By Izzy Taylor
During the fall of my junior year, I found myself spending most of my free time between all of the Amstud packets and physics quizzes doing absolutely nothing. It was all rotting and sleeping for me, and to be honest, I loved it, as I think many 17-year-olds would.
So when one of my friends begged me to join the Matlions team that year so she wouldn’t be the only one in our grade to do it, I dragged my feet. I had never really paid attention to wrestling at Lovett and knew next to nothing about the sport as a whole. I anticipated it would be like any other team sport, just showing up to practices and games when you needed to, with little work being done off the mat.
But after a few asks and promises that if I didn’t like it, I could quit, I begrudgingly agreed.
When I attended that very first meet, it really wasn’t what I expected. The kids on the team didn’t just show up to wait around until their turn to wrestle, nor were they unengaged in their teammates’ performances. It was quite the opposite. Every match, whether it was a freshman on a losing streak or a state champion, was treated as the most intense event they had ever witnessed.
Everybody was cheering and calling out suggestions, and the wrestlers on the mat were listening and adjusting to their teammates’ suggestions. It was a level of support and connection that I hadn’t witnessed in sports. I found myself extremely interested in what makes wrestling different from other team sports.
I witnessed how wrestling was probably one of the toughest sports out there for the players. Both physically and mentally, every wrestler has to be totally committed to their craft to succeed. They have to keep up with their weight, hydration, and training consistently in order to compete.
With the season over and my graduation approaching, I wanted to learn about what wrestling and the community have done for the coaches and players.
I ended up hunting down Head Coach Maldanado in one of his most frequented locations on the campus: the weight room. I snuck up on him while he was talking a group of freshmen through their routine for the day. Luckily, he had some time to spare between his tough-love encouragement (closer to well-meaning heckling) and his pacing around the room, discussing how the intense wrestling training has real effects on both individuals and the team as a whole.
I started by asking him what makes up the preparation and training for his wrestlers. His response was a little surprising, as he thought first not of physical training but of mental training. He said mindset was one of the most important parts of a good wrestler.
“Coach Mantz helps us with the mindset and getting the guys thinking about things before the match, during the match, during the tournament, throughout the day when they’re competing,” he said. “It’s mind and body because they have to eat. Their diet has to be clean most of the week. They have to be hydrated.”
For Coach Maldanado, and all wrestlers for that matter, wrestling is holistic. “You can’t just have one and expect to be good. You’ve got to have all three to be good.”
Diving deeper, I asked about how all that individual hardship made the team as a whole better. After thinking about it for a second, he said, “Misery loves company. That’s what it is. Misery loves company.” He took a beat and then explained. “Misery loves company means that we’re going through this together as a family, as a group. So let’s make the most of it,” he said.
The wrestlers are all in it together as a community, even though their progress and game is individual. “When it’s time to buckle down, they understand, okay, we’ve got to work hard now, and let’s motivate each other. We know it’s hard, we know it’s going to be difficult, but if we do it together, it’s more bearable,” he said.
After all that talk of toughness, I wanted to find somebody to tell me something fun about their training. I found Hayes Kennedy walking the halls and knew he could give me a little insight. As a sophomore, Hayes is already a two-time state champion. He is also one of the most excitable players on the team, constantly buzzing and joking with his teammates. When I asked him what his favorite part of practice was, it wasn’t the answer I expected from such a high-performing wrestler. “Probably warm up,” he said, “We play football with the team, so it’s kind of just fun. Team bonding.”
The next wrestler I talked to has been quite the topic around school recently. Xavier Mance, class of 28’, just won the national championship for the 132 lb weight class. If anyone on the team could tell me about how practice makes performance, it was him. He said his routine leading up to his nationals tournament put a lot on him physically and mentally. “I’m getting home sometimes at 12, 11 o’clock, and I have to then study for maybe two hours,” he said. “To do this, I have to be very committed to the grind and committed to everything I do.”
I was very curious about his diet and exercise, as I knew he had to cut weight for the season. “While everyone else is eating pizzas and cinnamon sticks and iced coffees and all these little goodies and snacks, I eat the raw to the raw,” he said with a melancholy look on his face. “I eat lettuce and tomato. I have organic salads, and I’m drinking organic milk and all this organic stuff.” It seems it’s just as hard as I thought it would be.
Fortunately, he has his coaches and team around him as he goes through that grueling work. “Having a community around you helps,” he said. “When you have all these other people doing the same thing, it helps. So going to practice and knowing other people or cutting weight and doing the same practices, it helps a lot.” The support is so powerful, he said, it’s almost like you could take down a whole nation.” Grinning, he added, “Iron sharpens iron, pressure makes diamonds.”
Finally, I wanted to hear from arguably the most unique wrestler on the team. Senior Elle Kaufman surely stands out on the mat, and it’s not because of her bright red hair. She is the only girl on the Varsity team and has been her whole career. I was curious about how that might have made her experience different from her counterparts’.
When I asked if there was any difference in the way they trained,, she just shrugged the question off in very Elle fashion. She saw no difference between how she trains and how the boys do. “We learn the same moves. It’s the same sport. It’s not like a sport like lacrosse, where there are different rules for men’s and girls’ teams. It’s the same all around,” she said. “We’re all there to wrestle.”
As for the community, I was glad, but not surprised, to hear a similar story. She told me she’s never felt excluded. “It’s just not really a thing,” she said. “Wrestling is very tight-knit regardless of gender. You’re good.”
My experience as a Matlion allowed me to see not only how hard work creates better results, but also how it builds a stronger community. All of these players push each other up, even when they can barely support the load they carry themselves. It’s one of those special communities, those chosen families, that I hope to surround myself with in the future.
