For young athletes it's a social experience with elements of competition and physical output. As wrestlers get older the sport becomes part of their identity a la "Mark from the wrestling team." For parents it's a way to show pride in their children, for coaches a chance to teach life lessons and maybe scratch a few competitive urges. Journalists in wrestling enjoy the stats, the storytelling, and being members of a community they don't want to leave behind.
Motivations vary, but ultimately wrestling binds together generations of fans, professionals, and athletes in their shared experience inside the sport.
Still, everyone in the wrestling community shares the same values in life. Like any sport or organization there is the full range of personalities in our sport -- those who want to help, those who want to take, and those who simply see it as another job. There are bad influences and there are good.
Despite political or social differences, our community has tended to be in sync is regarding the health of the athletes. We spend a lot of money, time, and effort limiting the spread of skin diseases like ringworm, impetigo, and herpes. Athletes shower after practice, apply special soaps, and disinfect their rooms with sprays and lights. Parents, athletes, administrators and businesses all have the goal to keep our young athletes out of harm's way.
So, it's confusing and angering that now -- with the deadliest, most transmissible disease in 100 years running rampant across the country -- members of our community would choose to eschew their responsibility to keep each other healthy and hold youth wrestling practices.
We are living through a pandemic. More than 1,000 people have been dying per day for more than two weeks and there are more than 50,000 new cases every day. Almost 160,000 Americans have died of the disease since March.
And the response to this widespread death and suffering is to … have kids wrestle?
We can blame the federal government's absolutely abhorrent response as a driving cause for the lack of clarity on how to proceed, but too many coaches are taking that high-level confusion and using it as an excuse for practicing when they know damn well it endangers the lives of athletes.
Professional athletes -- those who are paid to wrestle for a living -- at least have an argument to why they would want to continue wrestling. It feeds their family and they want to be prepared for the next tournament (whenever that is) and many are practicing in pods, getting frequent testing, and following stringent protocols. The professional jiu-jitsu community is similar with one well-known athlete recently returning to the mats but making note that he's doing so with the knowledge he can no longer see his parents and keeping a tight training circle. Maybe not ideal, but as an adult who can weigh the consequences of his actions he's doing his best to maintain a heathy environment.
Children don't have that option to self-isolate or create a training pod. They live at home with Mom and Dad and their brothers and sisters. They see grandma and grandad. It's obnoxious that the coaches who are meant to help children make community-based decisions have chosen their pocketbooks over the health and safety of the children they are meant to lead.
Stop practicing. Stop competing. Americans do not have this virus under control and risking the lives of the next generation of wrestlers for personal gain is the most selfish act we've seen in our community.
We are all paying a financial price for the incompetence of our government and the ravages of this disease. But there is no reason to make our children carry that burden when it is ours to shoulder.
To your questions …
Q: Who are the most exciting, active pinners in freestyle wrestling? Pick the top men and women who are all about that #PinfallLife
-- @NHoughSnee
Foley: First, no nation goes for the kill more often than Mongolia. Men and women both are constantly looking to throw from their feet and control for a fall. Watching one of their matches can be incredibly frustrating because they will consistently risk multiple point leads in the hopes of hitting some outrageous foot sweep or lateral drop. But also, its just fun to watch.
Freestyle has a few throwers, but I think David Taylor is the one most consistently looking to pin opponents. He has more control on top and transitions out of his defensive positions into cradles. Frank Chamizo is another guy who is always searching for a step over or to create chaos from a scramble position. Basically, in freestyle anyone who is willing to let gut wrench action progress far enough to search for a step over is considered a pinner.
The Chinese men, while not altogether impressive, also spend a lot of time searching for cradles, pancakes, and front head roll throughs.
Maria Stadnik works for the fall (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)On the women's side it's Maria Stadnick. She has zero quit and because she's so strong a lot of her forward pressure isn't properly combatted, and she just steamrolls opponents to their backs. Qian Zhou of China and Feng Zhou of China also wrestle into opponents when they are on their haunches and catch a lot of opponents on their back. Their teammate Yanan Sun is probably the most aggressive big-move athlete in the world and has had success versus younger or less experienced in finding the fall, but less so against quality talent.
Vinesh is another uber-athletic talent with eyes on the fall. Lots of step overs, foot sweeps, headlocks, and pancakes from India's wrestling start. She's arguably the most dangerous wrestler in the world.
