EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on Feb. 2, 2007.
The news this week that the Minnesota State High School League was shutting down wrestling because of an outbreak of herpes gladiatorum reverberated around the state as quick as a sonic boom. The news was everywhere, on television, on the front page of almost every newspaper, including ours, and on the Internet. And although even we, as a news outlet, had an obligation to inform our community how this impacted our high school wrestling team, I could only think how unfortunate the news was. You may have guessed from looking at me that I was high school wrestler, on varsity for three years in my hometown in northwestern Minnesota. Although I haven't been active in it for years, I love the sport, and I couldn't help but feel the anguish that local coach Cliff Casteel must have been feeling Tuesday. His words spoke volumes to anyone who is associated with the sport: "Initially when I heard about it, I started thinking how horrible it is for the sport of wrestling to get this kind of media coverage because it's not positive." No coach, player or fan of any sport wants to see negative news about their passion. Ask baseball fans how much they've enjoyed the steroid talk the last 10 years or so. But for wrestlers and wrestling fans it's different. Unfortunately, it's a sport that's little followed and little understood, and almost always when the sport is in the news, it's because of a negative story. When most people hear the word wrestling, the first image they conjure up is the bulked-up and gaudily dressed freaks that perform late at night on the cable channels. But there truly is a sport of wrestling that doesn't involve the World Wrestling Federation. High school wrestling certainly is a niche sport, which unless you know someone who wrestles or belong to a wrestling family, you probably don't follow it. Unless your school is known as a wrestling school, wrestlers often perform in fairly empty gymnasiums with only their family and friends there to cheer them on. It's an isolated sport in which although there is a team aspect to it, there is no one else competing on the mat besides you and your opponent. When you step into the circle, there is little your teammates can do to help you out; you're on your own. Aside from the jokes about and the comparisons to all-star wrestling, prep wrestlers have to endure the endless jokes about the uniforms they wear and the references to homosexuality that naturally arise from those who do not understand the sport. And on top of all that, there is the negative press. There's the fact that skin diseases, and unfortunately other ailments such as staph infections, can be passed along because of the skin-to-skin contact of wrestling, as everyone learned this week. In the past, there have been negative stories about wrestlers who have been harmed because they didn't diet properly and tried to "cut down" too many weights. There's the common misconception that wrestling isn't anything but sanctioned brutality, and the list of negative press about wrestling goes on. However, this oft-maligned sport is one of athleticism, grace, beauty and intestinal fortitude. Wrestlers spend hundreds, if not thousands, of hours training during their high school career often with less of a chance to pursue their sport at a higher level than most other high school athletes. There's far fewer college wrestling programs than there are for mainstream sports and the few programs that exist are very competitive. Beyond that, there's no career wrestling opportunities as there are in other sports, and there are virtually no adult wrestling opportunities for the average Joe as there are in most other sports. There are no pick-up games, so to speak. All of this contributes to the small audience for high school wrestling and thus the lack of understanding; compound that by the negative press and you can understand why coach Casteel was frustrated Tuesday. It was a sad day for all wrestling enthusiasts and I sympathize with our local wrestlers who will miss the opportunity to participate for eight days. But what's more unfortunate is what the episode will do for the reputation of an already misunderstood sport. Most who took a surface-level interest in the sport Wednesday because of the drastic wrestling season suspension won't take the time to go to a match when the season resumes and they will be left with the memory that "wrestling is that sport where kids give each other herpes gladiatorum." That's truly unfortunate because the sport and the athletes don't deserve that. - Devlyn Brooks is managing editor of the Northfield News. He can be reached at dbrooks@northfieldnews.com.
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