The Kearns High Wrestling team has been in full force when it comes to preparing for the season. Every wrestler on the team has a certain weight class they are in and have to make the weight conditions for it. Losing weight in order to compete in a desired class can (and usually is) a grueling process. Connor Rickards is a wrestler and Football player at Kearns, while maintaining high academic scores he recently had to make a weight limit and had this to say about it, “I start off practice wearing a shirt, a sweatshirt, shorts and sweats [to] try to sweat as much as possible…then I cut all my meals in half and constantly weigh myself.” Even a small weight change can be tough as Connor told me, “I had to weigh 170 and I was 171, so I didn’t eat [all day] until 4pm.” This training can also take a toll on someone, Rickards described sometimes being “kind of brain dead” and getting “angry easy” when skipping out on food for the day. Despite this, Connor continued, “People are constantly asking: why do you do that? Why do you force yourself to starve so you can make weight for ‘just a sport’, and for me it’s not just a sport it’s a part of my life. My teammates are counting on me to make that weight and I would do anything for them.” We appreciate how hard these athletes work and are proud to have them represent Kearns High School this year. Good luck to the wrestling team this season!