Whether running suicides on the basketball court or running ladders on the track, every athlete must painstakingly practice to hone their skills. But perhaps its the wrestlers that go through the most difficult and grueling of practices.

Wrestling is one of the most physical and exhausting sports around, with the matches consist of two opponents continuously grappling with each other and trying to get the upper hand over the other. The matches can be quick but are always physically taxing, so it’s important to recreate the grueling situations seen on the mats during practice.

Wrestling can be such a physically demanding sport that schools around the nation have put in place rules requiring wrestlers to be 18 years old to be on the team.

“Its tough,” said Junior Hunter Miller. “It can be real bad for the guys that weren’t being active before the season.”

“People talk about how tough it is, but they don’t even know,” said senior Rad Hampton. “I lost three pounds in the first week just from how much stuff we had to do.”

“I would have to say the drill matches are the toughest,” said Hampton. “It takes  a lot out of you and we have to do it so much.”

Miller went on to describe the practices as requiring constant movement involving numerous sprints, mountain climbers and lots of drill matches. “It helps us get into that mind set on the mats, to always be moving.”

Practices have gotten so intense some times that some of the wrestlers have reportedly throwing up in the middle of running.

“Its pretty common for some of the new guys to do that,” said Miller. “Sometimes even returning guys throw up cause they haven’t been very active leading up to the season.”

Despite all the difficulties faced at practice the wrestlers can’t help but feel they’ve walked away with useful experiences. “It really does help us out,” said Miller. “It gets us ready for how intense the matches can be.”

“Oh yeah, it defiantly helps us,” Hampton said. “It really helps us get into shape for our matches.”