Wrestlers are changed forever by their sport

They get locked away in a padded room for hours on end for good reason – and not just so they can work on their neck bridges and arm bars.

And it’s not just that; for the most part, they stay drenched in sweat – especially in these early days when they are trying to get themselves into competition shape.

Their room proudly posts the names of everyone who walked through its doors and walked away with a state championship, and just as proudly boasts the aroma of ancient sweat left over from all the hard work that went into earning those titles. The more names listed, the stronger the residual aroma and the deeper the tradition of hard work.

The young men and women who populate the ranks of high school wrestling are a breed apart.

And we’re all better because they are.

High school wrestling pretty much stands alone. The chances of earning a college scholarship in the sport are, at best, slim. Professional wrestling resembles the sport of amateur wrestling the way the lightning bug resembles lightning.

And for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, wrestling will not be included in the 2020 games.

Which makes the rooms full of aspiring wrestlers at every area high school and middle school all the more impressive.

They enter those sweaty, padded rooms and invest their sweat equity for the chance to compete against the most unrelenting opponent they can possibly face: themselves.

When they do compete, it’s alone in a darkened gym at the center of a mat illuminated by a single overhead light. Wrestler against wrestler – as evenly matched in weight as possible. It boils down to this simple formula: one wrestler, armed only with their wits and a finely honed set of skills, grappling with another, equally equipped.

It’s 6 minutes of pure competition.

Dan Gable, wrestling’s most iconic figure, is credited with breaking down a wrestling match this way:

“The first period is won by the best technician,” the quote goes. “The second period is won by the kid in the best shape. The third period is won by the kid with the biggest heart.”

Whether the former University of Iowa coach and Iowa State University wrestler said that first or not, he’s absolutely correct.

It’s that third period where the sport reveals what’s inside its devotees. That’s the period where the athletes reveal everything about themselves: their desire, their commitment, their dedication and the size of their heart.

Most sports see athletes push themselves to their limits; wrestlers seek those limits because they serve as a place to start.

It’s what makes the sport so incredible. And enduring.

Those who have embraced the sport and committed themselves to it for a length of time are forever changed. They learn how to be better teammates by doing all they can to serve those they lead. And they learn their own capacity for success.

“I never won anything by myself,” Gable said. “I was always strong because of help that gave me extra strength to win.”

Gable is wrestling’s icon for good reason.

He was 64-0 as a high school wrestler and 118-1 on the collegiate mat. He won the Olympic gold medal in Munich without surrendering a single point and, as a coach, he won 15 national titles in 21 seasons at Iowa.

His only loss came in the NCAA 142-pound finals in 1970, when the wrestler who had never lost a match was beaten in the final 30 seconds by the University of Washington’s Larry Owings.

“Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy,” he said.

He boiled the sport down.

“More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride,” he said. “Some have wrestled without great skill – none have wrestled without pride.”

You can’t put any one sport ahead of others for what it does for the character of those who play it. They all have great life lessons to teach and willing students can learn much from them all.

But wrestlers, for the most part, have learned a lesson that Gable passed along after his success at the Summer Olympics.

“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold,” he said. “They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”