Best
of luck on the upcoming year.
Wrestling is Innate
The skies roared with thunder and the earth heaved,
Then came darkness and a stillness
like death.
Lightening smashed the ground and fires blazed out;
Death flooded from the skies.
When the heat died and the fires went out,
The plains had turned to ash.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The ominous stanza was a dream. In ancient times
mankind wondered about his position, his place. Were the gods
aligned against him? Life was not a simple task full of
convenience. Food, shelter, and security were never taken for
granted. Simply living was a constant struggle.
Upon receiving this dream Gilgamesh
turned to his comrade and searched for meaning. Gilgamesh,
two-thirds god and one-third man, the most feared and respected of man still
did not know his place and was overcome with fear. Enkidu, a wild-man from the forest, was once his rival, but
now together they were on a great expedition.
They were headed into the dark cedar-forest, a place full of
fright shrouded in the unknown. The forest was guarded by a demon
named Humbaba. No one dared to enter the
forest.
Nearly four thousand years after Gilgamesh
and Enkidu approached the edge of the forest with
trepidation, Ralph Waldo Emerson put a poetic spin on their attraction to the
place.
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead
where there is no path and leave a trail."
On that day the two wrestled evil they were
victorious.
Before man understood time, he understood to survive he had
to wrestle. He wrestled against the elements, and the threats to his
security, and he wrestled to contain his own fear.
He wrestled.
It is no wonder that the story of wrestling appears in the
oldest written story of human history. When the
Art and literature reflected humankind's fascination with
the combative nature of wrestling. In ancient Sumeria,
came the Epic of Gilgamesh. And, for the
ancient Greeks and Romans were the Iliad and the
Odyssey contained within the pages were the struggles of courage taken from
stories of wrestling. When the Myceneans
used mythology to explain their civilization, we found their youth wrestling
against a creature half-man half-bull named the Minotaur.
When Alexander the Great built an army and expanded farther
than any civilization before, the stories that came from the pursuits of the
legions battling against the barbarians inevitably turned to
wrestling. Alexander found comfort in wrestling as did Socrates who
once said:
"I swear it upon Zeus an outstanding runner cannot be
the equal of an average wrestler."
The ancients new wrestling, and
modern society needs to know wrestling.
Like most people, I will never forget
One Tower was hit, then the next. The Pentagon was just
evacuated; more people were dead.
As if the suffering wasn't already too unbearable, then came the news a fourth plane appeared to be under the
control of the terrorists. It was turning around, target
unknown.
The gasps from the athletes were audible. No one
really knew what would happen next. Four thousand years removed from
a battle against evil in a cedar forest, another was about to take place on
that stolen aircraft.
We know the result; thankfully the list of the dead wasn't
longer. Imagine what the devastation could have been. How
many more lives would have been lost?
Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly took note:
"Why does
No comfort can be gained from that day, except for the
comfort of learning the valiance that came from people, a wrestler, like Jeremy
Glick.
As I tried to make sense of it all, it was no accident to me
that wrestling played a role on that fateful day. It wasn't an
accident and it wasn't mere chance.
Intertwined in the human spirit and again not by accident or
by mere chance is the spirit of wrestling.
A philosophical question that the brightest minds have
wrestled with throughout history is "what do people know when they are
born?" The concept is known as "innate
knowledge". If you knew it when you were born it was innate
within you---your mind----maybe even your soul.
Descartes, Kant, Freud, Socrates, Mill and many more came
across this point in their wonderment of the human condition. Assuredly, many
views have been proffered but the philosophers missed one obvious innate
quality in those born to earth---wrestling.
Wrestling is natural; it is essential; it is a part of the
human spirit. It is innate.
History has taught us and anthropology reveals that every time
period and all cultures have realized a connection to the sport of
wrestling.
Why is wrestling there at each point in history and within
the rituals of societies and civilizations throughout the world? Simply put,
the instinct of wrestling is inborn within all of us. It is
innate.
"What was the first sport?" is a question that
many athletes philosophically toss-around when discussing
sports. Running is often an answer, but to me it seems quite
wrong.
When the ancient tribes, closer to apes on the evolutionary
line, needed to decide who had ownership of the cave and who would face the
freezing elements, it is doubtful that they had a foot race. Rather,
combat, wrestling was their instinct.
The Darwinian notion of survival of the fittest is rooted in
the combative skill of wrestling. And from our Neanderthal roots, we
modernized and civilized but wrestling inherent and innate in all of us
remained.
When wrestling flourished in ancient Greek society, Plato
asked a question to the citizens, "What kind of mettle are you made
of?"
While Plato was defending his view for a society separated
by classes that inevitably seems anti-democratic in today's terms, the question
seems all the more relevant today.
"What kind of mettle are you made
of?" The words seem fit for a wrestling coach to challenge his
wrestlers with.
