MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY -- Click ... click ... click ... click ... That is a sound a jump rope makes as it contacts a hardwood floor of a gymnasium as a wrestler warms up for an upcoming match.
That sound, combined with a beating heart, sweat beads forming around a hairline and traveling down a back, a roaring crowd engaged in a current match are the only elements a wrestler’s senses are keyed into as he focuses, tuning out all other distractions and surroundings in preparation for a match.
Arguably the oldest sport, dating back to the first Olympics and the purest one-on-one competition, took place Tuesday at Thomason Gym aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in the form of a wrestling quad meet.
Wrestlers from Lee County, Tift, Thomas County Central and Colquitt high schools as well as youth wrestlers participated in the wrestling quad event.
The life of a wrestler features drill after drill, sprint after sprint, move after move, proper diet, mental and physical preparation for those who want to be successful and eventually crowned a champion.
According to wrestling coaches, it is necessary to practice and properly drill a move hundreds, even thousands, of times until it becomes muscle memory, second nature and a natural reaction during those grinding six minutes of a wrestling match.
The result of not ensuring this preparation is achieved, will almost certainly, result in defeat and watching a referee raise an opponent’s arm in victory following those six minutes.
No competitor wants to have worked that hard only to see his opponent victorious.
Much of the preparation that goes into being successful on the wrestling mat translates into being successful as a Marine: exercises, drills and physical and mental preparation for combat. So, it is only fitting that MCLB Albany would be the site to host such an event.
Those who are looking for a new sport, like competition in its purest form or would like to see what it is like to physically and mentally exhaust every fiber of the human body in pursuit of victory, attend the next, local wrestling competition.