Leave it all on the mat- Part II

I sat quietly in my seat listening to my iPod, unaware of the other wrestlers’ conversations going on around me. As the bus headed towards Long Island, my mind was headed elsewhere. I always liked the bus ride to states because I always found myself reflecting about how I ended up on that bus. I guess I was destined to ride that bus every year to the state tournament from the day I was born. There was never any question whether or not I was going to wrestle. The sport has been in my family’s blood for generations and had become our passion. We were known, respected, and praised for our wrestling.
I looked up the aisle at my father who was talking to the Suffern coach. In high school my father was a three time New York State finalist, and captured a title his senior year. Everyone who had seen him wrestle and coach highly respected him, and not only for his wrestling. He is a very humble man, and instilled class and sportsmanship in his athletes.
He taught us that wrestling is a way of life, and how you approached wrestling indicated how you approached life itself. Dad played no favorites, and treated every athlete exactly the same, including me. He held us all to the highest standard in all aspects of our lives. His hard work and dedication helped to build the North Rockland wrestling program into a state-powerhouse that consistently churned out Division 1 wrestlers.
Looking at him in his seat brought back memories from my childhood. I remembered how I used to sit right next to him every year on the bus to states. As a kid, I spent every Saturday of the season supporting the team at the varsity wrestling tournaments alongside my dad. I idolized the stars of the varsity wrestling team, who were winning state titles under my father’s reign as head coach. I dreamed of one day filling their shoes by wrestling for my father and winning state titles of my own. And now, here I was sitting on a bus to Nassau County, looking to take home my fourth title.
The exposure to such high levels of wrestling at such a young age provided me with a foundation for excellence. At the youth levels, most wrestlers didn’t stand a chance against me, but there was one as praised as I was, Brock Fortino. Even as a boy, he was a bruiser. Every time we entered the same tournament, we met in the finals. We went at it like animals, and victory in these matches was never one sided. People would gather around the mat every time we squared off. It was very interesting that in the next two days I would be wrestling him one last time to conclude our high school careers. Although we battled viciously on the mat, off the mat we were friendly because of the level of respect we had for each other.
I took a sip of water to quench my undying thirst. I allowed myself to drink one twelve-ounce bottle of water throughout the day. I was only two pounds over so my weight was fine, but I was feeling the effects of the cut. This season had been a struggle for me because I was cutting so much weight. I was cutting from 160 to make the 145 lb weight class. It was a constant struggle of maintaining a strict diet and restricting fluids throughout the week. The cut was really showing its ugly effects in me this season. I was constantly moody and irritable; little things could set me off. I had no patience for anything that irritated me, and I was constantly moody with my mother. She can be a bit overbearing at times, which easily got on my nerves. Luckily for her, my father was always there to put me back into place; he would never allow me to treat my mother disrespectfully.
The consequences of my struggle began to get really serious when it started to affect my grades. I was always an excellent student and was one of the top in my class. However, most of my teachers were lenient with me during wrestling season. They knew how hard I was working on the mat and that I was cutting weight, so they usually gave me some leeway when it came to due dates and such. However, Ms. Alvarado, my physics teacher, was not as understanding. She was a new teacher who was born in Maine and knew relatively nothing about wrestling besides that it was a sport in which sweaty men rolled around on a mat.
In the fall I got along just fine in physics, but when the season started and I was cutting weight, things changed. I was constantly dehydrated, especially towards the end of the week and paying attention in class became an arduous and almost impossible task (especially in physics). I was constantly thinking about my weight and how lousy I felt. Towards the end of the week when I was getting very close to weight, I couldn’t even talk to people for extended periods of time because my mouth lacked saliva. I had to constantly rinse out my mouth so that there would be enough moisture that I could pronounce properly. Sometimes I would sleep in and come to school late, usually halfway through physics class. Not only was I a disruption, but I was also missing all of the notes. After I bombed the first test of the quarter Ms. Alvarado had me meet with her after school.
