The wrestling mat as the first stop on the road to lifetime achievement

Bill Campbell wrote in “A Parent’s Guide to Youth Wrestling” published in USA Wrestling magazine in 2000 that although even the most accomplished wrestlers receive little if any public notoriety, quite a few famous people began their lifetime of achievement on the wrestling mat. A stroll through the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater Oklahoma offers the surprising discovery that, many historical and current day prominent people were once wrestlers. A partial list includes:

U.S. Presidents - George Washington, Zachary Taylor, William Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Chester A. Arthur.

Several well-known Congressmen, Senators, and other Statesmen and Military leaders including General Norman Schwarzkoph.

Several Scientists including Benjamin Franklin and Nobel prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug.

Several well known actors including Tom Cruise, Tony Danza, Kirk Douglas and Robin Williams.

As wrestling season begins, high school athletic trainers are very aware of the need for accurately assessing hydration levels of their wrestlers. Weight certification is a vital step requiring objectively determining healthy hydration levels via a refractometer to assess urine specific gravity. This measurement is so vital for today’s safe conducting of the sport that national standards are in place.

While many wrestling coaches, athletic trainers and state athletic associations are still struggling with the procedural ease or difficulty of accomplishing this measurement procedure, check out Sports Health’s choices of refractometers available to make this process easier.

Phil Hossler, ATC has been an athletic trainer on the scholastic, collegiate and Olympic levels. He has authored 4 books and numerous articles and served as an officer in state and regional athletic training associations for 20 years. He is a member of four halls of fame including the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s.