The season of wrestling is here and wrestlers have already been getting back into shape. Every year, new and returning members of the team start out with pre-workouts during the off-season to help them become the best they can be for competition.

Senior Jimmy Smith wants exactly that. Smith wrestled back in middle school for two years deciding to stop right before starting his high school career. However, with some convincing from his previous wrestling friends, Smith decided to come back to the mats.

The biggest change for Smith between middle and high school wrestling, was the change in conditioning.

“The workouts, the practice, all the conditioning that we’re doing, it’s difficult,” Smith says.  

Although exhausted, Smith feels great to be back in wrestling and seeing all the wrestlers he used to practice with back in middle school.

Wanting to keep active after football season, freshman Jose Tello decided to join wrestling. “Becoming a newcomer to the sport isn’t easy,” Tello says. The differences between football and wrestling became more prevalent to him the more time he spent on the mats.

“I have had some trouble getting some moves down, but I have teammates and coaches who are willing to help me learn these moves,” Trello says.

Aside from the difficulties of wrestling, he has enjoyed his time there and appreciates that everyone gets along, as well as how they push each other to get better and work hard.

Noticing the intense work his teammates put into the sport, sophomore Joseph Bik finally decided to join the wrestling team after going to pre-workouts, taking the advice of fellow wrestlers and friends to try the sport. Bik has seen a change in himself both mentally and physically after joining wrestling, pushing himself in ways he never has before.

“Your inside voice is telling you to quit every day, but you can’t listen to that,” Bik says.

Bik can see himself continuing on with the sport for the rest of his high school career and is excited to see what the future holds.