Q: Wonder if you saw this because some of the debates on Twitter.
-- @pareyouwithme
Foley: Frankie Quintana is an excellent example of a young and healthy individual who is being directly affected by COVID-19. That he is alive is remarkable and a blessing. He needs our support now more than ever so if you can please donate plasma!
Again, it speaks to the point that we know what this disease can do and we know how to prevent its spread. There is no mystery in how to defeat this disease, but a lack of self-discipline and a rampant me-first culture among some in the community is making our sport vulnerable.
This can't be said or written enough: Wrestling will not cease to exist if we stop practicing for a few months. Young wrestlers won't miss a scholarship opportunity. Coaches will make money again in the future. On the flip side if an infected wrestler comes to practice you are running then you have endangered the life of everyone on your team. If you are sick and you knowingly practice you are endangering everyone in that room. You are also endangering their parents and grandparents.
I don't know where Frankie was infected, but I can assure you that he won't be the only wrestler affected by this terrible disease if we still have coaches who are holding practices.
Please keep Frankie in your thoughts.
Q: I see all this talk about the college wrestling season potentially starting in January. It doesn't seem realistic until there is a vaccine. Could you see college wrestlers opting out, like we are seeing with college football players and pro athletes?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Even if there is a vaccine I highly doubt that enough Americans will take it and create something like a herd immunity. Unfortunately our information systems in America have been rotted away by Facebook with the uncle of your buddy's post from PatriotEagleOne News Blog getting as much credence as reports from the NYT and the Washington Post.
The anti-vaxxers are going to get us all killed because they saw a short video on YouTube and think Bill Gates and Dr. Fauci cooked up COVID in a lab somewhere so they could take over the world. These conspiracy theories would be hysterical if it wasn't so pathetic, self-interested, and deadly.
If football makes it through then I think they will try to start a wrestling season, but I just don't think we can last long with the numbers of outbreaks we can expect in teams around the country. Even if we advocate for bubbles these are college kids we are talking about. I'm highly skeptical we are going to keep them out of high-density group environments.
Ultimately, there is nothing we can do about the sport launching in January until the whole of America decides to drop the bullcrap and start wearing a mask, socially distance themselves, and implement a robust nationwide testing and tracing program
Do you see that happening? I don't.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Just because these are awesome
Q: What rule changes could be made to make Greco more fan-friendly?
-- @RichardAMann
Foley: When it's good, it's great. When it's bad, it's dreadful.
Greco-Roman has moments where it's fan friendly -- sky-high five-point throws, over-the-head lifts, and brutal front headlocks. However, over the past five years the balance of matches can seem slow. The hand-fighting and positioning of the feet are high-level techniques that wrestling aficionados tend to enjoy, but to your question that's not entirely fan-friendly.
An idea floated in 2013 was to have the Greco-Roman athletes wear compression tops with additional tack on the back to allow for better grip. That way you'd see the difference in freestyle and Greco-Roman, but also allow for better traction when attempting throws. Ultimately the idea didn't make it very far, but the inspiration was on point. There is far too much sweaty skin exposed to allow for great grips and throws, especially after the first minute.
I'd be against any clinching, but I don't mind the recent action with referees doing a better job rewarding positive wrestling and dinging negative wrestling. Referee education and oversight will ultimately determine the success of Greco-Roman on the world stage. The best refs can get the athletes to engage and wrestle with intent.
Q: How many Division I programs will we have this time in 2022?
-- @ZingherPolisci
Foley: So much of what will happen with Division I athletics is going to depend on the next four weeks and how the NCAA handles football.
There are already COVID outbreaks on teams across the country and some schools have cancelled their seasons, but the health of wrestling will still depend on the Power 5 conferences and how they choose to handle these outbreaks.
As of now, I think they are going to disregard the health of the athletes and just go forward as we've seen in baseball. The only caveat to that is some administrators with a backbone might find the courage to end the seasons of teams with sustained outbreaks.
If the football season is truncated, or collapses under the weight of the outbreak, we are looking at something like 5-8 at-risk programs being dropped in the fall and winter. If basketball is canceled, then the number will balloon to 10-15. This really might end up being an apocalyptic event for all Division I athletics and the systems that have previously kept them afloat.
What if I said I could introduce you to the mysterious Bajrang Bois?
-- @Jagger712
Foley: I'd say send the invite.
Bajrang.
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