I’m the only girl in my family. My older brothers were both D1 collegiate wrestlers, one of whom competed for Boston University. BU has decided to discontinue the wrestling program. As a sister of wrestlers, I know for a fact that this is a mistake.
I have many wrestling-related memories and not all of them are pleasant. I remember sitting in a hot room while a bunch of scrawny little boys attempted to learn new moves. I remember wearing their headgears with my dance leotard claiming I wanted to wrestle. (My brothers would promptly put me in a headlock reminding me why I wanted to stick with dancing) I remember running away from my annoying pre-teen brothers who wanted to use me as a test dummy for new throws. I remember winters when the only food in the house was a basket of oranges because Dan needed to cut a ludicrous amount of weight for the betterment of the high school team. I remember at times hating everything about wrestling. Yet, wrestling is one of the best things that has happened to my family.
Wrestling, unfortunately, does not get the recognition it deserves and therefore many people are not familiar with the sport. For those who do not know much about it, here’s a basic outline:
You go toe to toe with your opponent for seven minutes in which the man who is better prepared, smarter, more strategic and more determined will win. Your teammates suffer with you in practice, workout with you and support you, but stay on the sideline while you step onto the mat for your match. You accept responsibility for what goes wrong because you’re the only one competing. If you start to mess up or you get tired there are no timeouts. If you start to back down you get penalized for stalling. Sometimes you know there is no way in hell you are going to win, but you walk onto the mat anyway. Kinda sounds like life, no?
I have many wrestling-related memories and a lot of them are wonderful. I remember seeing my brothers become captains of their teams. I remember seeing them support their teammates wholeheartedly even though they were tired, hungry and fresh off a lost match. I remember seeing them nobly wearing their college colors and feeling so proud of them. I remember seeing little boys go up to them after a match, looking at them like they were heroes.
I do not claim to understand what it is like to be a wrestler. But I do know that I have grown up with two of the most caring, dedicated, determined and courageous people I could ever hope to have in my life. I cannot stress enough how instrumental wrestling was to making my brothers the men they are today. The elimination of this sport from BU is an outrage. It is a detriment to the university and it’s an injustice to anyone who aspires to be a college athlete.