Oddly enough, I am the only wrestler in my family. Besides an occasional outing to Paulsboro's fan-packed gymnasium where I watched early '90 all-stars such as, Ernie Maden, Matt Suter, Larry Devault, Joe Bucco, to name a few, I never, really, had a driving force to wrestle.

Every February, my father would take my brother and I to Gloucester County College to watch some of Gloucester County's best wrestlers compete in the District 29 Finals. I was amazed at the number of people that attended the meets to watch high school athletes, two at a time, give it all they had just to win what seemed like a trivial little medal and poster-board chart.

In 1992, my father took my brother and I to Atlantic City where I saw my first New Jersey wrestling tournament. It was so awesome how large the arena was. Hanging lights supplied the coliseum with bright rays, as fans filled nearly every seat. I remember South Jersey's elite stealing some titles: Johnny Martin of Absegami, John Koss of Collingswood (one of the greatest come-from-behind victories that I have ever witnessed), and Bill Duff of Delran. Also, I saw the same Red Raider wrestlers that I watched in the small, beat up gym months before, battling their opponents in the finals. Unfortunately, they both came up short, but they were out there.

I started playing baseball at age 6 before beginning wrestling at age 8. In 1992, I gave up the spikes to devote my concentrations to my new love, wrestling. I wanted to shadow the hometown heroes. How exciting it would be to wrestle in front of such loyal fans. And perhaps someday I could make it to the District Finals and wrestle in front of a colossal crowd. I knew when I got goose bumps every dual meet, when Paulsboro's team sprinted out from the red locker room doors, circling the mat, that I needed to follow in their footsteps. I knew I had to be a Paulsboro Red Raider.

I had been told by many people and soon found out personally that wrestling was unique to any other sport. It is not a team sport. It is you and your opponent; no one else can help you. You participate in the energy-sapping practices; take part in the grueling runs, and get through the rough hours of drilling and lifting, so that when its crunch time, you can go out there, have fun, and win at the same time.

The thing I love most about the sport is simply competing. Realizing that your hard work, commitment, and dedication have brought you victory on the mat is unbelievably satisfying. It truly is. Knowing that you have out-worked, out-practiced, and out-wrestled your opponent is the greatest feeling that a wrestler can experience.

Now being a Paulsboro Varsity wrestler, racking up nearly 80 career victories, two district titles, a region runner-up status, and a trip to the state quarterfinals, I know that there are kids like I was out in the wooden bleachers dreaming. Dreaming, like I did, of one day, being able to grapple on the mat, which is labeled, with a bland 'P'. Although there is nothing gaudy about it, it has intrinsic meaning and power. It symbolizes pride and tradition. You know that the wrestlers in the past have pushed through tough times and created the dynasty, and it is now your mission to continue the success story.

I don't know if Paulsboro wrestling, solely, has compelled me to wrestle, but it has certainly helped. In my eyes, wrestling is the toughest sport. Just think about it. In what other sports do you execute a headlock, splade, head-snap, turn someone with a double arm bar, keep full contact for more than 6 minutes, and of course accidentally knee, elbow, and head butt? In no other sport except boxing the competitor will be drained after six minutes. Sometimes he will have cauliflowered ears, and most likely, have cuts, bruises, and inflammations plaguing his face.

I guess if I were to just sum up the question, "Why do you wrestle?" in one sentence, I would probably answer the question this way: I wrestle because I have fun competing in an individual contact sport; I like to see how my talent, toughness, hard work, and guts match up with others. However, I do not believe it is possible to thoroughly answer such an involved question in one sentence.

-IrishShamRocky