The challenge that the Spartans, the rival of the Athenians,
made to their people was fierce training based out of sport. Plato
responded by recognizing the value:
"We obtain better knowledge of a person during one
hour's play and games than by conversing with them for a whole year."
The Greeks most renowned wrestler was Milo of Kroton, a man unequaled, seemingly
unbeatable. Probably one of the most valuable but often overlooked
values that wrestling teaching is that of humility---the art of being
humble. Hubris as the Greeks called it.
Milo of Kroton, perhaps bored with
his inability to find a worthy adversary, began to show his strength to the
people of
Milo of Kroton's hubris got the
better of him in a forest the story goes. He stumbled upon a large
tree with a "V" in the trunk chest high off the
ground. With no one around but himself to impress,
In 1960 American Doug Blubaugh
triumphed by winning an Olympic Gold medal. It must have been a
glorious feeling for him. Years of dedication and perseverance went
into the victory that brought with it the title of Olympic
Champion. The spectacular backdrop for the tournament was the ancient
Roman Coliseum.
There, thousands of years ago, combat was
king. Unfortunately, the Roman society lost perspective, blood lust
superseded honor. At one point as many as one thousand elephants
were slaughtered in a frenzy of sacrifice on a single day for the Roman
citizens.
When the contests first began honor and fair play was
paramount. But as the empire expanded and reached into modern
Entangled in the massive history of the
Roman civilization springs forth Christianity. The New
Testament is houses a series of letters of defiance to the Romans from early
Christians. The Romans hell-bent on dismantling their faith through
bloodshed persecuted the early Christians.
One such verse reads, "we
rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance
produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not
disappoint us."
The persecuted soul that wrote these words and steadfastly
fought for his faith gathered courage from the Old Testament. In the
Old Testament, the genesisЇour beginningЇgod challenged man. Again not to
a foot race and not to a random activity that a bounce of the ball determines
the victor, the challenge, of course, was wrestling.
"Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed
not against Jacob he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh; and the hollow of
Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled the angel.
And the angel said, "Let me go, for the day breaketh." And Jacob said, "I will not
let thee go, unless thou blesses me."
Jacob in this story was called to a test. He was
called to account for his life. He was overmatched, nowhere to
hide. Even though Jacob suffered a horrific injury to the strongest
muscles and joint in the human body, he did not relent.
Courage, determination, perseverance,
and tenacity, desire: all of the values that we hold dear in today's society
were present there for Jacob. He hung on and as the sun rose on his
struggle with the angel. Jacob though bloodied and bowed stayed
strong.
He was asked his name, "Jacob" he
replied.
The creator's response to him was that "Your name will
no longer be Jacob, but
The root of Christian society's very name comes from a story
of wrestling.
The Egyptians in hieroglyphs and the Japanese with their
ancient folk form of wrestling called sumo honored the instinct of wrestling,
as did countless other cultures with their own unique "folkstyle"
of wrestling. And as the centuries past into millennium and the
human race slipped into the dark ages and was resurrected in the Renaissance,
wrestling remained.
When the balance of power shifted from
Nearly a century later a rail-splitter took the oath as a
Commander in Chief. Abraham Lincoln, who succeeded only by
failing, running many times for elected office only to lose came forward to
lead a nation in trouble. This
When he rode to
The nation may not have elected him because he was a
wrestler, but surely the innate quality of wrestling resonated in his voice to
the citizens of
"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought
not deter us from the support of a cause we believe to
be just."
Men who idled away the hours between battles with a sport
that honored their innate instincts fought the bloody Civil War that tore at
the cornerstones of our nation. It wasn't uncommon for wrestling
matches to be a part of the long days, even to the point that as truces between
the north and the south came and went matches between the blue and the gray
were sometimes arranged.
Famed soldiers like William Muldoon
lived well past the Civil War. In fact Muldoon
engineered the transformation of bare-knuckled boxing into respectability,
becoming the first boxing commissioner of the
Time moved steadily forward, a great nation was built and
then saved. As times changed so must the structure of the society if
it is to remain great. The
The nation turned to a leader fond of saying "speak
softly and carry a big stick." Theodore Roosevelt, once the
commander of the "Rough-Riders" was elected
president. Roosevelt a former wrestler himself, even brought
wrestling to the White House with him, staging matches in the ball rooms,
making sure one of America's most famed men, World (Real) Wrestling Champion
Frank Gotch from Humboldt Iowa was a special guest to
the White House. Fans of true wrestling often look at the turn of
the century as the glory days for real wrestling. Gotch was a celebrity extraordinaire, being as recognized
as the most famed actor Charlie Chaplin.
One can't be struck to see how often the innate instinct of
wrestling was nourished in our nation's leaders. But if you look
deeply at their words it really is very easy to see. Could anyone
but a wrestler like Theodore Roosevelt have uttered these words?
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who
errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the
great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows
in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at
least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those
cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
In our most difficult times, we've selected wrestlers as our
leaders. Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt were not isolated
incidences. Throw in Zachary Taylor and William Howard Taft
too.
