Letter to the Editor

Posted

Disheartened to hear
about wrestling
cancellation
Dear Editor,
I am so disheartened to hear about the cancellation of the wrestling program at Colleton County High School.
The sport of wrestling is as old as time and one of the first sports that ever existed. It is unique as it is both a team sport and an individual sport. The beauty of this sport is it doesn’t matter how big or small you are, you are matched to a competitor of equal weight. This levels the playing field and gives every opportunity to all. The team aspect builds character and contributes to an athlete’s sense of belonging.
If you look at all other class AAAA sports programs that have football, they also have wrestling and the football coaches encourage their football players to participate. It makes them better football players, as there are techniques that can be utilized for effective tackling and it keeps the athlete in optimal overall physical shape during the winter months. There are very few wrestling injuries as compared to almost all other contact sports. Although many wrestlers don’t start out as “natural athletes,” wrestling improves balance, reflexes, strength, endurance and agility. Wrestlers are often very lean and strong for their body weight.
I am not privy to the behind the scenes decision making, but it has been suggested that there is not enough interest in this sport. If that is indeed true then I would question how that was determined. Wrestling conditioning starts the first week of November, before the football season is over, so there are many who come out for this sport well into the month of December, as the majority of the matches occur in January. This sport has 14 weight classes. This year they had nine athletes signed up and potentially could have more once the football season was officially ended.

There is also the pandemic aspect, as many may be wary of close contact sports until there is a vaccine widely accessible.
We have had many success stories in the CCHS wrestling program. Two of those are my sons, who have both made the podium at individual states (one is the 2019 SCHSL state champion and AAAA wrestler of the year). There was also their teammate, who after making the state podium as runnerup twice, was accepted on a wrestling scholarship to college.
I would like to see the criteria for other small team size sports such as cross country, tennis or golf. Are they going to be cancelled too? We have so few after-school opportunities in Colleton County for our youth to participate in and I am really puzzled by the decision to reduce those opportunities even further. I do not know the athletic director, but I imagine he will be one of many that use our county as a stepping stone to something else, instead of investing in the future of our community youth and dedicating his work to growing programs and contributing to their success.
This has been a trying year as we navigate through the pandemic and it is my hope that the cancellation of this sport this year is not permanent.
Please join me in compelling Colleton County School District to keep this sporting opportunity for our youth.

Sincerely,
Michelle O’Quinn
(wrestling mom)
Colleton County