What high school sport makes the demands on the individual that amateur wrestling does?  When a boy walks onto the mat, he stands alone.  No one will run interference, no one will pass him the ball when he is under the net, no one will catch a high fly if he makes a bad pitch.  He stands alone.  In other high school sports, where individual scores are kept, the contest is determined in time, distance, and height.  But in wrestling, the score is kept on a boy's ability to overcome an opponent in a hand to hand contest, where a two second interval at anytime can mean a loss or a win.  if an opponent gains an advantage, there will be no help, no substitute; there will be no time out and all can be lost in two seconds.  Yes, the boy stands alone.
    There is no place on a wrestling team for the show off, the halfhearted, or the weakling.  When the whistle blows, a boy puts his ability, his determination, and his courage on the line.
    We who are close to the young men on our high school wrestling teams have watched the range of human emotions from elation to heartbreak.
    We have seen coaches with tears running down their cheeks as they try to console a young man who has given his all . . yet lost.
    Wrestling is a tough, hard sport, a life like, it is the survival of the fittest.  The young men who enter and stay with the team know this.  They also know that the time comes and the whistle blows . . .