This week in Iowa, the high school football season will come to an end for the vast majority of the boys across the state. While many will head on to basketball, wrestling continues to be huge in the state of Iowa. That is in big part that the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are all major powers in NCAA Wrestling.
While wrestling continues to be very popular, as a friend said tonight, it can be the hardest sport by far on the parents. Our kids come home absolutely exhausted, we have to watch them get tied up in knots, and worst of all, we have to watch them starve themselves in order to maintain their weight.
When I was in high school, yes that has been a few years ago now, I remember teammates who basically would go a week without eating anything. After finally weighing in, they would gorge themselves before we started wrestling that night. This was very unhealthy and could cause permanent damage to the kids.
That is why the Iowa High School Athletic Association, as well as every other state in the country, has adopted strict rules on weight loss. A person can only lose a certainly percentage of body fat. Plus, at the beginning of the season, a wrestler has to gradually cut weight. Because of their body fat percentage, most wrestlers have to wrestle at higher weight class than what they plan at the beginning of the season. The IHSAA even has a video explaining the weight loss rules and guidelines on their website.
It is important for the student athletes to get ready for wrestling and their weight loss in a gradual descent. A weight loss plan will help the wrestlers get to the weight they need to be at and their body fat percentage at the right level, before the season starts or shortly after the season starts. This will take them away from having to starve as the season goes on. The wrestlers should start eating a healthy diet and being smart about their calorie intake now.
During the season, the athletes need to make sure they keep taking in healthy calories. Starvation will do nothing but hurt the body and make the wrestler weaker and more likely to become ill or injured. Perhaps the smartest addition to high school wrestling over the past years is the two pound rule. This rule is that after the holiday break, each weight class moves up two pounds to make it easier on the wrestler.
While wrestling can be a very grueling and demanding sport, the rules have changed to help the athletes and make it easier on them. Wrestling can also be a great sport for these boys and teach them valuable life lessons. All of this will lead to wrestling continuing to grow in popularity.
While wrestling continues to be very popular, as a friend said tonight, it can be the hardest sport by far on the parents. Our kids come home absolutely exhausted, we have to watch them get tied up in knots, and worst of all, we have to watch them starve themselves in order to maintain their weight.
When I was in high school, yes that has been a few years ago now, I remember teammates who basically would go a week without eating anything. After finally weighing in, they would gorge themselves before we started wrestling that night. This was very unhealthy and could cause permanent damage to the kids.
That is why the Iowa High School Athletic Association, as well as every other state in the country, has adopted strict rules on weight loss. A person can only lose a certainly percentage of body fat. Plus, at the beginning of the season, a wrestler has to gradually cut weight. Because of their body fat percentage, most wrestlers have to wrestle at higher weight class than what they plan at the beginning of the season. The IHSAA even has a video explaining the weight loss rules and guidelines on their website.
It is important for the student athletes to get ready for wrestling and their weight loss in a gradual descent. A weight loss plan will help the wrestlers get to the weight they need to be at and their body fat percentage at the right level, before the season starts or shortly after the season starts. This will take them away from having to starve as the season goes on. The wrestlers should start eating a healthy diet and being smart about their calorie intake now.
During the season, the athletes need to make sure they keep taking in healthy calories. Starvation will do nothing but hurt the body and make the wrestler weaker and more likely to become ill or injured. Perhaps the smartest addition to high school wrestling over the past years is the two pound rule. This rule is that after the holiday break, each weight class moves up two pounds to make it easier on the wrestler.
While wrestling can be a very grueling and demanding sport, the rules have changed to help the athletes and make it easier on them. Wrestling can also be a great sport for these boys and teach them valuable life lessons. All of this will lead to wrestling continuing to grow in popularity.
I am glad that they are doing more and more about this issue. I am from SE Minnesota and live right on the border of Iowa, so it is prime wrestling country. Not only do we have the influence of Iowa's big schools, but we also have the University of Minnesota which is just as big as Iowa in wrestling. Every year I watched my fellow classmates starve themselves during the season. They would get pail and pasty skin and their cheek bones would even start sinking in. It was so unhealthy. They were crabby and tired all the time. It is about time they start doing something about this. My question though, is what the "hardcore" wrestlers are going to do. Will they just starve themselves year round? These individuals have eating disorders. If a girl was to do this to her body, she needs to see a doctor and has a medical disorder, but if a boy does this, he is just a wrestler. Something is wrong here.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see a school system taking a proactive stance for athlete’s to be in good health and not merely make the team mentality.
ReplyDeleteI know when my husband was in high school he was on the wrestling team. Back then he would eat only vegetables for days and wear those awful plastic suits that caused a person to sweat just to make weight before a match.
Then no one knew enough about the long term effects of crash dieting and dehydration had on a body. Now that he is older he can not believe what he did to his body just so that he could compete in a game.
I am very glad that a few years ago, the IAHSAA outlawed the plastic suits. Of course we would still put on two sweat suits but that was still not nearly as bad as the plastic. Those things really were horrible.
ReplyDelete