Wrestling takes physical toll on its athletes
Freshman Khloe King competes against Summer Creek on Dec. 17. King wrestled through pain much of the season before ultimately breaking her finger at the region meet.
February 17, 2022
When Landon Morrison felt his leg snap underneath him, he instantly knew his wrestling season was over. The freshman had been undefeated until the JV tournament at Humble High School in January, and lost his final match by forfeit.
“I felt the leg snap and immediately thought it was broken,” Morrison said. “I will have to be off my leg for five more weeks, be in a boot for five weeks after that, and then will have physical therapy to get it back to normal.”
Morrison is just one of many wrestlers who sustained an injury during the season. Some of the wrestlers, such as senior Mac Denner, were hurt at the beginning of the season, and others, such as freshman Khloe King, injured themselves at the regional competition.
“I sprained my shoulder and then I stopped wrestling because I can’t risk an injury because I’m enlisting into the military,” Denner said. “After getting an x-ray, I had to have my entire arm wrapped to my body so it would be immobilized, I couldn’t practice again for two weeks and I couldn’t do any live wrestling for at least three. My mom helped find recovery stretches for it and I stopped lifting heavy weights.”
Denner was terrified after getting hurt that she would disappoint her coaches and teammates, but the team supported her throughout the recovery process and helped alleviate any negative mental aspects of the injury.
“I tried to stay involved with wrestling,” Denner said. “I wanted to get back into the sport but I knew I couldn’t without risking a bigger injury.”
Freshman Khloe King went throughout her first wrestling season with a recurring painful muscle spasm in her neck and shoulder, but her season ended at the regional competition when she broke her finger during a match. She intends to continue wrestling despite her injuries.
“Injuries shouldn’t be something to prevent you from doing something you enjoy,” King said. “Recovery for the shoulder/neck has been very long and it’s just a lot of repetition and being in and out of the trainers. The hardest part has been knowing that there are certain things you can’t do because of the injury, and makes you feel like you’re lacking behind.”
Mentally, athletes in every sport struggle when it comes to injuries. There are months of recovery, and sometimes the sport one loves might be fully taken away. However, wrestlers are surrounded by a family-like team that makes the journey much easier.
“Mentally it’s just draining, and it makes me feel like I’m putting a burden on everyone when you talk about it, and just an overall drop in confidence,” King said. “But I was surrounded by people I get along with.”
Junior Lola Jasso has found her family in the wrestling team, and has spent the past two years being a part of the family-like atmosphere. When she broke her nose this year, she had no doubts about getting right back to the mat.
“The first thing that went to my head when I broke my nose was ‘What if it’s really bad, I’m going to require surgery’ and then had to prevent myself from crying,” Jasso said. “I had to wear a black mask while I wrestled that would prevent my nose from being hit when I would face plant. It was uncomfortable and would get really sweaty in the matter of seconds.”
Despite the varying levels of age, experience and severity of injury, all four of the athletes have one thing in common: they all want to continue their wrestling career because they fell in love with the sport and the community.
“I will continue to wrestle because it has become one of the things I look forward to at the end of the day,” Jasso said. “The coaches are absolutely amazing and the team is an awesome family to be a part of.”
