Chapter 2: Why Wrestle?
Oscar and Ron set off for the Gym Building. On the way, Ron reviewed what little he knew of his companion. He knew that Oscar's family had moved to Middleton over the summer. From overhearing talk around the school, he knew that Oscar had come from a small town in one of the Dakotas. While Ron had never started a conversation with him Ron guessed that he was an okay guy. He seldom spoke but when he did he was well mannered, pleasant and he always seemed to hold doors for people. He was in Ron's American Government Class but no others. Ron recalled seeing Trigonometry and Chemistry textbooks in the other boy's bag during this class so Oscar must be a pretty good student.
Ron took a few minutes to look over the other boy. Oscar was about Ron's height, about 5'6 or so. He had a very plain face with a somewhat crooked nose. His hair was reddish brown and he kept it cut very short, almost a crewcut. He wasn't much for being in fashion. As usual he wore jeans, boots, and a cotton button up shirt. He looked very much like a blue-collar worker heading out for a day's work. Although these clothes masked his body, Ron knew that he would have a very wiry yet strong build. Ron had locked up with enough henchmen and villains to recognize toughness when he encountered it. The kicker was Oscar's neck. It came out to the outside edges of his ears.
Ron grinned inwardly. He had been doing the 'save the world' missions with Kim for so long that he couldn't help but evaluate someone's physical attributes upon a first meeting. Oscar seemed to be sizing Ron up as well. Teenage male thing I guess. Ron thought.
"I thought wrestling season started later in the year." Ron broke the silence.
"It does. Coach Winters is holding workouts three times a week. You can see the workout and judge for yourself if you want to join. If so, the extra workouts will give you a leg up for when the season starts in earnest after the fall sports seasons are over."
"If you like wrestling so much why aren't you working out right now?"
"I made the football team so I'm tied up on the field until the season ends. Since it's a home game tonight I've got a few minutes to try to recruit another wrestler before I have to be at the Locker Room." Oscar grinned, "I guess you have a few minutes before you need to put on the Mad Dog Uniform."
"A few," Ron agreed, "don't take this wrong but I don't recall what position you play."
"No big deal. I'm the backup fullback and backup strong safety. I'm not big enough to play linebacker and I'm not fast enough to be the tailback or a starting safety. But I don't mind. I get some playing time every game. My dad gets to see me play so I don't care if the whole school doesn't recognize me."
"Sort of like being the Mascot?" The boys shared a commiserating smile. Ron had just met Oscar but he already knew the newcomer would be a good friend.
"So you were saying something about a spiel?" Ron gave Oscar his opening.
"Remember," started Oscar, "that I'm biased. I think that high school wrestling is the greatest sport there is. So take everything I say with a grain of salt. Now here's why I love the sport. First of all, you wrestle in weight classes. The weight classes are 98, 105, 112, 119, 126, 132, 138, 145, 155, 167, 185 and heavyweight. That means that unlike football, lacrosse, or even basketball, you won't get run over by someone who outweighs you by fifty pounds. You'll be going up against guys roughly your size. I'm not trying to be insulting but you're not exactly buff and packed. This makes wrestling a good sport for us noodle-arms"
"Us noodle-arms?" Ron looked the wiry student up and down.
"I didn't start filling in my frame till this summer. Look Ron, I don't think that either of us will ever be what you could call 'ripped' but we can put on a sort of wiry strength. In fact, if you're helping Possible in her missions wiry strength just might be preferable to big, bulging muscles."
"Good point," answered Ron, secretly wincing at how close Oscar had come to why he wanted to join a team. "Got any more reasons I should want to wrestle?"
"Yeah, the second reason is that popularity and coolness don't matter out on the mat. You can be dirt poor, ugly, have no fashion sense, a bad dancer and never have a snappy comeback. Once you're out on the mat you're a wrestler and that's all that matters. Your teammates can't decide to not pass you the ball because they don't like you. You're out there, mano-a-mano, with your opponent. I'm not saying that they do, but the coaches can't put someone in just to play favorites. You pick out the varsity on the mat in the practice room."
"Okay, wrestling is strictly merit based much like an algebra test. Anything else?"
