The start of winter is normally looked forward to by the general public. After all, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year’s Day are all relatively soon afterwards. On the other hand, that feeling of fun may be delayed for wrestlers due to the thought of “Hell Week.”

If you were to ask a student if they were excited about the up-and-coming sport they participate in, they generally would say yes. Now if you were to ask that same kid if they were excited about the first week of practice, more than likely, it would be a different story.

“The first week of practice is basically the worst thing ever,” senior Dusty Carter said. “It’s always the longest week of the semester.” 

One of the biggest reasons the first week of wrestling practice can be so treacherous is that sports have been out for almost two months, making most of the players out of shape for the harsh conditioning. 

Not only have sports been out for over a month, but for a lot of kids, wrestling is their first, and sometimes only, sport of the year. These kids find that not conditioning before the season is a fairly dire mistake.

“I feel like it definitely wouldn’t be that bad if we were to stay in shape,” senior Jacob Eaton said. “But even after three years, we haven’t learned.”

Although wrestling is already a very challenging sport mentally and physically, the first week can be the most vigorous. Coaches tend to make the first week the worst in order to let the athletes know what the sport is about and to let them decide if they should continue the season.

“I like to go hard the first week because it sets the tone of the season and lets the kids know what to expect each and every day,” Head Coach and history teacher Nick Fulton said. “Some years it’s to wean out the weak, but this year that wasn’t the case.” 

One of the best ways to make it through the challenging week is by using the motivation given from your teammates in the room. 

“My wrestling partner and teammates help me stay motivated throughout the challenging week,” sophomore Caydee Eden said. “The week would be even worse if it wasn’t for my peers cheering me along.”