By Blake Dykes
Photo by Noble Guyon
Out of all of the sports and clubs at the school, one in particular stands out: wrestling. Not only because of the tremendous amount of hours the athletes spend practicing, but because of their unique bond. During most sports, athletes become close to their team; however, the wrestlers claim that they have more of a brotherly bond.
“We’re closer than brothers. We all go through the same things together, and wrestling takes up a lot of time, so we don’t really have time to hang out with anyone else. I probably only have four other friends that aren’t wrestlers,” said senior Michael Kruer.
Being around each other just about everyday does help strengthen their bond, but it is the obstacles that they must overcome to succeed that really unite them.
“We can all relate to each other, like cutting weight and stuff. Plus we have been wrestling together since middle school, and we haven’t been broken apart. We’re all a big family and everyone has each other’s backs,” said junior Chase Herron.
Even though they spend just about every minute with each other, they spend their free time together as well.
“We have team parties about every weekend, and we go out to eat after each meet, and just do things that you’d do with friends,” said sophomore Chase Shalosky.
Wrestling is not all fun and games; it also requires long hours of commitment and dedication.
“It is a physically demanding sport. We have kids on the team that play other sports and they all say this is the a lot harder,” said Kruer.
Senior John Meldrum added to this.
“I think what makes Floyd Central wrestling standout is the commitment to our sport. We train practically year round so we are in pretty good shape.”
Not only is it enjoyable to play the sport they love with the friends they love, but what makes it better is that their hard work is paying off.
“This year we have lots of confidence, it shows by the success of this season so far. We have everything together, and we’re good,” said Herron.
These wrestlers are proof that a sport really can form strong friendships that will last for a long time.
“Our bond is unbreakable, my team means so much to me. I think it’s because we all work so hard together,” said Meldrum.