“Hey Drew, come right in and take a seat. So I wanted to talk to you about what has been going on lately. You come in late to class at least twice a week, and when you’re here, you don’t really seem too engaged. As a result your grades are starting to slip and I’m concerned, especially because you did so well during the first marking period. I’m also concerned about your health. Your face looks so thin, your lips are always chapped, and it seems like you don’t have any energy. Is everything OK?”
“Yea everything has been very tough since wrestling season started. I’m cutting a lot of weight and it’s been a challenge to stay focused in school.”
“What do you mean you’re cutting a lot of weight? Like, you have to make a certain weight class?”
“Yea I’m cutting 15 lbs to make my weight. Its miserable”, I said as I laughed at the expression on her face.
“Fifteen pounds?! You don’t look like you have five pounds to lose!”
“Yea I know. It’s not easy, but it’s an important sacrifice for me.”
“Well I don’t really understand how or why you wrestlers choose to do that to your bodies. It just doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t everyone just wrestle their natural weight? Wouldn’t that make everyone’s lives easier?
“Well in a perfect world everyone would wrestle their natural weight, and in a perfect world everyone would win every single match. But the reality is that someone must win and someone must lose. People cut weight to get to the weight class that they believe they will win the most in. Perhaps there is a stud they can’t beat at one weight class, so they cut to a lower weight to avoid or “dodge” him. Understand?
“Well I understand the logic, but I don’t understand how you can do this to your body. I’m confused as to why you would cut weight though. I understand that you’ve won three state titles already. Who are you trying to avoid?
Grinning I replied, “I never avoid anyone. I’m cutting so much weight because there is a score I need to settle. I’m going after Brock Fortino, another three time state champion. He is the only wrestler to ever beat me in high school.”
“Hmm so it’s a personal vendetta. Interesting. Well anyways, none of this is helping you get your schoolwork done. You need to stop coming into class late. I understand you’re a star athlete here, but I can’t have you be a distraction in my classroom. As far as missing notes goes, I will make you a deal. I understand you’re cutting weight throughout the week and it is tough to stay focused in class. How about we meet on Sundays for two hours or so and we can go over the material that you miss in class.”
“I can definitely do that.”
“OK good. We will discuss it more throughout the week and arrange a time to meet up. Get to practice, I wouldn’t want you to be late,” she said with a smile.
“I appreciate you pulling me aside and giving me an opportunity to talk to you about this.”
“You’re welcome. You’re a very good student Drew and I just wanted to understand what the issue was.”
“Thank you Ms. Alvarado. See you tomorrow.”
“Yes, see you tomorrow ON TIME.”
At first I thought the sessions were going to be a bit of a pain. I went to school five days a week, wrestled six, and now on my one day of rest and relaxation I had to go to school to learn about physics? However, after the first session I quickly realized that this little deal we made wasn’t going to be such a burden after all. In fact, I began to look forward to my sessions with Ms. Alvarado. Through her charm and charisma, she made the sessions fun. It also didn’t hurt that she was quite attractive. We would joke around and talk a lot, but we always got the work done. Ms. Alvarado became a person that I could talk to about my plight with wrestling; someone outside the wrestling community who would really hear me out and challenge my ways from an objective point of view. She became my outlet and really helped me cope with my struggles.
“Good morning Ms. Alvarado”
“Good morning Drew”, she said with a smile. “Just call me Alina during our private sessions. I only like to feel like a teacher five days of the week.”
It was weird not seeing her in her more formal teacher’s attire. The sweat pants and hoody she was wearing made her appear much younger and easier to relate to. Today I was with Alina; I would see Ms. Alvarado tomorrow.
“(Wrestling example mixed with physics). Your cheeks look a lot fuller today than they did this week. I assume you had a competition this weekend?”
“My mom always says the same thing. She says you can always tell when I cutting weight by looking at my cheeks”, I replied as I laughed. “We had the Shoreline tournament this weekend in New Rochelle. It’s probably the best regular season tournament in our area; there were over forty teams that competed.”
