Wrestling is an important sport to a lot of the students at Lafayette High School. Not only do they dedicate their time to it, they also dedicate their diet to it. Each wrestler is put into a bracket based on their weight. Each time they have a tournament, they have to meet that weight. I interviewed two of the Lafayette High School wrestlers, because I was interested in their opinion on the weight requirements, and what they would change if they had a chance to change anything. I wanted to get a range of the wrestlers, so I spoke with one student who has done it for three years and one who is doing it for the first time this year.

My main question was along the lines of “How do you lose your weight?” They both had similar answers. Senior Graham Granger said that the way he meets his weight requirement was from changing up his diet, while Junior Alberto Canada said that he typically does not eat to meet it. They are both from different weight brackets, so they face different struggles. Graham is a more experienced wrestler, so he knows the better ways to lose/gain the weight while keeping his body healthy. Alberto is new to the experience and he even said “I enjoy wrestling, but I did not know about the strict rules of the weight requirement.” A better way to keep the wrestlers healthy is to provide more knowledge to the first year students. Graham said that they are given a packet at the beginning of the season that shows safe ways to lose the weight, and they also take urine tests to make sure the wrestlers are hydrated. There is a positive side to this though. Graham said since he started wrestling he has switched to a healthier diet by staying away from fattier foods and eating more protein.

At the end of both interviews, I asked Graham and Alberto if they could change anything they wanted to about the wrestling process, what would they change. Alberto said that he wished he could have been grouped in the bigger weight bracket because he thinks it is easier to lose weight when you weigh more, because he has “no fat to lose”. Graham said that he would add more urine tests to keep it safe. He also would like to change how frequent the weight brackets would move up: he would make the weight brackets change every 15 days instead of the normal 30 days.

The big difference that emerged was the way the wrestlers prepared. The more experienced wrestler had an easier time meeting the weight requirement, while the first year wrestler struggled. It might help pairing up a first year wrestler and an experienced one, so the experienced one can help guide the first year on how to safely lose the weight and meet the weight requirement.