A wrestler needs certain things whether he's going to a competition or merely to practice. The items carried will vary from wrestler to wrestler. I shall describe a few.
To wit:
A Lucky Charm
Former Iowa Hawkeye wrestler Ray Brinzer was given a Gumby doll as a Christmas gift in sixth grade.
As a youngster Brinzer wrestled in a tournament almost every weekend, and would bring Gumby in his equipment bag. Brinzer noticed the empty seat in the corner of the mat that was designated for his coach to sit in. He had no coach - but he had Gumby.
Before one match, Brinzer perched his doll in the chair.
"I was just amazed at the reaction I got," Brinzer said. "Everybody went crazy. I started doing it all the time."
I didn't have any lucky charms that I can recall. Not even a lucky pair of socks. However, I usually followed the same routine on competition day. For instance, after weighing in I almost always ate breakfast at the same restaurant.
Letter Jacket with Several Medals
I lettered in wrestling my freshman year so I already had a letter jacket when I was a sophomore. Whenever I placed in a tournament and got another medal I would have my mother sew the letter on my jacket. By the time I was a senior the weight of the medals made my jacket hang a bit lopsided. And, I clanked when I walked. I know I probably looked like an idiot. But, wrestling was about the only thing I had going for me so I wanted to let the world know I was somebody.
Don't be like me. Just be humble and let your performance do the talking. If you really want to look like a badass wear a leather jacket and some Doc Martens boots.
Gym Bag or Backpack
Every wrestler needs a quality gym bag. Call it a duffle bag, sports bag, or wrestling bag. If it has different compartments so much the better. If there's a compartment to put your damp towel in after showering that's a big plus. My older sister gave me a great gym bag as a gift one year and it served me well through my high school years.
Essentials
Every male wrestler needs, first and foremost, a jockstrap. If a wrestler neglects to wear this piece of protective gear he may get his balls racked. Our junior high coach said no one wanted to see our manhood spread all over the mat.
And, of course, shoes made specifically for wrestling are a must as well.
Wrestling shoes have great traction and grip. You can climb the walls like Spiderman. No, seriously.
Wrestling shoes are made to assist the feet and ankles by providing further stabilization and support. This, in turn, keeps your feet from slipping on the slick, sweaty mat. Additionally, wrestling shoes are built with support higher up the ankle area than other shoes, to keep the ankles from rolling or spraining with quick, jerky movements.
The amount of traction that is typically required through the course of a dynamic wrestling match can be considerable. Quality wrestling shoes work against the mat to provide and promote stability to the wrestler from all directions.
My first pair of wrestling shoes were a pair of Onitsuka Tigers. Onitsuka Tiger is one of the sports shoe brands of ASICS.
Dan Gable, John Smith, and other noteworthy wrestlers have had partnerships with wrestling shoe brands. Gable partnered with ASICS and Smith with BRUTE. During my final three seasons of high school wrestling I wore a white pair of Dan Gable Super Flex wrestling shoes by ASICS.
My hoity-toity college girlfriend would no doubt have told me that my white wrestling shoes didn't match my black singlet had she ever seen any of my wrestling pictures.
Most of the wrestlers on my team wore ASICS wrestling shoes. I thin one or two other guys had a pair of Super Flex shoes like mine. However, at least one guy had a pair of Dan Gable Ultra Flex shoes. That pair of shoes was red with the ASICS stripes being in silver. Very cool looking shoe and worked well since our school colors were black and red.
Only one of my teammates had a pair of BRUTE wrestling shoes as I recall. They were our school color of red though and they made him unique.
Wear some good quality socks with your shoes.
Wrestlers usually have a headgear to protect their ears as well. You may be required to wear a mouth guard in competition. Wrestlers sometimes wear knee pads as well.
A t-shirt and a pair of shorts work fine for wrestling practice. An old school pair of sweats work fine as well. On the other hand, so-called rash guards and compression garments have become popular in grappling sports.
Plastic Suits
Regretfully wrestlers have used, and in some cases continue to use, so-called sauna suits. These suits retain your body heat and perspiration when you work out while wearing it. This attempt to sweat off weight can be extremely dangerous. These suits may be made of nylon, vinyl, neoprene, or PVC. I often carried what I believe was a red nylon top and bottoms with elastic cuffs.
I had a teammate who sometimes wore a silver sauna suit making him look like an astronaut or a spaceman from an old sci-fi movie.
These types of suits have now been banned in high school and college wrestling because dramatic weight loss from dehydration is extremely dangerous. And, you don't really need to look like you're ready for interstellar travel when you enter the wrestling room for practice.
Most wrestlers wear a one-piece uniform called a singlet. Please don't call it a "onesie." I competed in high school wearing a black singlet with red trim. Wrestlers of the past wrestled bare-chested clad only in tight-fitting trunks over full-length tights. Eventually wrestlers wore trunks, tights, and shirts. Finally, the wrestling singlet became the uniform of choice. Some wrestling teams wore their singlets over tights. I never had to wear tights. I only wore a singlet while competing. However, even when I was competing in the 1980s it wasn't uncommon to have an opponent wearing tights under his singlet.
