Logan Omera, junior, decided to join wrestling because he likes to fight, saying, “It’s physically challenging, and you can fight who you want to fight – legally.”  He is best known for his hard work and dedication to SHS wrestling, which he began in 8th grade and has been doing for almost 5 years.  Besides wrestling, he has previously participated in track and MMA – but has continued to pursue wrestling. When asked if wrestling is like anything else he has done, he says that it is harder. Technically, he says that MMA is harder, but the difference as to why he thinks wrestling is harder, is due to the fact that he never competed while participating in MMA.

Injuries are a common occurrence in the sport, and wrestling has gained a negative reputation much like football for injuries. Logan is unfortunately no exception. This year alone, both of his tibias have been fractured, (one having two fractures at once) which ultimately resulted in the end of his season, stating that he needed to chill out. “This led to not finishing through with the season because my leg was about to snap.” It is a dangerous sport, but as long as the athlete is careful and aware, then there should be no serious injury. He is almost back to full recovery, but is still taking it easy.

Another potential health concern, is the culture of ‘making weight’. In sports medicine, ‘making weight’ is defined as the practice of rapid weight loss based on the belief that training at a heavier body weight, then dropping weight shortly before competition, gives an athlete an advantage. For Logan this doesn’t bother him at all, “Once you get used to it, and get a set plan then it isn’t hard at all.” He says that once someone figures out their body, it’s easy to know what to do. To make weight he mostly runs, limits his eating, limits drinking – while adding that it doesn’t stress him out or is a hassle. On the other hand, Logan has noticed that making weight for his teammates can be extremely hard and stressful for them. He immediately went on to say how it definitely stresses out his teammates, a “majority” of them. He says that since he keeps a relatively steady diet, he doesn’t have to panic when the time to weigh in occurs, but for others it can stress them out. He adds that some people will be 10 pounds over the weight class, and they have 2 days to lose that weight. It is a common practice that most wrestlers go by, although it isn’t the healthiest one.

Logan’s diet consists of eating clean, with no fast foods or extremely bad foods. Salads, chicken, fruits, and vegetables are mostly what is consumed by the athlete. Food is fuel for your body, so it’s important to eat in a way that efficient for your body. When he was healthy, he was running/conditioning every day of the week, lifting 4 days a week, and practicing 5 days a week – chuckling, he says he needed to dial it down because his body wasn’t healing quick enough.

Diabetes is something very new for the wrestler, only recently diagnosed. It changed the way he trained because his body couldn’t heal as quick as he needed it to. His recovery time is double what the normal time is for the average, healthy person. “The diabetes really messed me over, essentially ruining everything.” His blood sugar can also drop during matches, so it’s important that he keeps tabs on his sugars.

He recommends wrestling for those who are not soft. “You gotta be hard, and you gotta want to fight people in order to do well.” He plans on continuing to pursue wrestling his senior year, adding that he hopes they take the championship – but other than that he sees no future in college with wrestling. “I definitely could, but I don’t want to because I just want to get on with my life.”

When I asked if he thinks wrestling gets enough publicity and recognition from the school like football, and basketball does, he said it’s hardly recognized at all. At other schools such as Sunny Side, Salpointe, and CDO, – wrestling is way more recognized, and hyped up. He’s fine with it though because his team is more than enough support, and people that go to these matches actually want to be there. He hopes that over time wrestling will get more recognition, and respect from everyone instead of the stereotyping that occurs.