Hug vs. Reno Varsity Wrestling

January 11, 2012

In the sports hierarchy, wrestling doesn't get a lot of love.  If you ask most people, it ranks behind Football, Hoops, Baseball and in some parts of the States, Soccer.  But if you have ever been to a wrestling match, you can tell that wrestler's could care less if there's a full house, just parents or absolutely nobody watching.  I went to go watch Hug High wrestle against Reno High tonight at Reno High School.  I came away impressed by how hard the kids wrestled, the intensity of every match and the sportsmanship between both teams.  I didn't have a roster of either team, but Adrian Rodriguez (Hug High Wrestler) was cool enough to talk to me afterwards.  And after talking to him, these are just my thoughts on the nights matches.

These first two pictures are from the very first match I saw.  The Hug wrestler (in Green) was aggressive as was the Reno wrestler.  The Hug wrestler kind of faded in the third period while the Reno wrestler still had a high motor going.  Some kids would quit, get frustrated and do something reckless if they thought they were going to lose.  The Hug wrestler just kept on fighting.  I could tell he was gassed, but he continued to wrestle his ass off.  He lost the match, but he went down fighting.  Can't be mad at that....kid definitely has H.E.A.R.T.

The very next match was Adrian Rodriguezs' (Hug wrestler).  This kid has a very high motor and controlled his match from start to finish.  He was aggressive, kept moving and was in control in every situation.  Since this was my first wrestling meet I've ever been to, I found myself watching more than taking pictures, but he was a very technical wrestler who knew what he was doing.  He won his match.

The match that really sticks out in my mind is this one (the four pictures that you see preceding this paragraph).  It was hard fought on both sides.  The Hug wrestler was doing work and the Reno wrestler was too.  The thing that really stood out in my eyes was the Reno wrestler had head gear that kept slipping down over his face, restricting his vision.  At no time during the match did he try to stop or complain the refs about it though, he just kept trooping on like nothing happened!  I mean the kid was straight up G!!!!  You can even see in the last picture that he's about to get pinned with eyes covered.  Not ONCE did he say a word (and I would know, I was only 10-15 ft away when this was going down).

Both of the teams tonight (Hug High and Reno High) wrestled their asses off and did so with a ton of H.E.A.R.T.  Regardless of the outcome, both teams wrestled clean and with respect to their opponents.  I was highly impressed how they conducted themselves and hyped each other up before each match.  These kids weren't wrestling for the people in the stands, they were wrestling out of love for the sport and for each other.

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