The Longest Six Minutes in Sports
Wrestling is one tough sport. Just ask the FCTS wrestling team.
Quite possibly wrestling is the most physically demanding sport we have here at Franklin County Technical School. So it is no exaggeration to say that this year’s team members performed admirably and honorably. They were a tough bunch of competitors.
This year’s wrestlers finished with a team record of 10-15-2 overall and a record of 3-3-2 in league competition.
While the matches in wrestling are played out as individual competitions, the team spirit is just as strong with these athletes as it is on any other team, according to coach Joe Gamache. “It’s not unusual for old teammates to come back and root for the team at matches,” he said.
“What I strive for,” said Gamache, “is for each player to get better each time they play and be wrestling at their highest potential, and that’s my goal this year for the wrestling team.”
One outstanding performer this year was Kane Rich who won the championship in the Western Massachusetts Heavyweight Division. Gamache mentioned both Rich and Nate Crocker, who also qualified for Western Mass, as two of this year’s outstanding performers. “I’d also like to recognize Chris Ludwig and Spencer Telega, who are two wrestlers who worked especially hard during the season. Chris worked all summer to become a better wrestler and both (Ludwig and Telega) doubled their wins from last season.”
Wrestling, while technically a team sport, takes place in a series of individual matches in which each wrestler goes up alone against his/her opponent. Wrestlers are broken up into categories by weight, where players of all ages can face each other; two players face off for three rounds for two minute of tossing, countering, reversals, and pins.(See the video below for more on pinning an opponent.)
In just six minutes, a winner is determined by who has the most amounts of points, which are earned by taking the opponent down (‘near fall’ almost pin),performing reversals or escaping the opponent’s holds. A match sometimes ends in an instant if someone manages to place both of their opponent’s shoulders to the mat for a full two seconds, and walk away as the victor.
Championships don’t stray far from this formula -- a wrestler faces has 16-20 opponents within their own weight class, and faces off against 6-10 of them in double elimination rounds and must remain undefeated in order to win the championship.
For those who are interested in playing this Spartan sport, Coach Gamache welcomes students of all skill levels to join. In his words, “We’re all encouraging all people, all shapes and sizes, male, female. It doesn’t matter. Come out and try it.”