As legendary wrestler Dan Gable said, “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else is easy.” This has proved true for wrestlers at San Marin.
There is one sport out there that has been practiced since the times of the Ancient Greeks, a sport celebrated worldwide. It’s something that’s always present, but simultaneously always forgotten: wrestling.
As of 2023, with more than 40 wrestlers, San Marin wrestling has soared in popularity, but it still has a long way to go. Many praise wrestling for its high physical caliber and the necessity of persistent mental fortitude.
“You have to have the mindset that it’s gonna be hard. You may not always have the best time,” sophomore Catania DeKeyrel said. “There will be times when you think, ‘Oh, my God, why am I doing this sport?’”
Like many sports, the challenging nature of wrestling combined with a consistent structure is what draws many people to the program. Junior AJ Conkey believes that wrestling helps keep rhythm and stability in students’ lives.
“Wrestling helps me build character and keep a schedule. I gotta take time out of my day to wrestle,” Conkey said. “Wrestling is the reason I come to school.”
In addition, wrestling’s individual competition can draw some people to the sport. In most sports, players have to rely on the skills of their teammates. Wrestling relies on the ability of the individual.
“I like wrestling because when you play, it’s just you and the other guy,” junior Ben Goffeney said. “You can’t blame anyone else if you lose.”
Wrestling doesn’t just help with routine and mental toughness, it also keeps the physical body robust. Goffeney has experienced the physical impact of wrestling.
“Wrestling has encouraged me to keep with my fitness. You’ve got to be really fit to wrestle,” Goffeney said.
Most students hear about San Marin wrestling from the health teacher and coach, Cory Boyd. Known to be the passionate leader of wrestling, Coach Boyd constantly encourages students to join the wrestling community.
“Wrestling requires getting harassed by Mr. Boyd to join the team,” Conkey said.
Ever since Coach Boyd took over for the wrestling team last year, it’s changed in many ways. He hopes to continue expanding wrestling and creating the best environment for wrestlers.
“I think this is going to be a good year. Right now, we have the athletes we need to be successful in the long term,” Boyd said.
The current issue with wrestling, according to Coach Boyd, has been the lack of infrastructure and support for the sport. He plans to solve this program by setting up a wrestling club for middle schoolers to introduce them to the sport.
“One of the biggest issues plaguing wrestling in Marin County is that we don’t have established feeder programs… So they’re learning how to wrestle as freshmen, as opposed to all the counties around us that have middle school wrestling, and some areas have club wrestling that starts as early as kindergarten,” Boyd said. “I really want to keep expanding wrestling the more I coach it.”
As the wrestling program continues to grow, students retain a relatively positive view of the sport. The change of the head coach has also been seen as a good decision to some.
“The last coaches relied heavily on the kids who’ve been doing it for a long time… it wasn’t really anything to help people learn the basics or to learn hard stuff. With Mr. Boyd, it definitely is now. He put the program together again,” senior and former wrestler Nathan Criswell said.
