Heat of the moment, locked up in a choke hold, and the passionate chanting of your name from the stands. Pride and dignity on the line, your only option is to keep fighting through. That is what wrestling is about. In this project, we dive deep into the mind of a wrestler. While sports are a part of everyone’s culture, wrestling brings about grueling and exhausting work that no other sport can compare to.
There is a lot more to wrestling than meets the eye. Wrestling is a sport loved by many but is often too draining for the everyday person. Our interviewee Cayden McNellis states that, “Wrestling is not a fun sport, everyone says you play football ad you play basketball, but you don’t play wrestling.” Cayden McNellis is a dedicated wrestler who has recently made varsity for wrestling. Having come from a wrestling background, this sport seemed to be the most fitting for him. In our interview with him, Cayden McNellis brings great insight on the unknown parts of wrestling as well as the dynamic of being on a wrestling team and more.
It is not only the literal act of wrestling that makes it so challenging, while that is still difficult, it is more about the out-of-match activities that wrestlers must participate in. Examples of this include a strict diet, a tough workout regimen, and endless conditioning. My partner and I were delighted to be able to interview wrestler as good as Cayden McNellis, especially being someone who has experienced the demanding and trying aspects of wrestling firsthand and can therefore immensely help us to be able to understand the great sport of wrestling better.