 One wrestler attempts to finish a double leg takedown in a high school wrestling match | |
| Focus | Pinning, Wrestling, Grappling |
|---|---|
| Hardness | Full-contact |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Famous practitioners | Cael Sanderson, Dan Gable, Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake, Logan Stieber, Kyle Snyder, Zain Retherford, Jason Nolf, David Taylor, Spencer Lee, Cary Kolat, John Smith, Pat Smith, Ben Peterson, Danny Hodge, Dave Schultz, Mark Schultz, Kurt Angle, and Brock Lesnar |
| Parenthood | Wrestling |
| Olympic sport | Only freestyle and Greco-Roman deviation styles |
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes referred to as folkstyle wrestling and commonly known as simply wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. It has often been labeled the "toughest sport in the world" because of the extensive physical conditioning, mental preparation, complexity, and intense nature of its one-on-one competition, which requires physical power, speed, quick mental processing and reaction, and enormous preparation.[1][2][3]
According to an athletics participation survey taken in 2006-07 by the National Federation of State High School Associations, 9,445 high schools sponsored boys' wrestling teams and 257,246 boys participated in the sport, making it the eighth-most available and sixth-most popular high school sport in the nation. Among high school girls, 5,408 girls participated on 1,227 high school girls wrestling teams nationally, as of 2006-07.[4]
Scholastic wrestling exists at the high school level in all 50 U.S. states and the national capital of Washington, D.C.[5][6] The most competitive high school wrestling programs have historically been in four U.S. states, Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, each of which have steep histories in the sport.[7]
- ^ "The real reason wrestlers are the toughest athletes in the world", Medium, March 27, 2021
- ^ "Six minutes: 'There's nothing tougher', Hometown Life, February 25, 2017
- ^ "Top 10 toughest high school sports", The Top Tens
- ^ Krisher, Cassie (2008-05-01). "High School Wrestling Rules Changes Announced for 2008-09". NFHS. Archived from the original on 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
- ^ Connuck, Shane (28 February 2022). "Wrestling is returning to D.C. public schools after an absence of more than 30 years". The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com). Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ Connuck, Shane (18 February 2023). "Zemen Sium leads Washington Latin to dominant DCSAA wrestling title". The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com). Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "What Are the Best High School Wrestling States?", Cult of Whatever,, August 30, 2023