dorm us wrestlers were staying in. Boy those were the good ole' days. We wrestlers would sneak over to thier dorm at night. My best friend got caught in thier dorm and had to run the steps FIVE times of the Ohio State Stadium. Up to the top and down to the bottom was one time. He was about killed when he got done. He had a choice of running the steps or go home with no refund.

The summer before my senior year we went to a camp at U of M and they had a cheer leader camp at the same time. Thought we had gone to heaven. Couldnt believe they were silly enough to have both camps at the same time. My high school coach was there with us he just shook his head and told us to not get caught cus he would send us home if we did. Best camp I ever went to.

Yeah.....lol.....you'de think that they would be smarter than to put a high school boys wrestling camp next to any type of all girl camp. Thats asking for trouble. Thats like waving candy in front of a 2 year old.....lol. A bunch of high level male testostrone boys and a bunch of cute little naive high school girls....oh boy.

We actually do a little bit of self defense/hapkido at the end of class, good of you to catch that though


cool!!