The Diet

Wrestling isn’t all about training hard and performing well. Those are two of the major parts of the sport obviously, but I have yet to tell you about one of the most important parts of the sport. I have yet to tell you the strict diets that we have to be on to make our weight so we can wrestle. I think most people get the assumption that we starve ourselves. This isn’t entirely true, yes we usually don’t eat the night before or the day of weigh-ins even if they are at night. This is all part of a carefully planned out diet program we have to follow. We eat as healthy as possible and consume as little as possible while still maintaining the correct amounts of what our body needs to perform. Yes, we are hungry and thirsty a lot of the time when we first get on our diets, but our bodies get used to eating that amounts on our diet. Once this happens it’s not all that bad unless you break the diet and then it’s like the cycle of getting used to it starts all over. Sometimes if our weight is good we can have a little extra or can drink an extra bottle of water. We just can’t stray from the diet or bad things happen in terms of how we feel at our respected weight classes. The rules of the diet are simple. Rule one, drink 5 bottles of water a day and only drink water. Rule Two, eat 1500 calories a day and the food has to come from the ground or used to have a heartbeat. That’s all it is. The tricky part is adjusting to eat less or drink less to make weight. You have to know exactly when to start cutting your portions down so that you feel good for your match. That’s about all the diet is. It’s very easy to explain, but very hard to follow. None of this would be a problem if we were UFC fighters or boxers because they weigh in the day before and they get a whole 24 hours to get their bodies ready. Wrestlers get one hour. This is why diet is so important for us. Well now that you know another element to our sacrifice, I urge you again to look us up! I urge you to check us out on twitter or at golhu.com. We also have a match tonight February 13, 2015 against Rider who has been ranked as high as 18^th in the country. If you’re in the area and are reading this come out and support! Watch us take out a top notch team in front of our loyal fans! Come support the Bald Eagles!!

The Underdogs

Being a division 1 wrestler is an accomplishment within itself only 3% of high school wrestlers go on to the division 1 level. Most of the division 1 schools are big in numbers and have a lot of money to offer their athletes. This is not true of Lock Haven. No, Lock Haven is special in that regard. We are just a small school and we are not fully funded. This means that most of the money for scholarship comes from fundraising and from donors. This makes it hard for us to compete with the big schools with all the money, but there are good things about being at a small school and being a division 1 athlete. One of the best parts is being the only male division 1 sport. We get a few more perks than the other sports at our school. Are facilities are very nice and we are always looking for ways to expand what we can do as a program. Wrestling for a small school takes a lot of drive and determination. Like I said we compete with all these big schools and are goals are the same as theirs. We have to work just as hard and perform just as well when we have not nearly the same amount of resources. Our best weapon to compete at this level is support. Whether you know of us or follow us religiously, I encourage you to take a closer look. See what we are doing and how hard we are working to compete at the highest level. Even if you’ve never heard of wrestling, the sheer determination I describe that we have in this blog cannot be ignored. If you’ve ever cheered for the under-dog or like to see the little guy come out on top then come support us. An increase in the number of people in the stands will not go unnoticed. We are the little guy, and we’re looking for your support and looking for ways to grow our program into a national powerhouse. All I’m asking is that you follow along. Root for the little guy, Cheer for the underdog, and Support Lock Haven Wrestling.

The Grind

Being a Division 1 athlete is hard work. Not only do you have athletics to worry about, you also have school to keep up on. I think many people forget that their favorite college athletes are going to class every day, keeping up on homework, and studying for very tough exams. Every student athlete has a lot on their plates, but most of all I’m convinced that Division 1 wrestling is one of the hardest things a young adult can do. I am wrestler for Lock Haven University and I know what this grind is all about. I’m here to take you on a journey of exactly what it means to be a Lock Haven wrestler. Every morning we will start off with a 6 am workout. This workout usually involves lifting and conditioning. After the workout most of us get a little breakfast in before classes start if we have time. Then we proceed to go to class all day. If we are lucky we get about an hour of relaxation in before our practice at 3:45. Practices consist of high intensity drilling and all-out war between you and your teammates. We go after each other in hopes that the hard sacrifices we make in practice pay off when we have matches. After practice we go home and do our homework along with eating a little food. Usually by the time we are done eating and done with our homework it’s around 9 p.m. We get an hour to relax before bed, and then it’s time to go to sleep and get up and do the same thing all over again tomorrow. Now that you know some of the dedication we have to be able to go through this every day I encourage you to keep looking for more of my post. I also encourage you to follow us on twitter @LockHavenWrstl, but most of all if at all possible come watch us compete. We leave everything out on the mat and never give up, so come see what we are all about!