Wrestling is a difficult sport that requires intense training and practice, but this strenuous activity builds character and prepares wrestlers for the upcoming season. This team is ready to have a great season for 2024-2025, and many wrestlers can’t wait for the season to start.
Head Wrestling Coach Reggie Burress, has many years of wrestling experience and is once again excited for another season.
“Well, it’s been an amazing time. This is my 27th year, and when I look back every year, there’s always something special about it,” Burress said. “It’s not always about winning. It’s about what they do after they get out of here, and when they come back and they see and they’ve been successful, and those things matter.”
Wrestling is difficult, and winning feels great, but the real gift is the memories and training, the ability to look back on years and see growth.
Burress sees another great year ahead of them,
“We have something good going this year, and we have a lot of great returners, both on the girl’s and the boy’s side, and they seem to keep getting better every day, and hopefully we can do some really great things at the end of the year.”
Another wrestler turned coach, Austin Purtle, wrestled at Smithville for 12 years. Purtle’s head coach was even the brother of Gabe Middleton, the Athletics Director at this school.
Purtle also believes that the wrestling team will do well this year, based on the amount of hard work he has seen. “We have a lot of folks that have been coming in on the off-season, whether that’s over the summer wrestling freestyle or just during the preseason, right now, coming in, getting some extra work in, and it’s really showing,” says Purtle.
Off-season work shows that many wrestlers are dedicated to their training, which is especially important for seniors, who will have their final season of their high school career.
One of these seniors, Evan MacCuish will be in his seventh total year of wrestling. Last year was tough on MacCuish, but he still enjoys it all the same. MacCuish said. “It was hard cutting all that weight [down to 157]. But I mean, it’s just part of it.”
Looking forward, MacCuish has even bigger plans for this year of wrestling. “ I think I’ll have a spot. I’m not too worried about that. I’m worried about getting the state championship this year. It’s my last year, so I’m leaving it all out there on the mat,” MacCuish said. “I’m gonna practice as hard as I can, and every opportunity I’m gonna go out and just wrestle,”
The big question, however, for all the freshmen, and those looking for a sport, is should you join wrestling?
Burress thinks so, or that you should at least give it a shot. “As long as you work hard, have a good attitude, you’ll get better, and if you wrestle for four years, you’ll see yourself grow each and every year.”
As Burress says, you can see plenty of growth if you commit yourself to it and even if you feel that wrestling is not for you, in the end, you should still try something new outside of school. “I think every student should be involved in something,” says Burress. “Sports, music, choir, theater, Speech and Debate, just find your own niche, and pour your heart into that.”