In the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club one male teenager pokes fun at a wrestler as they sit with a few other teens in the school library for detention.
Andrew: Look, you guys keep up your talking and Vernon's going to come right in here. I got a meet this Saturday and I'm not going to miss it on account of you boneheads.
Bender: Oh, and wouldn't that be a bite, huh? Missing a whole wrestling meet!
Andrew: Well, you wouldn't know anything about it! You never competed in your whole life!
Bender: Oh, I know. I feel all empty inside because of it. I have such a deep admiration for guys that roll around on the floor with other guys.
Andrew: Ah, you'd never make it. You don't have any goals.
Bender: Oh, but I do!
Andrew: Yeah?
Bender: I want to be just like you. I figure all I need's a lobotomy and some tights!
Brian: You wear tights?
Andrew: No, I don't wear tights. I wear the required uniform.
Brian: Tights.
Andrew: Shut up!
Some people in the wrestling community would like to see the adoption of two-piece uniforms because they think singlets are too revealing and may deter some individuals from entering the sport.
Warm-up Suit or Robe
The wrestlers at Iowa State University used to wear robes instead of the usual warm-up suit. Legendary coach Harold Nichols coached at Iowa State from 1954-1985 and led the Cyclones to six NCAA Championships. He introduced the wrestling robe to Iowa State.
Nowadays, most college wrestlers wear warm-ups or sweat suits before and after
matches. That has not always been the case. In the early 1900s, wrestlers at a number of schools wore sweaters while on the sidelines. As for robes, that tradition of wrapping wrestlers in robes goes back decades at a number of colleges and high schools in the past, roughly from the 1930s into the 1960s and early 70s when they were largely replaced by warm-ups.
Former ISU wrestler Jim Gibbons said, "The robes were not really functional but they were really cool after the match."
By looking through some old yearbooks I found that my high school's wrestling team wore robes over their uniforms in the past. But, the robes had been replaced by two-piece warm-up suits by the time I was on the high school wrestling team.
Our school colors were black and red. I had a red warm-up suit for my first two years of high school and a black one for my remaining two years. The warm-ups had a zippered jacket and matching pants. The warm-up suits basically looked like a so-called track suit and were probably made of polyester. Having a warm-up suit covering my singlet was a nice way to stay warm and comfortable until I was ready to step onto the mat for competition.
Personal Hygiene Items
I had a few items in my athletic locker including shampoo, deodorant, and a bottle of Brut cologne. I probably should have kept some lip balm around too. I don't recall ever having styling mousse or hair gel in my locker. Some wrestlers carry nail clippers, a razor, and a pair of scissors just in case the referee says anything is too long.
Towel
A wrestler needs to shower after practice or competition. You'll need a high quality towel to dry off with after your shower. You can use a plain looking towel. But, what if your towel is something cool like a leopard print? I'm not saying you'll be more refreshed and recover faster and wrestle even better in the next match. But, I'm not saying you won't either.
Snacks
Sometimes I would bring a jelly sandwich or a package of Pop-Tarts with me to a tournament in case I needed a little pick-me-up between matches. Sometimes I had some orange juice or soda with me to drink right after weigh-in. I probably should have carried chewing gum with me because I remember getting gum from a teammate a couple of times.
Water Bottle
When I was competing back in the 1980s no one carried a personal water bottle with them. Oh my God! I might get dehydrated! If you were thirsty you just got a drink from a water fountain. We did, however, have some sort of team water bottle that was mainly used at competitions. The water bottle was made of plastic and held about a quart I think. It had a curved straw of some sort that came out of the top so you could squeeze the bottle to get some water without actually putting your mouth on it.
When I was a freshman wrestling on the varsity team, one of the seniors competing had a contact lens fall out. He found the lens and instead of putting it back in his eye he walked to the edge of the mat and handed it to a teammate sitting next to me. The teammate was concerned about not letting the lens dry out so he squirted some water on it from the team water bottle.
But, now wrestlers have an array of water bottles to choose from which is nice.
Jump Rope
As I recall our team always had a jump rope in the training bag we had with us at competitions. Sometimes I used this jump rope after a match if I was concerned about making weight again in the near future. On one occasion I was over my competition weight at a tournament so I bundled up in a few layers of clothing and started jumping rope. Sometimes I merely used the jump rope at tournaments to warm up before a match.
When I was a sophomore in college I was hanging out with a buddy in his dorm room one day and in walked a pretty girl. She looked at me and said, "I know you. You're a wrestler, right?"
"Yes," I answered feeling kind of happy that I was famous.
"I was a cheerleader at Jesup High School," she continued. "I remember you from the Starmont Tournament. I was walking behind you and accidently got caught in your jump rope. It was kind of embarrassing."
