newwrestlingfan

I wanted to touch on what Coach Snyder said because I think he made a great point about growing interest in the sport. I was not a wrestling fan 10 years ago. I grew up in Indiana and attended a smaller high school in central Indiana that had a few good wrestlers each year and the occasional outstanding wrestler that would go compete at state. Wrestling was never a big deal at our school and I never cared to go watch it. Around individual tournament time, we'd make sure to ask on Monday how our best wrestler might've fared down in Indy but the thought of going down to follow them never really registered to anyone but the family and closest friends of the wrestler. After college, I moved to the Michiana area for work and settled down in the Mishawaka community. It did not take long for me to hear about how good the wrestling team was each and every year. Still, I never attended a wrestling meet even though I enjoy high school athletics and attended many other games or meets for other sports. All I knew of Indiana High School wrestling was that Mater Dei was a dynasty that almost never lost. Then, in 2008, a friend of mine here in Mishawaka asked me if I wanted to go to team state to watch Mishawaka. I debated it and almost said no but he then said that they were really good and they thought they had a shot to beat Mater Dei. That's when I decided to give wrestling a try. Long story short, I attended team state and saw some awesome competition and now I appreciate the sport and consider myself a fan. I just thought I'd add this because I'm exactly the type of fan that wrestling can gain to continue to grow in popularity. I know for a fact that team state is a big reason that I now attend wrestling meets and hopefully a big reason I continue to follow the sport. I may be a more casual wrestling fan than anyone else here, but I find it far more interesting and entertaining to see every kid out there fighting to do his part for the team no matter if it is the state champion who you expect to get a pin or if it's the worst wrestler on the team just fighting to keep to keep his shoulders off the mat. It's also much easier for a casual fan to get behind a team rather than individuals. It's because of this point and my own personal experience that I agree with Coach Snyder's point about team state being important for the sport of wrestling to continue to grow.

Sorry. Good point. New here and still learning all the different areas.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100228/SPORTS11/2280344/1084/COLUMNISTS