Being a student athlete at Wabash College is certainly a challenge. Between the academics, practices, dieting, and competitions it is easy to become discouraged. However, with that being said I am so thankful for this great opportunity and I would not change it for anything. I would like to thank my parents, the coaching staff, and God for this opportunity.
The college wrestling season is long as it spans almost five months; but, quite honestly that time flies bye. The first part of the season has been no exception. We started on the 15th of October and hit the ground running thanks to a successful preseason which consisted of several cardio, strength training, and wrestling workouts a week. The first few days of practice were spent strictly on the basics. I can honestly say that I have never been a part of a team that has been so dedicated and hard working.
This dedication and hard work has already shown signs of pay off at the Concordia Open as our team had a strong performance. The strong performance was enough to move our team up to 11th in the nation; this is the highest Wabash has been ranked at least in recent memory. I went 3-2, not a bad day considering I am moving up a weight class from last year. However, I have my goals set much higher than 3-2 performances. I know the team is shooting for much higher than 11th in the country as well; one of our team sayings this year has been “to the top”, with the hard work that ALL of us are putting in on a daily basis I know that we will continue to improve as the season moves forward.
After the Concordia Open, the coaches gave the team a seven day break to go home. However, this “break” did not mean we just went home and sat around while eating turkey on Thanksgiving. It is certainly important to get plenty of workouts in over the break so when you come back all the hard work that is put in is not lost. I was fortunately able to get in my old high school wrestling room throughout the week to continue my training over break; the majority of the team was able to do the same while being back home. By continuing this hard work over break we eliminated any potential setbacks that come from having seven days “off”. The fact that our team did not approach this break as days off, but rather maximized those days to the full potential is a testimony to the dedication of this team. As we continue our quest “to the top” we must continue to take no days off!
Patrick Parham ‘15
141lbs