WRESTLING is one of the oldest forms of combat, dating back over 15,000 years. Wrestling was even shown in some cave drawings found in France. Wrestling was a prominent sport in ancient Greece, and was the main sport of the ancient Olympic Games. In the middle ages, wrestling was popular among the royal families. Then, English settlers in America brought the sport with them and made it a popular sport and a form of staged entertainment. 

Arleth Antonio (11) joined the wrestling team here at Granger because her brother was encouraging her to try a new sport. She learned a lot of stuff in wrestling, including both mental and physical skills. Even though the team lost some of their good wrestlers last year, the team is planning on working with the talent they do have. This year’s team hopes to make it to the region tournament. 

Alexander Jimenez (11) has been wrestling since 7th grade. He chose wrestling because his cousin told him about it and he decided to try it out. Ever since that day, he has been enjoying it because he is constantly learning new things and growing his skills in the sport. It’s not always easy, but Jimenez is always striving to be better. “The hardest things about wrestling are the practices and cutting weight,” Jimenez said. According to Wrestlers Starvation Effect in jmu.edu website, cutting weight as a wrestlers is one the hardest things they do. Wrestlers do this because “it is universally known that someone will have a better chance of winning a wrestling match if they are naturally bigger and stronger.” 

Many of the wrestlers have high hopes for this season. “I think we’re the best team in the region for sure, we work the hardest, we grind the hardest and we’re the best,” Jimenez said. Jimenez is confident about his team heading to region this year, and has hopes that they will win this year. Sometimes girls don’t get treated the same in wrestling, and this year’s team only has two girls in the wrestling team. It’s very difficult for them to be treated the same. Since there are not many of them, they often have to wrestle with the guys. Jimenez thinks that this shows that they need more girl wrestlers, so they could be treated the same as the boys on wrestling team this year. 

Each wrestler faces different struggles, but they are all striving towards having a successful season this year.