Be there for this weekend’s semifinal round at regionals

Wrestling is not a sport.

Sure, it traces its roots back to the ancient Greeks and the first Olympic Games. Sure, it’s what made Plato’s name commonplace around the Parthenon.

But it’s not a sport.

It’s more than that.

To call wrestling a sport is to lump it in with so many other pastimes.

No, wrestling is a passion.

There’s no other way to express it. Wrestling is a sport of the blood.

To be a devotee is to feel its ebb and flow through the very fiber of your being – to time every second of a match with the beating of your heart and to stand, unashamed, and shed tears of appreciation at both the heights and depths of human emotion outlined on a lighted mat.

To be a wrestling devotee is to cheer yourself hoarse for your favorite team, and cheer just as heartily for an outstanding performance by an opponent.

Here’s a simple test of a true wrestling devotee: Mention the name Rulon Gardner. If they smile, they’re a fan. If they get misty and begin to reminisce, they’re a devotee.

A wrestling devotee has wept at least twice at the sight of Gardner wrestling.

At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Gardner stunned the sporting world by upsetting Russia’s Aleksandr Karelin, the Babe Ruth of Greco-Roman wrestling, in the gold medal match.

At the 2004 games in Athens, Gardner lost his bid for the gold medal in the semis and had to settle for the bronze. After the match and with tears streaming down his face, the giant from Wyoming sat down in the middle of the mat and unlaced his wrestling shoes. It’s one of the great traditions of the sport: when a wrestler retires, he leaves his shoes on the mat.

Each moment, each in its own way, defines not only the sport, but the spirit of the Olympic Games better than any essay could.

Want local proof?

Simply spend a few hours at the Class 4A Regional wrestling tournament next Saturday at University High School.

Show up at 10 a.m. and watch the championship semifinals.

“If you only watch one round of a tournament, watch the semifinal round at regionals,” East Valley coach Craig Hanson said. “Any coach will tell you: that is the single, best round of competition of the year.”

Hanson will have his Knights in the 3A Regional at Ellensburg next weekend vying for state tournament berths. Watching the 4A at U-Hi or 3A at Ellensburg will produce similar drama.

Of course the championship finals are exciting, Hanson said. It’s just that the semifinals are in stereo.

“What’s great about that round is that everything is on the line,” he said. “You have two mats going side-by-side, each with a great match. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

If you’re at U-Hi next weekend, stick around for the consolation semifinals at 1 p.m.

These are the matches where the emotion runs thick. Winners can pack their bags for the state tournament; losers have their season end with the slap of a mat or the blast of a whistle.

“I hate watching that round,” Hanson said. “It’s so hard to watch. It’s a rollercoaster ride of emotion – from the highest high to the lowest low.”

There have been months of blood, sweat and tears behind every wrestler who reaches those consolation matches, and their season-long goal of reaching the mats at the Tacoma Dome for the state tournament dangles there like the proverbial carrot on a stick.

“It’s tough enough to have your season end so suddenly,” Hanson said. “But to have it end with state so close is just gut-wrenching. Your heart breaks for every one of those kids, and it’s a thousand times worse when it’s one of your own kids.

“Ask any coach and they’ll tell you – they hate watching that round.”

But watching that round just might put wrestling in your blood.