I vaguely remembered the incident. It sounded kind of familiar. I remember Jesup having a team at that particular tournament each year. And, I seem to recall some cheerleaders from Jesup trying to flirt with me at that tournament during my sophomore year. But, I was all business that day and ignored them. I had a tournament to win and wasn't too interested in the cheerleaders. What the hell was I thinking? A beautiful girl got caught in my jump rope giving me a perfect opportunity to tease her and chat her up and I just ignored her. Again, what the hell was I thinking?
Notepad and Pen
You never know when you might meet a cute cheerleader and want to take her phone number down. We didn't have cell phones when I was a teenager. I could have used the notepad and paper to write down the number of the cheerleader who got caught in my jump rope. Or, perhaps I could have taken down her address and wrote her a sweet letter.
Some studs don't need paper and pen though. Here's a short anecdote. My teammate Randy went out of bounds during a match one evening and happened to land by the opposing team's cheerleaders. Before returning to the center of the mat he quickly said "hello" to one of the cheerleaders and asked for her phone number. She laughed and quickly reeled off her phone number. He put it in his memory bank, returned to the mat, and won his match. However, Randy was given a warning for his failure to return promptly to the center of the mat and the referee said, "Listen Romeo, the next time you pull a stunt like that it's costing you a penalty point."
Did Randy remember the cheerleader's phone number? Yes, of course. In fact, he called her the next evening and arranged a date.
This story is totally apocryphal of course.
Music
Music can be relaxing or invigorating. Some relaxing music may help ease your pre-match anxiety. On the other hand, some exhilarating music may give you the strength and motivation to run onto the mat and rip your opponent's arms off.
Whether you need relaxation or motivation, you may want to bring some music and a pair of headphones with you to competitions.
At a youth wrestling tournament in my younger days I remember one of the wrestlers having a boombox (i.e. portable stereo) with him. I distinctly recall him playing "Centerfold" by J Giles Band. I just thought you should know. Ha!
I was at a tournament during my high school years and there happened to be a stereo on a cart of some sort sitting on the edge of the gymnasium. There was a break in the action before the championship bouts began and someone put a cassette into the stereo. The next thing I knew I was hearing the familiar riff to an AC/DC song playing. I couldn't believe it. AC/DC was a favorite of mine and the songs being played right then in the gymnasium were quite motivating. With my strength and confidence galvanized from the music I won my final match in dominating fashion. Well, that's how I remember it. Ha!
The Favor of a Young Lady
For a classic gift of love, a medieval lady could bestow a favor on a knight on the tournament circuit, usually one of her detachable sleeves, a handkerchief, a ribbon, or a scarf. Something fluttery and easily tied would make a good public declaration; something foldable and small could be tucked away in the knight’s armor as a private symbol of devotion.
I once had a young lady give me a a ribbon from her hair just before my championship bout at a wrestling a tournament where I was competing. She said, "Win the championship for me."
Okay, that never actually happened but it would have been wonderful if it had.
The closest thing I ever received to a lady's favor was when my girlfriend left a letter for me in a locker at her high school. You see we attended different high schools and she knew what locker room the visiting team would be using. So, she told me which locker to open to find the note she'd left. I found the locker and discreetly opened it to find the letter she'd left wishing me luck and telling me she loved me.
Medal and Bracket Sheet
If a wrestler does well at a tournament he'll bring home a couple of items that he didn't have with him at the beginning of the day. The champion at a wrestling tournament gets a gold medal and the bracket sheet. A tournament bracket is simply a diagram of who wrestles who. If you win the tournament then your name will be on the line that reads winner or champion. And, the bracket will show the names of everyone who wrestled at your weight that day and by what margin you won each match. So, when you win a tournament you have a visual record of how much of a badass you are. I think I cherished the bracket sheet as much as I did the gold medal. Yes, it was just a sheet of poster board with my weight class's bracket printed on it. But, my name was written on the line that read champion and that always made me really happy.
Kilt
The wrestlers from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania are the only wrestlers I've seen wear kilts aside from professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. I believe the Fighting Scots wrestling team wore kilts in some posters as a fund-raiser and for publicity.
Kilts are not for sissies mind you. The kilt is a manly garb.
Intangibles
Every wrestler carries an array of tangible items with him. But, what about the intangibles?
Every wrestler carries his vast wrestling knowledge of skills, techniques, strategy and tactics, and his arsenal of wrestling moves. All of this knowledge is wedged in his brain somewhere between thoughts of pretty girls, fast cars, and action movies.
A wrestler carries dedication, determination, and desire. Yes, a wrestler carries many intangible things with him.
And, honestly, other than the jockstrap protecting one’s privates, the intangibles are really the most important thing.
I realize I have been exclusively using the pronoun him even though female wrestlers are quite commonplace in this day and age. I’m not really sure what females wear as far as protective clothing goes. And, I imagine females have some different hygiene products in their duffle bags. But whether a male or female, every wrestler hopefully carries with them the love and support of their families, friends, and community.
