Anyone else here ever wrestled?

I was a wrestler throughout junior and senior high school. I was on my school's varsity team in my sophomore, junior, and senior years in high school. I didn't quite make the wrestling team at the University of Minnesota.

Still, I always loved wrestling: It's a battle between two men (usually) to determine who is tougher.

Has anyone else here wrestled? Perhaps in school, on a club, etc.? Did/do you like wrestling?

All through high school. Once I found a sport which didn't involve running, jumping, swinging something and hitting something else, or relying on a team mate to not screw up, I fell in love.

I understood why the Greeks considered wrestling the highest caliber of sport. One on one, without the bloodshed. Same reason I like chess.

talked into it by my HS history teacher who was also a top notch wrestling coach.

waaaaay too much pain involved, plus thought i was in shape coz it was right after football season, but could barely move the next day.... :(

tried out as a walk on at NIU (Northern Illinois) but was having too much fun living without my parents for the first time. I LOVED it. My junior year I was told to go grab a soph for practice, that was 33 years ago and he is still my best friend (tho it's waning, he moved to fla and started listening to rush.) There are about 7 or 8 of us rasslers that still get together regularly.

My son wrestled on a club team in 4th grade and wrestled "varsity" all three years of jr. high. I was scorekeeper and team Dad, even got to coach matside when we had more matches than coaches. That was almost as much fun as wrestling myself. Alas, he lost the fire and I didn't push. He concentrated on baseball and I love that even more.

Never did formerly but my brothers did and I sparred with them and their friends so I learned a little bit about it. I agree about the one on one nature (tennis is like that and I lover that sport) and toughness. There's also an art and strategy to it which is also great. Really grueling sport that takes the utmost conditioning.

I was never a starter on the vartsity team, but a guy was out for a couple matches one season, and I wrestled varsity in his place. (I got pinned both times, but oh well)

We learned the basics and then wrestled in a tournament. My first round opponent didn't show up, then I was pinned by my second round opponent who was a much larger 8th grader. All in all I was able to secure a 4th place finish. :D

Wrestling in high school just seemed too intense for me, especially with the guys starving themselves before meets trying to get their weight down.

Freshman and sophomore in high school. Then I had to get a job to put away money for college.

I wrestled a few varsity matches as a sophomore in high school -- always 8-15 lbs. over my weight class (121 as a 5'6" soph). I lost.

After wrestling I learned how to box. And after that I took up running. I figure, if you know how to wrestle, box, and run you're pretty much prepared for anything. I wouldn't say I'm fearless, but I'm not easily intimidated.

If you've ever seen men REALLY fight you know that it all eventually gets down to wrestling, and the guy who knows what he's doing has such a huge advantage it's not even funny.

Did I like wrestling? Yes. I was in the best shape of my life back then. At least 20 hours of practice and conditioning went into every 6 minute match. I could do pull-ups all day, and NOTHING could wear me out. Now I'm old and slow. But I still put an Akaido sensei into a submission hold in about 20 seconds last year during a class demonstration. Just a basic fireman's carry takedown and a headlock...

mm

Aikido is not really a "submission art". Obviously I don't know the situation, but I think a trained Aikidoist could find a way out of a wrestling hold, though the means might likely cause a serious injury.

...in amateur wrestling that are illegal precisely because they will likely cause serious injury. Doesn't mean wrestlers don't know them. And know them well.

Trust me, there is NO way out of a proper choke hold. Not eye poking, groin mashing, or even running away. Once they've got you (and if they know what they're doing they'll get you sooner or later) it's game over.

For true brutality watch Ultimate Fighting Championship some time. The winners are always grapplers, and the no-holds-barred matches are over when one of them gets a stranglehold on the other.

Now if your goal is to use Aikido to buy some time to beat feet(which would be my first choice, even knowing how to wrestle), fine.

mm

I just kind of felt that you were writing off the art a little too quickly (or maybe that was just my assumption).