“Oh so it’s a pretty tough one then huh? How did you boys do?”
“We actually won the tournament for the 8th time in ten years. My dad was very happy with how everyone wrestled.”
“And how did you do?”
“I won it, and beat a pretty tough kid in the finals.”
“Well congratulations. So, North Rockland must be pretty good to win that tournament eight out of ten years.”
“Well North Rockland has been a staple in the state rankings year in and year out since my father took over the program eighteen years ago.”
“I’m not surprised. Being new in the district and from a small town in Maine, I’ve never seen kids get so hyped up over their sports teams. It seems like the kids in this school live for athletics.”
“North Rockland takes its athletics very seriously and our varsity athletic teams are the pride of the community. When you step out onto the field, court, wrestling mat, or track with the letters NRHS across the front of your uniform, you’re representing one of the best athletic programs in the state. There is a proud tradition of excellence here at NRHS and it is no secret.”
“Yes that is very obvious. So your father is the wrestling coach here. I guess you didn’t really have a choice in what sport you were going to play huh?”
“As soon as I could stand on two feet, dad had me in a wrestling stance. I was obviously going to be a wrestler, it’s our family’s passion, but he never limited me to just wrestling. When I was younger, I was actually a gymnast.”
“So was I! I love gymnastics. I think it’s the only thing that kept me sane growing up in Maine. Why did you stop?”
“I was just ready to focus on the more aggressive contact sports. Living in NR, it’s no surprise that I was inclined toward these sports. I just love the physicality of wrestling and football.”
“You should have kept doing gymnastics. At least you would be able to eat whenever you wanted to. I know nothing about wrestling. My high school didn’t even have a team.”
“No offense, but gymnastics can’t even compare to wrestling. I love the one on one individual aspect of the sport, and I love its combative nature. Cutting weight is just part of the sport and it’s not useless. It teaches you to have incredible mental toughness and discipline. I’m not surprised you don’t know too much about wrestling. Maine isn’t very notorious for its wrestling. You should come to our match Friday night. We’re wrestling our rival Suffern in a dual meet, and it’s one of the biggest matches of the season. We’re both very good this season. I’m bumping up two weight classes so this should be a much better week for me.”
“Oh so you won’t look like a walking skeleton this week? I’ll definitely come to the match.”
Alina’s first match was an experience she said she’d never forget. The dual meet with Suffern was an exhilarating match, and was decided in the last bout. The rivalry brought out hundreds of fans from both schools, and she couldn’t get over how intense the atmosphere was. The experience sparked her interest in the sport, arousing much more wrestling related conversation during our sessions.
“Your father always says something to you guys before you go out onto the mat. What exactly does he say?”
“He tells us to go out there and wrestle hard for six minutes, and he always tells us to ‘leave it all on the mat’.”
“Leave it all on the mat? Is that some kind of funky wrestling terminology?”
“Did you really just say funky? And yes, it is. He means give it everything you’ve got. Don’t leave any gas left in the tank. Don’t relax, and don’t have any lapses. Do everything in your power to win the match.”
“Oh OK I understand. I like that. I’m going to start telling you guys that in class when you’re taking you’re tests. ‘Leave it all on the paper’.”
“You are so corny” I said in between laughs.
“Hey! You can’t call me that. I’m your teacher!”
“Yes I can. It’s Sunday. Today you’re just a girl named Alina.”
“Touché”, she said with a grin.
Opening my bag, I pulled out a small envelope that contained a card inside it. Breaking the seal, I pulled out the card and looked at its face. It was a sports themed card and had dozens of different types of athletic balls all over it. Flipping it open I began to read what was written.
“Dear Drew,
Remember, “The reward isn’t as great without the struggle.” Leave it all on the mat.
Love,
Alina (But it’s Ms. Alvarado to you!)
Looking up I noticed that we were pulling into the parking lot of the Marriot Hotel. The trip went much faster than I expected. Putting the card away, I gathered up my belongings. It was time to check in and get in a final practice before the most important tournament of my life.

-Marc Zurla