Wrestling

Wrestling was introduced in the ancient Olympic Games in 708 BC, and was a focus of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.  Women's wrestling was added in 2004.  In February 2013, the IOC voted to remove wrestling from the Olympic program, but in September of that year they voted to re-add wrestling.

Men compete in both Greco-Roman wrestling and Freestyle, while women only compete in Freestyle.  The major difference is that Freestyle allows the use of the wrestler's or opponent's legs for defense or offense.  The ultimate goal is to throw and pin your opponent to the mat, resulting in an immediate win.  The US is very successful in Olympic wrestling, as are the former Soviet Union and Japan.

Green B. Trimble Technical High School has both men's and women's wrestling, and the coach and team were generous enough to let us join one of their practices.  We weighed in and did some warm up exercises, and practiced some techniques.  Flexibility is a major component of wrestling, to allow you to escape an opponent's grip, or to grab your opponent.  We were very impressed with the flexibility of the wrestlers.

After learning some techniques, we paired up with each other or with members of the team.  We had a lot of fun throwing and pinning each other.

M has L flipped backwards

L was a huge fan of the leg-lace

R and J wrestling

R doesn't seem to concerned with L's hold on her.

L is about to win the count-out

M working with a Trimble Tech wrestler

Practice lasted a couple hours, and afterwards we re-weighed ourselves.  We all lost a few pounds during the workout.  We also learned a lot about wrestling, and had a great time.  Thank you, Trimble Tech.  Go Bulldogs!