Although boys and girls wrestling may be two separate teams, they both have the same goals in mind when they wrestle. These goals are to learn, to bond with one another and most importantly to win.

Both teams try their best to learn by putting countless hours into their practices. According to Richard Meyer (’23), Their practices are typically short, but very high intensity. 

The head coach of the boys team Jacob Hawks says that their practices help the wrestlers learn several different things. “We have certain drills we work on every day, which are concentrated on high percentage positions we get in during a wrestling match. This helps us become more successful in scoring from those high percentage positions,” Hawks said.

The coaches also try to help their teams learn from their mistakes. “We also have time where we work on positions that we noticed some wrestlers struggled with from the previous event to strengthen their technique in that area,” Hawks said.

While they also try to work on the positions they are not the best at, according to the head coach of the girls team Maxwell Newbury, they also try to work on the positions that they encounter the most. “We like to focus on getting better at the common positions we find ourselves in every wrestling match,” Newbury said.

They also do live wrestling on occasion. “Live wrestling is similar to wrestling in a tournament, just mostly to get us prepared for tournaments,” Lillian Steigerwald (’23) said.

Along with learning and getting better at all the positions in wrestling, the wrestlers also have to work on their conditioning. Steigerwald says that they have to do a lot of drills as well as sprints. These things help build their cardio.

Combined with the learning aspect of wrestling comes the bonding. The main goal is to have their wrestlers be as confident in themselves as possible. “One of the things that we focus on is our wrestlers being confident and believing in themselves every time they step on the mat,” Newbury said.

The coaches also try to keep a positive environment at practice and be as encouraging as possible to help build the wrestlers confidence.

Based on the feedback by the wrestlers, it is easy to tell that this positive environment has made a very positive impact on many on the wrestlers. “It’s a really good feeling to be on the team. It definitely feels like my second family. I feel safe when I’m wrestling with other girls and the coaches make you feel good about yourself,” Steigerwald said. 

“A lot of it is the coaches are teaching us how to be just better people,” Meyer said.

These skills of learning and bonding have helped these teams become some of the best in the nation.