Do you all think that wrestling is a Indivdual or Team sport

Its both. Tournies are more individual and duals and stuff like that are all about the teams. Its all about the way the wrestler percieves it. If he makes it about the team, its about the team. If he makes it about his own person best, then it individual.

i know at my school we consider ourselves a team... espcially at dual meets everyone is involved in eachothers matches... at tournaments if at all possible everyone else is at the mat to root you on... if not you can hear them from the stands

glory i understand but at a tournament are you there for the team or to get a metal for your self

When it comes to competition wrestling is strickly an individual sport. When you are out on the mat it is you and your opponent and thats it, there isn't a whole lot your teammates can do. But wrestling is still a team sport in the sense that it is your teammates help get you pumped up, they help you stay motivated, they drill with you and push you hard in practice so that you get better. I'm currently in my fifth year of collegiate wrestling and through the years I have noticed that there isn't another team on campus that is closer knit than the wrestling team. There is a certain brother-hood shared by wrestlers, it comes from knowing how hard the sport is, knowing how hard it is to lose those last two pounds, knowing that day in and day out you work your butt off and get no shine, no time in the spotlight, the other glory is in yourself. Wrestlers have a certain mentality about them, all good wrestlers have this mentality, that is why they understand eachother and that is what makes wrestling TEAMS such a close knit family.

I think somewhere I read they considered wrestling a group sport.

Its an individual sport that scores points for the team.

by Dr. Bill Welker

... on Wrestling as a Team Sport

To me, wrestling is most definitely a team sport!

Although many observers would vehemently disagree with this statement, I say that they couldn't be further from the truth. In defense of this point, let me now compare a wrestling team to the vital parts of the body.

Note, if one organ fails, the entire body suffers gravely or even dies. Likewise, it takes the whole mat squad--every participant working at his utmost potential and each member supporting one another--to win important dual meets and the big tournaments.

So, the efforts of just part of the team, whether it be wrestling or cheering on the bench, will not get the job done.

Furthermore, a mat event is a very psychologically-oriented phenomenon, which includes that unique factor known as peer pressure. Because of the spirit, drive, resolution, and pride emanated by team cohorts on the sidelines, many less skillful grapplers have often defeated their superior adversaries.

Yes, there can be no doubt about it; the mat sport surely involves "teammanship." And, the motto of any great squad must be "All for one and one for all."

I'm not sure who Dr. Welker is but I for one would vehemently disagree.

What about those "Teams" that ony have 3-8 wt. classes filled. Those teams do not try to win a team dual or a tournament.

They are fighting for their life to be as sucessful as they can on the mat. I had always told my team-mates, my team (when I coached) and my children this.

"Do the best you can on the mat, the better you do the better the team will do". "If the team wins its a bonus to the success that you have accomplished".

This is the big selling point of wresling. You can succeed even if everyone else does not.

What about the Murton's at Lawrenceburg? The Chaffins from Prestonburg?

Some of the better wrestlers this year. Jason Hardin (PRP), Brian Hall (Pad. Till), Tony King (Dixie), Matt Green (Apollo), John Golsby (Holmes), Joe Powers (Southern). These individuals have done well for thier school with small teams.

Should these individuals give up, since they don't have a team? No they continue to push themselves and make themselves better even though they may lose every dual or place close to last in every tournament.

It's not about the team, its about the individual.

Whether It's a full team our a small team, the individual cannot practice by himself. It takes a team to make an individual a winner. when that individual competes on the mat, he represents all the hard work that he and his teammates have done in practice to prepare him for competition. It may be individual glory, but it is team pride.

I'm not sure who Dr. Welker is but I for one would vehemently disagree.

Dr. Bill Welker is well known to West Virginia Wrestling fans. Dr. Welker is a former Pennsylvania State Champion. A nationally recognized wrestling sportswriter and official, Bill Welker was selected as the "2002 National Wrestling Official of the Year" by Wrestling USA Magazine. Dr. Welker is presently the Wrestling Rules Interpreter and Clinician for the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission.

Whether It's a full team our a small team' date=' the individual cannot practice by himself. .[/quote']

I believe Stone from Apollo was the only one on his team when they started. I believe he may have practiced with his father, or other non high school kids.

With this ideology then NO sport is individual. Boxers have sparring partners, tennis players have someone on the other side of the net.

Golf might be the closest thing you get, and that's a whole other argument on whether its a sport or not.

Its an individual sport first, then team. Consider this proposal. If i told you either your team could win the team title or you could win the individual title (you couldn't have both happen) ... what would you choose ? A lot of people will say team title, but thats the diplomatic answer and i think no one would say it and really mean it.

There's definitely a team element to it, as you have all the guys contributing to a common cause. However, unlike a basketball team you can wrestle an official match by yourself, but you can't play an official basketball game by yourself. I tend to look at a wrestling team as a bunch of really close allies instead of a single entity.

its a team sport it takes the whole team to get people ready.

I would have said individual title. You could be on the state championship team and not even physically be at the state tournament.