"Yes. You may have to make up your mind about this yourself but I think that wrestling is just about the best workout you can get. I don't consider myself a real jock but I've played football and run both track and cross-country. Wrestling is the hardest workout I've ever had and it hits every muscle in your body. Of course some of your martial arts might be rougher but like I said before, you make the call."
"I believe you there. I watched a little Olympic Wrestling and those guys looked like every muscle they had got worked."
"High School Wrestling is similar to the Free Style Wrestling you see on the Olympics. The rules are a little different to keep the sport more safe. You wrestle up to three periods of two minutes each. The first period starts with both of you on your feet, the second starts with one of you on top, the last starts with the other on top. If at any time one of you scores a pin the match is over."
"I'm with you so far."
"Good. You score points against your opponent during your match. The result of the match scores points for the team. For the match, if you take your opponent down, you get two points."
"What's a takedown?" Ron asked.
"The rule book defines a takedown as placing yourself in a dominant position from a neutral position. The way I say it is that if the two of you are on your feet, and you put your opponent on the mat with you on top, you've scored a takedown."
"Got it, and this scores me two points?"
"Yes. Next is an escape. If your opponent is on top of you, and you break loose and both wind up on your feet, you've just scored an escape. That's one point for you. The next is a reversal. If you are on the bottom and you put your opponent on the bottom without both of you going to your feet, that's a reversal and it's worth two points. Next are near fall points. If you turn your opponent onto his back, so that his shoulders form a less than forty-five degree angle to the mat, you get two points for the near fall. If you hold this position for more than five seconds that score goes up to three points."
"Finally, there's the pin. If you hold both of his shoulders to the mat for two seconds, you have pinned him. This is an automatic win and the match is over. Neither the match score, nor the time left matter. The ref will slap the mat, once, to signal this."
"That's it?"
"Pretty much. There are penalty points for faults like clasping hands, stalling, and other things. You'll pick up more on the rules during the practices. The goal is to take your opponent down, turn him over onto his back, and pin him."
"What about team points?"
"If the two of you wrestle to a draw both teams get two points. If you win by fewer than eight points the team gets three points. If you win by between eight and eleven points the team gets four points. If you win by more than twelve points the team gets five points. If you win by a pin, forfeit, or disqualification the team gets six."
Oscar paused a minute. "That was scoring for a duel, or when two teams wrestle each other. During tournaments, or when you have eight or more teams, the scoring is different. You score a few points for winning and pinning but you really score points for placing."
"Placing?" Ron asked.
"During tournaments the wrestlers in each weight class are put together like their own elimination tournament. If you place 1st through fourth, and sometimes even further down, you generate 'placing points' for your team. That's where the major team points are scored in tournaments. If you score ten team points in a season you earn a letter."
"Okay," Ron answered, "I'm getting the picture. Now since I'm hardly a jock and this is the first I've ever wrestled, I can't picture me being on the varsity. What happens to us 'not good enough' guys?"
"That's the best part. When we wrestle a duel with another school, both schools bring in all their non-varsity wrestlers and put them up against each other. No official team scores are kept for these 'B' matches. So everyone gets to wrestle everyone from the other team. How much do you weigh?"
"About 125 or so."
"Okay say we have four guys, including you, in the 126 weight class. Now say you don't make the varsity and we wrestle Lowerton. Say they've got three guys in the 126-weight class. Both of their 'B' guys will wrestle all three of our 'B' guys. Heck, if they have a spare 132 guy you'll get to wrestle him. It's all about getting in as much mat time as you can. The other thing is that the 'B' guys have to set up the mats for the matches."
"I have to admit that I'm interested." By now the two boys had reached a small workout room to the side of the main gym.
"Good, here's The Pit. See what you think."
Ron had about twenty minutes to watch the wrestlers work out before he had to get ready for the game. What he saw intrigued him. He saw a few of the food chain elite and some of his fellow bottom dwellers throwing each other across the mats. While he watched the room became hotter and more humid. Sweat started to pour out of the boys working out. They hardly seemed to notice. Ron wasn't an expert on wrestling but he knew a good workout when he saw one.
The best part of this is that it's an individual sport. He thought. That means if I screw up I'm not bringing the team down. The only way I could do that is if I make the varsity. He snorted out a laugh. Like the ultimate loser will ever manage that.
Ron screwed up his courage and went to introduce himself to Coach Winters.