I actually practice Hapkido which is similar in some ways.

I've watched UFC and I don't think it's necessarily a true represention of "street fighting" either. There are still some rules after all. I know a Hapkidoist (and perhaps and Aikidoist as well) would be limited even in that format.

The whole point of my original comment was just to say that if your encounter with the Aikidoist was just a demonstration and not a true no holds barred fight, then the sensei would be prevented from using some his tricks, one of which might have been able to negate your hold.

but I also have to disagree that eye-pokes and groin-smashes could not negate a choke-hold.

Fingers going into the eye socket (repeatedly if necessary) and testicles being crushed (literally) is enough to make just about any man loosen his grip.

With the right hold your opponent can't reach your eyes or groin. No matter how hard he tries. This is why the one thing all cops learn is the choke hold. Once applied correctly the fighting is over. (trick is applying it to your opponent before he applies it on you).

Combine this with the fact that with the right hold your opponent only has about a minute of useful consciousness...

Now I'm getting morbid.

Can we talk about cats or something?


mm

Suffice to say that were it a real fight I wouldn't have participated. I'm pretty sure I could have outrun the guy :). (One thing I learned from my boxing teacher: In a real fight you might win. But win or lose, it's going to hurt. A lot.) Believe me when I tell you, once in that particular hold, he wasn't getting out. If things had been really serious he would have been unconscious pretty quickly.

Could he have avoided the hold? Not this guy. He wasn't that good. Another Aikido expert, sure. I wouldn't have gotten close enough to a real expert to grab him. Given what little I know about Aikido, the last thing they want to do is start rolling around on the floor grappling. Better to use gentle persuasion like dislocated fingers and shoulders to convince your opponent that a fight isn't in his best interest.

mm

We practice grappling at out dojang in case we ever encounter an ornery wrestler.

The key is not to let him get the choke hold. I know I wouldn't.

(county champ) at 5' and 140lbs I had the perfect wrestling physique. However the summer after jr. high, puberty hit, and I arrived at high school 5'7" and 110lbs. My days of shooting the half were over. It blows people's minds when I tell them about my wrestling past because I'm a lazy bastard and 6' and 140lbs as an adult.

Sophomore through senior years, went to my state championship tournament as an alternate my senior year. Also placed fourth in the AAU East Coast region shortly thereafter in 1985.

No college but I regret not going because I did like it because it is a test of both strength and knowledge and there is noone else to blame but yourself for defeat and you get credit for victory.

A shoulder injury basically ended it for me.

Edit: If there was a way for me to coach or be an assistant I would love to do it.

a couple of famous ex-wrestlers from here in Illinois. Rummy won state i think and wrestled in college and Dennis Hastert wrestled and then coached very successfully in high school, I think his team won state too.

such a stain on such a wonderful sport.

And Wellstone coached a high school team, I think.

He still looks like he could put a hurtin' on someone on the mat, too.

mm

:evilgrin:

Of course, all my opponents were winners too, if you know what I mean.

mm

geez, I can't believe I'm posting this.

you can post anything. We're either A) forgiving or B) drunk, so it doesn't matter. :hi:

I ended up wrestling waaaay outside my weight class, with a homophobic bastard (probably literally) who hated my guts. He turned classic Greco/Roman wrestling into WWW and the coach did nothing about it.

I wrestled my brothers every now and then. They have both wrestled in school. They usually beat me. :eyes:

but both of my sons wrestled. The younger boy was really good, but lost interest in any kind of organized sports when he hit high school. The older boy wrestled (and did various other sports) for 2 years in high school, and then gave it all up for band. I spent a lot of time battling his coach over weight class. The first wrestling match he was in I showed up and waited about 9 hours for his first turn, then spent the whole time with my head in my hands. I couldn't stand to watch someone trying to rip my "baby's" head off. When he was done, I cheered loudly and pretended I'd seen the whole thing.