From the sidelines
"If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it" — Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own."
Thanks to the 542nd snow of the winter season Thursday, Marion High School's first of two home wrestling duals was postponed and then canceled.
So, Thursday's double dual against Lyons and Haven will mark the first and only varsity home meet for the Warriors. It is the only chance now this season for the Warrior wrestlers to show off in front of the home crowd.
And by show off, I don't mean win every match — I mean just by participating.
Let's just put it this way: Wrestling ain't easy.
As a freshman in high school in central Virginia, I joined the wrestling team with as much knowledge about the sport as K-State has of a chance to beat KU March 1 in Allen Fieldhouse (I know, I know, sour grapes).
But after two seasons, a 2-12 record, and learning my body could bend in ways I never thought possible without a bone somewhere snapping in half, I had great respect for the sport and anyone involved.
When I moved to Kansas I had the chance to join the wrestling team at Blue Valley North. I went to the pre-season meeting, listened to coaches talk, and made the decision to come home and play video games after school instead of joining the team.
I had plenty of excuses: I wasn't any good; I was only doing it to stay in shape for baseball, and I could just lift weights; I needed a job; and the list goes on.
In reality though, I knew it was the fact I didn't want to work as hard as it took to be on the wrestling team.
I had made a commitment to the team in Virginia, but this was Kansas, no one knew me, and I had an out.
To this day, even if I never had won a match, I wished I had finished out my career at BVN.
Which brings me to my point: these wrestlers at MHS, male and female, deserve a lot of credit for gutting it out in one of the toughest sports high schools have to offer.
While wrestling in Virginia my sophomore year we had one guy from the state playoff football team on the roster — he lasted two weeks.
Speaking of 14 days, that's about as long as it seems a wrestling match lasts, although even the full ones are only six minutes.
It's not to say football players can't hack it as wrestlers. Just ask Casey Nelson, Adam Depler, Steven Boone, and many other MHS football players and wrestlers.
But it goes to show dedicating yourself to being a wrestler is hard work. I was a baseball player, and while it takes dedication to play on any team, our idea of hard work at practice was carrying the equipment from the shed to the field.
With the season winding down, the dozens of Warrior wrestlers continually committed to helping the program grow will be in action Thursday night at MHS gymnasium.
Seniors Hank Collett, Charlie Holub, and the injured Thomas McGee of Peabody, will be honored for their hard work and commitment during their time on the team.
Let's give them a hand. They decided video games can wait until after practice.