When the Republican Revolution as it was deemed began to
falter and Newt Gingrich was no longer viable. The Republican caucus
selected a new leader a wrestler and coach, named Dennis Hastert. Senators
like Lincoln Chafee, Chuck Hagel,
and the recently deceased Paul Wellstone have cited
their days as wrestlers as powerful life-altering forces that made a difference
for them. Literally dozens of American leaders have competitive
wrestling in their background. Frank Carlucci,
former Secretary of Defense joins George W. Bush's Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with a heavy dose of memories in
wrestling.
When
There success wasn't accident; their place in history has
been earned. And, wrestling's innate stature advances well beyond
that of wars and politics. American society has had many successful
actors who have also learned the values of wrestling: Kirk Douglas, Tom Cruise,
Billy Baldwin and Robin Williams. On the lighter side guys like John
Belushi and Chris Farley were wrestlers as
well. Even the last two White House Press Secretary's Arie Fleischer and George Stephanopolous were wrestlers. Astronauts like
Michael Collins from the Apollo 11 mission recognize the value of
wrestling.
Figures from other sports also counted wrestling as one of
their great pursuits. The most famous of these crossover athletes
would probably be Jim Thorpe, but don't forge jockeys Pat Day and Bill
Shoemaker, or Sugar Ray Leonard or the countless gridiron players in the NFL or
even baseball star Brett Butler.
My favorite NFL star is a man who never even played college
ball, Stephen Neal. Instead he was an NCAA Champion in wrestling
next he won a World Title in amateur wrestling. When he was finished
with amateur wrestling he stepped right into the pro-ranks and within one year
he was starting for the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patritots.
Wrestlers have conquered politics, war, sports and the
business world. Business leaders such Scott Beck, creator of Boston
Market, Jeff Levitetz owns a billion dollar company
called Purity Wholesale Grocers, the CEO of Golman
Sachs, Steve Friedman and the CEO of Charles Schwab know the sport of
wrestling.
The professions that wrestlers master are so varied it is
astounding.
Geraldo Rivera, Andy Rooney, and
even Jay Leno, Tony Danza: the names are familiar to
us but what should not be overlooked is that these people and many more like
them proudly call themselves wrestlers.
Literary genius is hardly the thought the narrow-minded
would have about wrestlers. But they are there as
well. Authors like Ken Kesey of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and John Irving of Cider House Rules
and the World According to Garp cite wrestling as a
part of their success.
Listen to John Iriving's words and
you will understand his affinity to the sport of wrestling:
"I feel more a part of the wrestling community than I
feel I belong to the community of arts and
letters. Why? Because wrestling requires even more
dedication than writing; because wrestling represents the most difficult and
rewarding objective I have ever dedicated myself to; because wrestling and
wrestling coaches are among the most disciplined and self-sacrificing people I
have ever known."
As recently as a few weeks ago, snipers in
Wrestling is innate it is a part of all us; however, only
the luckiest truly get to know it.
Mankind has traveled thousands of years, a long journey that
started with a few simple steps. The drive that moved us forward
throughout time has often been the innate instinct of wrestling. The grandeur
of wrestling is limited by the term sport, but born within this sport are the
vary values that have determined greatness throughout our society and
throughout history.
Who wouldn't want their children to know the deeper meanings
of values like commitment, perseverance, dedication, determination, desire,
courage, tenacity, confidence, sacrifices, self-discipline**.
Russ Helickson, Head Coach of
This sport is complete because its essence is
true. It is not a concoction of the human
imagination. Rather, wrestling is a reflection of the human
spirit. While others sports seem to be setting new records with fan
popularity. It is really the tortoise and the hare all over
again. Wrestling, a strong and steady train continues moving
forward. While some of these sports at best have a hundred years
under their belt wrestling ambles along with more than four thousand years and
still counting.
As we look to the past it is fitting that we also look to
the future. Certainly more wrestlers using the values honed on
wrestling mats will work their way to success. But as we look for
the next wrestler to step out of anonymity and fill our tight-knit community
with pride, know that the world's most renowned inventor counts himself as a
wrestler as well.
A man named Dean Kamen, working
out of
Kamen states without hesitation
and without a sense of clich* in his voice when he
says, "there is nothing more noble than to make the world a better
place."
This wrestler is already turning heads through scientific
communities. His next big step is an invention based off a concept
called the
The first step of civilization was the battle for security,
for safety, and unfortunately, in much of the world that struggle has not been
won. But yet as we step to the future and continue on the path, the
innate instinct of wrestling will guide us.
To me, the thought is comforting. Every person
born to this earth has within them the desire to wrestle. It is
imprinted on their very soul; it is innate. From that innate
instinct greatness flourishes and the human condition is bettered.
Make an active commitment to the sport.
Make sure you are a member of USA Wrestling!
Ted Witulski
NCEP Manager