Working the mat
Wrestling, one of the most daunting sports, is currently in season here at NPHS, and the players worked hard to make this past season great.
Brett Philbrook, senior, first started wrestling in his sophomore year after quitting baseball. “I spent my whole life not wanting to wrestle and playing baseball, regretting it and hating it. Then I gave wrestling (a chance) one day and it changed my life forever.”
But contradictory to popular belief, Philbrook says wrestling is not a good way to release pent up anger, as, “If you wrestle angry, then you wrestle stupid. It’s more strategic and it’s calm.”
Rigorous work goes into practice, consisting of running, weight lifting, wrestling, climbing ropes and pulling tires Monday through Friday. Newberry, said he sweat off seven pounds in one practice. “At the end of the day, you’re basically brain dead because of all the hard work.” Newberry said.
Wrestlers have to watch their weight constantly, which requires dieting and lots of exercise. Philbrook himself doesn’t follow the strict dieting, but explained what it consisted of: “So what wrestlers would do is they’ll eat clean all throughout the week so they’ll lose as much body fat as possible, and then a few days before (a match) they throw on as many layers as they can, and just run and sweat as much of their body fat as possible.”
As for the matches, Julia Richey, junior, said, “every opponent is different, they have a different style and I really work on adjusting my technique to go out and dominate the match.”
Richey’s accomplishments in wrestling are vast, winning around 40 matches throughout her career. “This season I’ve won 15 matches and haven’t lost a match to a girl. I took second place in a boys tournament as well,” said Richey.
Philbrook said that wrestling has improved his grades as well: “It teaches a lot of life lessons in the sense that you have to be on time, you have to be good with your work, you have to be very precise.”
Not only does wrestling help in academics and athletics, it also builds strong relationships within the team. “The wrestling team is like one big family. We’re all very close and tease each other just like siblings do.”
Philbrook even said, “they’re like my second family. I see them everyday and they see me and you just have this special relationship with them. I can say stuff that only they would get and do things that they’d get.”
Wrestling is a tough but rewarding sport, but it’s not for everyone. For those interested, Newberry would recommend joining. “It’s a great way to know kids and it’s a lot of fun, especially when you’re out on a mat.”
