Walking in the Academy building on Dec. 4, I was kicking myself in the rear for accepting to go to a wrestling meet. Being the first home meet of the season in a brand new wrestling facility, I felt as if I had to go; of course if I did not I would not still be working for the newspaper. I walked in trying to mentally prepare myself for the next three hours of what I predicted to be full of boredom.

But how wrong I was. Before heading into the meet, I thought wrestling was just a bunch of sweaty people rolling around on a mat. Now, after leaving, my appreciation for the athletes that participate in this sport exceeds any others.

The amount of complexity that goes into a wrestling match is astounding. The entire sport takes the brute strength of a football player, the strategy of a baseball athlete, and the endurance of a soccer player. Three periods long, each round being two minutes, a wrestler exerts more energy in that time than a football player does in an entire 60 minute football game. That fact in of itself blew me out of the water.

Before I knew it, I was getting excited just watching the exhibition matches. As the night went on, all of my previous beliefs and superstitions about wrestling went out the window, and I was cheering on every wrestler, and getting into the sport.

Not only was I enjoying the sport, but I was understanding it. The amount of rules to the scoring of a match is unbelievable, but not a reason someone should not go. A pin is worth six team points, if you win a match with a point differential you earn three team points, and if you win by a differential of 15 match points, you earn five team points. Scoring in wrestling is a hand full, and the amount of strategy that goes into getting match points is absolutely astounding. Despite having a lot to understand, a wrestling match is one of the most exhilarating and exciting sports to watch. Every single match is like the occasional touchdown scored by a football team, or the last two minutes of a basketball game. If a student is looking for an exhilarating sport, forget about basketball or baseball or football, head to the wrestling mat.

During a match you are not just trying to get a pin, you’re trying to earn yourself points in the match. A takedown is worth two, getting back to your feet in the neutral position gives you one point, while changing position from bottom to top called a reversal gives you two points.

Leaving the meet, two matches stuck in my head. Freshman, Austin Damron was down in his match 7-1. Within a matter of seconds, he turned the entire bout around and pinned his opponent with an amazing thrown.  He locked up his opponent and launched him through the air to his back and squeezing him for the fall. The other extremely impressive match I saw was senior Jacob Paddock. I had high expectations of Paddock from the start, but he blew me away, earning a pin within the first 44 seconds of the match at a time when the Panthers needed it the most to get them back in the team race. The athletes who go into this sport are unbelievable.

Wrestling has been stuck in the shadows of sports like football and basketball for far too long. By now, people should understand the sport goes beyond the spandex suits, and two people just rolling around on a mat. Wrestlers deserve far more credit than they receive, and definitely be put in the spotlight far more often. For the Ray-Pec wrestlers, no other athlete can overcome what you do each and every day.