As this year’s 2023-2024 wrestling season gets underway, the pirate wrestling team gets prepared for their first battle on the mat. The team has been putting in many hours conditioning and getting ready.

“I have been trying to gain muscle and a little weight, while keeping in shape with football,” said senior Ricardo Chacon. “I’ve also been hitting the gym a lot more trying to build strength.”

This year’s wrestling season has so much potential and excitement with many new and returning wrestlers and their drive to do great things this season.

 The coaching staff has been really informative and has been focusing a lot on the kids and helping them exceed their goals. Practicing is very important for a wrestler. 

“The practices are tough both physically and mentally,” wrestling coach Kristopher Campbell stated. 

A big part of wrestling practice is the wrestling partner. They help exceed each other’s expectations. 

“A practice partner is there to push you and get you better so you want a partner who is going to be serious when he needs to be and wrestling near your skill level,” junior Reese Hite commented. 

Wrestling is a high intensity sport and involves a lot of muscle, stamina, strength and knowing quite a bit of knowledge in the sport. Many wrestlers have to keep an eye on their bodies very closely to be sure they make a certain weight for their specific weight class. This can be very hard for some wrestlers cause if they don’t weigh what they need to for the weight class they signed up for it can change their whole match. 

“The hardest part about being a wrestler is making the weight and staying away from certain types of foods,” said Hite. “Things like salt and electrolytes hold water so you don’t want those when you’re trying to cut weight.”

Many wrestlers have different pre-match routines and warm ups they do before their matches. They go through various stretches, wrestling drills and other visualization techniques to get them prepared for their match. Wrestlers also have to watch their meals the days that they have meets so they don’t jeopardize their weight. 

“Preparing for a meet is a lot like other sports,” said Hite. “It’s putting in all the work during practices, then when you get there you have to be able to focus and lock in when the time comes for you to wrestle.”

This year the pirates are gonna battle and fight their way to the top. The goal this year is to make it to state for the wrestling team and hopefully have many wrestlers place there too. The coaches and wrestlers have high expectations for themselves this year. 

“I think the team will do well this year,” said Campbell. “There are some returning wrestlers and some skilled freshmen who are coming in.”