Dominators of the mat

Senior Miles Price has also been doing wrestling since he was a freshman. He first started wrestling because he wanted to go to the NFL during his freshman year. (Courtesy of Lucy Richins)

The whistle blows and the two wrestlers circle each other, poised to attack and gain the upper hand. Suddenly, one launches forward and attempts to tackle the opponent to the ground. However, the opponent quickly sidesteps the tackle and springs onto the wrestler. 

Senior Luca Sadder-Miller has been doing martial arts since he was seven and started wrestling when he was a freshman.  

“I’ve been doing mixed martial arts since I was young, like seven or eight,” Sadder-Miller said. “I kind of just picked the only mixed martial arts that [BHS] offered.” 

 On the other hand, senior Miles Price has also been doing wrestling since he was a freshman. He first started wrestling because he wanted to go to the NFL during his freshman year. 

“My freshman year, I wanted to go to the National Football League (NFL) and so I was looking at some really, really big names in the NFL and they did wrestling,” Price said. “And so I’m like, alright, if I want to go to the NFL, then I should do wrestling as well. And so when I did wrestling, I just enjoyed it more, and eventually moved over to wrestling over football.” 

Like Price, junior Ben Kildal has been wrestling since his freshman year. He first started because of his friend’s older brother. 

“One of my friends had an older brother did it, and he kind of made me want to join,” Kildal said. 

Sadder-Miller does wrestling because there is no glory involved at all in wrestling.  

“I do wrestling because… no matter how much you win, no matter how much you lose, like, nobody’s really gonna notice,” Sadder-Miller said. “Nobody really pays attention to wrestling.”

He also goes on to say wrestling is an individual sport.

“It is also, in my opinion, the hardest work you can do,” Sadder-Miller said. “So, like, everything that you do, all the work you put in, all the struggle that you face, there’s a lot, you’re doing it for yourself. Your teammates are going to notice, but at the end of the day, it changes you the most.” 

Price agrees that wrestling is a hard sport to do.  

“The thing with wrestling is that it’s very hard physically and mentally,” Price said. “Even if you’re the best wrestler in a tournament, there’s a chance that you don’t win just because you have a mental block, or you’re too cocky and you don’t wrestle your best because of that.” 

Kildal mentions how it is difficult to balance school and wrestling.  

“It’s very difficult to balance your time with the practices, the tournaments,” Kildal said. “And then also being on top of schoolwork.” 

During wrestling practice, wrestlers practice a lot of different physical activities.

“It’s mostly like repetition, you know, just practicing your takedowns, practicing defending takedowns, and then a lot of cardio,” Sadder-Miller said. “Just running, like carrying your friends, and running while you carry them, doing push-ups, stuff like that.” 

A takedown is where one wrestler gains control of their opponent and is able to bring their opponent down onto the mat from their standing position. Price adds on to say that you also have to do gymnast-like moves during practice.  

“And then we do some rolls and some acrobatic moves to help increase and further our athleticism,” Price said. “I’ve done several cartwheels in matches.”   

Sadder-Miller explains how when you are new to wrestling, choosing to keep coming back is challenging because of how much you push yourself at practice.  

“It’s like just being able to get your [butt] whooped and just keep coming back,” Sadder-Miller said. “Because, like I said, there’s no reward, right? So it’s just like you keep coming back, and then you just slowly get better.” 

You also practice matches during practice, according to Kildal.  

“You and your partner simulate a real match,” Kildal said. “And then that’s usually the end of practice.” 

Wrestlers have practice Monday through Friday, from 4 to 6:15 p.m, and a tournament all day on Saturdays.  

Price has gotten several awards such as medals for No.8 of the tournament, No.3 of the tournament, most inspirational wrestler, and most improved wrestler.  

“There’s one tournament where I actually got a sweatshirt from it,” Price said. “That was pretty fun.” 

Sadder-Miller has also gotten many awards, including one for most improved wrestler.

“I’ve gotten a few, just winning tournaments and getting second place,” Sadder-Miller said. “Stuff like that.”

Price admits that being athletic has helped him with training when he first started. 

“Warmups are hard for a lot of people,” Price said. “Being athletic and trying my best at practice really helped.”  

Wrestling isn’t as easy as some people think.  Not everyone is able to do wrestling because of how challenging it is, mentally and physically.  You have to be able to come to each tournament in a good mindset because if you come to the tournament in a cocky mindset, you are not going to do so well.