Since being in college, I have always had one problem, which is maintaining my weight. It doesn't fluctuate up and down like many -- it dips below my wrestling weight. After I make weight the first time, it seems like I can never get above that weight. Last year, wrestling 174 pounds, I would rarely be above it, and many times I would weigh around 168 pounds after practice. Now, this isn't always a bad thing. It is nice when you can eat full meals the night before weigh-ins, or even the morning of weigh-ins before stepping on the scale, but it always felt like I was smaller than everyone else.
I think this year is going to be a little different. As I mentioned in an earlier Rev Blog, I try to eat right, 5-7 times a day and stay hydrated at the same time. This was a little difficult to do when Friday came around and I was still five pounds over. When I came to Dana, I was introduced to a new way of doing things I had never done before, which is practicing before dual meets. Obviously, this isn't a full-out practice with live wrestling and conditioning, but a good, hard drilling practice to really get loosened up and get those last pounds off before stepping on the scale. At first, I thought this was a bit ridiculous, working out the day of a meet, but then I realized that I was working out anyway most of the time on my own to make the weight in high school, and I really started to like the idea of practicing before weigh-ins.
Anyway, after working out Friday morning, I was able to eat breakfast and lunch, and get ready for our hour-long practice before weigh-ins. I felt a little sluggish during the workout, but I got down to weight, which is always a big relief for any wrestler the first time. However, it was especially relieving for me as most of the summer I saw the scale tipping 205 pounds … actually figuring I would end up at 184 pounds.
At 174 pounds, Marshall Marquardt pinned Tim Flick of Bacone College at 4:23.We started off at 125 pounds, and never looked back, dropping only one match to Bacone at 133 pounds. I told my coach that I was going to go after my first collegiate technical fall ever, but when I saw my chance to go for the pin, I took it. I felt satisfied with my match as I did my cool down, and yet I was still somewhat disappointed because I knew I could have accomplished my match goal of a tech fall.
I think it is very important to set short-term goals for yourself -- which is another idea our coaches preach to us. I try to set goals for myself every day, whether it is not getting taken down or scored on in a 45-minute grind match, or staying after to get 50 more repetitions on my stand-up, I believe setting goals make you a better wrestler. You may not always reach these goals, but it seems like you try that much harder to make things happen, than when you just go into a practice or match with no intentions on how you want to perform.
I am sure that most of you go into a match with the main goal of winning, but next time try to set a goal for yourself, such as getting 10 takedowns on your opponent, or not allowing your opponent to score offensively on you. I like to do this in practice as well, when I get ready to wrestle a match against my teammate. I think it helps me prepare better for actual dual meets or tournament matches. These are just little things that seem to make a world of difference in my practices and matches.
Until next time, keep getting better.
Marshall Marquardt
Past Entries:
Entry 4 (11/9/05)
Entry 3 (10/26/05)
Entry 2 (10/13/05)
Entry 1 (10/1/05)
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