What does my child need to wrestle?

First and foremost a USA wrestling card.  Wrestlers are encouraged to buy their own headgear, wrestling shoes and singlet for tournaments.  Singlets and wrestling shoes are required for all tournaments.  Shorts and T-shirts are fine to wear for practice.

What are the benefits of wrestling? 

Out of the many benefits of wrestling, your child will learn:  self-confidence, work ethic, self respect, respect for others, self-discipline, perseverance and how to have a healthy level of competition.  Physically your child can gain:  improved balance, increased speed, increased coordination, increased endurance, improved agility, strength in all muscle groups.

What about injuries?

Wrestling is a contact sport. Jammed fingers, bloody noses, and sore muscles are common in this sport. Major injuries in all contact sports can occur, but are not common. We make an effort to monitor practices carefully so illegal holds or potentially dangerous predicaments are halted at once. Wrestling is a safe sport and has no more injuries than football, soccer, basketball or baseball.

What should I do to keep my child safe from skin infections? 

Our mats are disinfected and cleaned before every new practice session starts. However to keep your child safe from any kind of skin infection, it is important to have your child shower immediately after practice with warm water and soap.  It is important to scrub well.  If your child has an open wound, it is best to not have them on the mats.  If at any time your child breaks out with a skin condition or rash, report it to the coach and see your family doctor. On rare occasions we will have a case of a rash break out on a wrestler. The most common types of skin conditions are ringworm, impetigo, boils and cold sores. Although these conditions are often blamed on the wrestling mat, the likely case of transmission is through bodily contact.

Why do I need a USA card?? 

Our club is affiliated with the USA Wrestling organization. It also provides secondary injury insurance if your child is injured at a tournament or practice and is required by the school district to practice and hold tournaments at the high school to limit their liability. All wrestling tournaments require that you purchase a USA Wrestling Card. Proof of date of birth is required for these cards. These cards offer injury insurance if your child is injured at a tournament or practice, and you do not have a primary health insurance. This protects you as well as our coaches and club.  It is mandatory.

Some Facts About Wrestling

Although more than 200,000 US High School students wrestle every year, the sport remains misunderstood and underrated. Here are some facts about wrestling:

• Wrestling is based on self-discipline, hard work, skill and determination.

• Wrestling is a non-violent sport. Wrestling is about control rather than violence. The objective in a wrestling match is to outscore one's opponent - not to injure or harm them in any way. Regulations do not tolerate actions intended to cause injury.

• Wrestling promotes sportsmanship. High school wrestling is perhaps the only sport to actually deduct team points for even minor sportsmanship infractions such as a derogative comment to an official, throwing one's headgear in frustration or exposing one's chest by removing any portion of one's singlet before leaving the mat. Wrestlers are not only required to shake hands before and after the match but are expected to shake the hand of their opponent's coach, win or lose before leaving the mat.

• A wrestling match has the strategy of a game of chess with an unlimited number of constantly changing possibilities. Technique, balance, speed and confidence are all just as important as strength in a wrestling match.