High school wrestling is exciting

High school wrestling is one of those sports that is very hard to pick up and start as a freshman in high school. In order to be good student athletes need to really start wrestling in middle school or even a little bit earlier.
If you look at the really good programs in the area or if you are familiar with the teams like Bedford (who have numerous state title) than you realized these kids start at an early age.
It is not a sport that people take easily too. There are a lot of moves, stances and maneuvers that you have to learn and practice over and over again. The real good programs have coaches who were in their own right good wrestlers at the high school and even the college level.
I have seen some great kids come out of wrestling and covered a few state champions. There was one person out of Flat Rock whose name was Casey Steffen who was perhaps one of the best wrestlers of his era. This guys was so good and so fast that when we sent photographers out to get a picture half the time his opponent was pinned and the referee had Stefan’s hand in the air for the win before we could get an action shot. We are talking in less than 15-20 seconds he had his opponent pinned.
Another very impressive wrestler was Chad Schoen out of Gibraltar Carlson. He won the state title at (189) and was a tremendous football player (much like Steffen).
I had the honor a few years ago to cover Greg Egbert from Ypsilanti who made it all the way to the state meet before dropping his first match. According to his old high school Coach Claudell Ruffin Egbert is now wrestling for Eastern and waiting for a very good (125) ahead of him to graduate so he can get than spot.
The funny thing about the sport is that it doesn’t usually get a lot of fans. The meets can be very long and the tournaments, which are usually held on Saturdays, can go on forever. I like the fact that they can get in five matches at a tournament and usually one or two during the week.
The hard part of the sport is weighing in and actually having to make those weights every time. It makes for some tough times when they have to drop weight to get in a match. Give these kids a lot of credit while their friends are all out scarfing down fast food they are eating healthy and training.
Don’t think that being on a wrestling team is a piece of cake and don’t think those kids are not busting their humps in order to succeed.
I know Belleville has had a long history of very good wrestlers and if you look on the wall in the gym you will see some great names from the past of athletes who did well in the sport. Their coaches are always very astute in the sports and whether it is head Coach Anthony Munoz or assistant (former head coach) Mike Sherman you can rest assure those kids are ready for action each and every time they hit the mat.
Lincoln’s new Coach Mike Epps is also very knowledgeable of the sport and I can tell he really wants to drive this team to the top of the SEC and build a solid foundation in the middle school. Marvin Jones at Willow Run has been gaining wrestlers every season and getting that program pointed in the right way.
Don’t think of wrestling as a sport to fill the time between seasons because it is a very involved and intricate sport that requires a lot of blood sweat and tears.