When I was a wrestler back in high school, our team’s practices went like this: Every day, after school, we’d begin with a half-hour of either weight training, or running on the track. After this, we’d have a two and a half hour practice in the mat room, which was completely lined in rubber, not ventilated at all, and in some cases had the heating turned on. These practices would be about 50 percent actual wrestling drills, and the other 50 percent would be stuff like running around the mat over and over again, jumping jacks, and the - dreaded - “baseballs” (not sure why we called them that) which consisted of running from one end of the mat room to the other, touching the wall, and then running back, as fast as you can, each time the whistle blew. These would be done in sets of up to 25 or 30. If someone really did something bad, like saying “fuck,” for instance, we’d have to do them as punishment. Sometimes guys would, during these sprints, actually yell and swear at the coaches, out of frustration and very likely delirium, and then we’d have to do even more sprints. They could go on for ever and ever.
This went on for two and a half to three hours - with no water break.
Sometimes I talk to other people about my wrestling days and they are amazed that we were only allowed to drink water after the practice was completely over and we headed to the locker room. For me, I just assumed this was the way all wrestling teams did it. Maximum weight loss, and everything.
Was this ethical of the coaches to have done this? (Several of our senior wrestlers went on to become Force Recon Marines and one is currently a S.E.A.L. so I guess the practices were good training.) But is it possible for a high schooler to develop physical illness because of training like this, with no water breaks?
By most popular/modern definitions of ethical, endangering people is unethical, therefore since it is well established (do we really need cites here?) that denying the most fundamental nutrient (water) to man for three hours during physical exertion is, indeed, unethical.
It is actually possible for them to die from that type of training.
In 1997 a wrestler at the University of Michigan died of “dehydration and heart failure” while attempting to make weight under the supervision of a coach.
Denying water is unethical and fairly stupid. In the above article, it was noted that in that year, three college wrestlers had died within a six-week period of the same causes.
Argent, your description of practice sounds familiar, though the details are different - we ran stairs instead of sprints. We had plastic sweatsuits, with elastic at the wrists, neck, waist and ankles. The typical way to end practice was 10 sets of stairs: up four floors, over to the other staircase, down four floors. We’d do more if the coach was mad. He was sure mad a lot. This was in 1970; I still have thighs like tree trunks.
Anyway, when my sister recently told me her son was going out for wrestling, she ended up having to assure me that, at least at his school, they watch out for health issues. Weight loss rates are monitored; too much too fast and you can’t wrestle. She says they’re careful about disinfecting mats and skin infections and stuff, and that they’re not allowed to use those sauna suits. I didn’t ask her specifically about water breaks, but they sound like they have a reasonable setup. Of course, that’s just one high school. I have no idea if their policies are widespread or even mandated.
I never did anything that strenuous, but I specifically remember being told by a gym teacher in the 60’s that it was bad for you to drink water during an exercise session.
Just today I was at tennis practice and my partner was amazed that I didn’t bring a water bottle. I told her that I could go for an hour and a half without water. I told her that when I played volleyball in high school, we NEVER had water at practice and we played for hours on end.
Times have changed. Not saying it’s for better or worse, but there it is.
One of the reasons they developed Gatorade was the lingering belief that drinking water during exercise was bad. Thought salt tablets were considered OK. :rolleyes: (In theory, the salt you lost by sweating caused cramps or something.)
Now we’ve gone the opposite direction – keep drinking all the time to remain hydrated. My own feeling is that the truth lies between the extremes.
Yes, times have changed. I don’t remember anyone bring water to hockey games, or baseball games as a kid. Hockey games were typically only an hour long, but fairly strenuous. Baseball (softball actually) usually lasted for 2 - 3 hours. No water or anything else.
It may, at one time, have been more ignorant than unethical, but these days, I don’t think ignorance can be an excuse anymore.
The death of Korey Stringer a few years ago caused the NFL and sports at all levels to reform workouts accordingly and to abandon the practice of withholding water from athletes.
“Making weight” always struck me as the dumbest thing about high school wrestling. Wayyyy too much focus on something that is really absurd to do.
Why not eat extremely healthy, workout hard, stay hydrated, etc. and when it’s time to wrestle you’ll be in the best shape and feel great to wrestle no matter what weight class you’re in.
Don’t eat, don’t drink, feel fatigued, focus on losing weight for what? Just so you can wrestle someone a few pounds lighter?? So stupid.
Why not man up and challenge yourself a bit? If your that good then fight someone a few pounds bigger than yourself.
I don’t want to hijack the thread, but are high school/college wrestlers still subject to nude weigh-ins? How much weight can a singlet or jock-stap add anyway? :dubious:
Give me a break. :rolleyes: Yes, all sports are patently homoerotic, idiot.
There’s never been a mandated nude weigh-in. Boxers and wrestlers all have to make weight and there have been occasions when a over-zealous kid was within a 1/4 pound and kicked off his shorts in the locker room (you know, where people do their showering) and climbed onto the scale.
Save the fantasies of teams of 20 athletes being forced to parade naked onto a podium for weighing for your bunk.
Kind of a game theory concept, it only works if everyone does it. If your opponent cuts a lot of weight and you don’t cut at all, you’re fighting a guy who’s significantly bigger than you by more than a few pounds. Then you’re just knocking yourself out training only to lose to a guy with a weight advantage.
We had that type of regime in my first two years of HS football in the 80s. Then we picked up a new head coach (who had been an asst coach for small college), and we started having water on the sidelines.
It would be unethical today. Without knowing how well the medical education was for sports back in the 80s, I am hesitant to accuse my old coaches of being unethical - more likely ignorant and going with what they thought was right.