As the fall sports season ends, high school athletics transition into my favorite season: the wrestling season. Perhaps I should say the winter athletic season, because there are other sports that compete, often drawing a bigger crowd and performing better, but maybe I’m a little biased as a member of the wrestling team. I’d like to see attitudes of others toward wrestling as a sport and wrestling in terms of the team change.

The one thing that constantly sticks out at me is the attendance at meets. It’s great to look out at the bleachers during a football game and not be able to see any metal from the student section to the student band. It’s fantastic that home basketball games are consistently packed with fans that scream until they lose their voices, giving the team the extra motivation that it needs in a close game.

But where is the student section at wrestling meets? Where are the screaming fans as Mac Casella ‘16 throws his opponent to his back, or Zach Villarreal ‘17 gets a take down to win with 15 seconds left? I mean after all, the boys basketball team competes during the mens wrestling season.

I get that wrestling can be gross and basketball is obviously preferred by most LT students, but with a shared field-house for home meets, I expect nothing less than a packed student section for the wrestling team. We only have four home meets this year – I’m not asking for much. While the student section may help Harrison Niego ‘15 set up the final play, a cheering crowd would help the wrestling team even more.

It’s simple math: there’s one athlete on the mat for the wrestling team, and when you are both physically and emotionally drained, all you have out there is yourself. Under the spotlight, dazed, exhausted and angry, I can’t tell you how much looking up and seeing the team chanting your name has helped not only me, but other members of the team as well. The uncontrollable roar of the 150 members of the program is often what allows an athlete to dig deep and reach within himself when he is trailing late in a match and really needs a big move. Now imagine this, but with the crowd of a basketball game.

There’s another thing that bothers me, even more than attendance at our competitions. Why is it that wrestling is commonly associated with two men groping each other? I get it. There’s a lot of physical contact. Yeah, we compete in singlets, basically naked, but that’s just part of the sport. It’s a throwback to the ancient Greeks and the origins of the oldest sport in the world. Even today, we like to embrace our God-given bodies and show off how comfortable we are with our sexuality. But I don’t see how you could associate fighting with something sexual.

It’s true: wrestling is a form of fighting. When you’re out there on the mat, you are trying to kill your opponent – but with rules. I’ve sweat on my opponents, bled on my opponents, and my opponents have done the same to me. But the reality of it is, that’s what makes the program better. It’s intense, it’s high pace, and there is no greater judge of what shape you think you’re in, both mentally and physically. Each day in practice, members of the team break their bodies down to the point of exhaustion, leaving everything they have on the mat. This is what it takes to make gains. So if you still want to watch the boys flop around on the basketball court because they were bumped, it’s your decision. But if you want to watch the men get tough, scrappy, and work at an intensity that you’ve never seen before, then you’ll be matside for wrestling’s four home meets.

Expect big things from the wrestling team this year. With all of my bragging about it, the team better show up to compete – and it will. Individuals across the program have really been working hard this offseason, and even early on, there is a noticeable difference in the intensity of the room. This team has the potential to send numerous individuals to the state tournament this year, where they will all have a shot at placing. I can sleep well at night knowing that the team has a chance at a top four finish in state, which could be the highest finish out of any winter sports team.