Jay Kelly ’14: While all of Episcopal’s athletes work hard both in sports practice and in the classroom, the members of the wrestling team arguably keep the most grueling schedule.
Head Coach Damon Kuzemka explained to Scholium the rigors of EA wrestling, starting with the normal schedule for a week. A typical week consists of five to six practices, assuming the team does not have a match. Each practice stresses the importance of physical endurance and strength, as there are multiple fitness portions of every practice. After an initial warm up, the team goes into a cross-fit style work out.
Following the first fitness session, the team then breaks into an instructional section followed by wrestling. Practice concludes with a high-rep-focused “burnout” session.
On weekends, provided the team is not competing in a tournament, the team has exhausting, “team-building” conditioning workouts.
For instance, Mr Kuzemka remaked on the story that one weekend last year the team met at Ridley Creek State Park for a workout. There, teammates were paired up only to find that their task was to run up the daunting half-mile hill. As one partner ran up the hill, the other sat on his shoulders.
They were greeted at the top of the hill by Coach Damon Kuzemka himself who rewarded their triumphs with more drills. Later Kuzemka had his team jog back to the bottom of the hill and repeat the cycle.
The workout concluded with a two-mile run through the woods.
Captain Luke Brooman ’13 commented, “Wrestling is a pretty demanding sport but it creates a camaraderie among the kids which makes the sport much easier.”
These demands don’t cease over the holiday break, with mandatory practices every day except Christmas.
Perhaps separating the level of commitment displayed by wrestlers from the commitment expected from every other group of athletes is the wrestlers’ dedication to losing weight in order to gain entry into a specific weight class.
At the beginning of every season there is a certification process. The process includes a hydration and body fat test. This process allows the coaching staff to determine each individual wrestler’s minimum healthy weight and the pace at which a wrestler can lose weight. Often this pace is set at 1.5 to two pounds per week. Once the tests are completed, the wrestlers can begin the actual process of losing the weight.
The wrestlers, in addition to the difficult practices, individually work on their own schedules to lose the weight. The wrestlers often jump rope and go on runs in order to strengthen their metabolism as well as improve their endurance. They also entirely avoid eating unhealthy and unnecessary foods. The wrestlers lose weight in a safe way while managing to stay nourished and to give their bodies the needed fuel to perform athletically.
Julio Del Peon, who has lost eight pounds this wrestling season, remarked, “The process is not an easy one but we [the wrestlers] do it in order to get the most out of the sport we love and to which we dedicate so much.”
Nile Hardy ’14, another member of the wrestling team who is losing weight, said, “Even though its difficult losing weight, I know I’m doing it for the team and that makes up for the sacrifice.” These two wrestlers display a strongly devoted attitude that has become customary for members of the wrestling team.
For some, the time commitment of our wrestling program alone is enough to cause hesitations about joining the team. The time commitment combined with the physical demand of the sport intimidates an even larger amount of people. However, those who do choose to wrestle are required to consistently devote themselves entirely to the team, shown by the difficulty and frequency of practices. This devotion causes many to argue that our wrestlers are the most dedicated athletes of the winter season.