There are many obstacles to tackle before making it to the mat in wrestling.  A main component is making weight. In the end, the scale decides whether an athlete will or will not compete and because of this many athletes in and out of NH try techniques to help them slim down or bulk up.

The right size wrestler in the right group is based off of weight. If a wrestler is in the wrong group the chances of injury is a lot higher.  According to livestrong “over half of high school wrestlers experience injury.” Livestrong adds making weight is “the most difficult and disadvantageous aspect of wrestling.”

Students from NH weigh in on their challenges of staying in a particular weight class.   Junior and co-captain Tristin Charron says that making weight isn’t “always difficult” for him yet when he is “several pounds over” Charron will just simply “eat the right foods like oatmeal or fish” or eat things that can be worked off easily during a workout.

     Josh Mitchell was chosen to represent the team and create a good example for the other players, including meeting the weight requirement. Mitchell shares that, “They’re [the coaches] are pretty lenient, and it’s mainly an individual basis, and they allow you to take control of your own weight and make sure you’re on track.” The different weights place the individual in specific categories so not everyone on the team wrestles with the same people.  

     Garrett Arnett is another member of the wrestling team and he also has the responsibility to meet the weight requirement,  “…you had to be under a certain weight. So for me, I’m 195 lbs, so I wrestle my weight when it comes to matches under 195 lbs, so you can exercise a lot by running. You can also [try] dieting, [that’s] a big one. So eating less, eating healthier, and just a lot of running.”

Some may feel a sense of concern about such strategies. “…you can get eating habits. That’s why you have to make sure you’re always eating. But you got make sure you’re eating less and health[ier]” says Arnet. However, opinions on this seem to somewhat differ. According to Mitchell, “…there’s a certain minimal percent of body fat you need, and if you have to little of that body fast, then they won’t allow you to cut to that weight. So, they only let you cut that weight, what your allowed to, based on you body fat.”

Athletes bodies need to be kept in high performance condition so they can do the best during games, matches, and meets. In Wrestling, their bodies have a much bigger impact than some other sports. So these boys need to control how they workout and what they do to maintain their weight.