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Wrestling to Survive
Introduction
The importance of wrestling is understated greatly being that it is referred to as
the oldest sport to be played in ancient Egypt and Greece. Wrestling is a sport of
discipline that needs to be acknowledged for the hard work ethic that it instills upon its
members. I received the best grades of my high school career while I was wrestling.
When I was applying for colleges in my third year of high school I realized that without
the dedication, discipline, and work ethic that my wrestling team at Palm Harbor
University High School taught me I wouldnt have been able to stand out from the crowd
and be accepted into the University of Central Florida. College administrators need to
consider the importance of extracurricular activities such as wrestling in their decision
making process because a motivated and disciplined wrestler will work harder than the
average student academically.
Method
In this paper I will be using John Swales discourse community to portray the
importance of the wrestling community on academics. Swales describes the discourse
community as having six specific characteristics, which include common goals,
intercommunication, provide information and feedback, genres, specific lexis, and
membership threshold. In my analysis of the discourse community of wrestling I will
focus on the intercommunication of this discourse community and the lexis. To provide
support for my paper I will be using my own personal experiences and an interview that I
conducted on six of my friends from Palm harbor University High School, three were

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wrestlers on my team (Aaron, Tucker, Matt) and the other three (Tim, John, Sam) were
not involved in any athletic sports or clubs.
Questions asked:

Do you feel motivated in your studies?

When faced with difficult tasks do you tend to slack off or give up?

Do you work well with others or do you feel more comfortable working
alone?

Results
The results of the interview were interesting because each question focused on a
different characteristic that the wrestling community included. The purpose of the first
question asked was in order to gauge the participants level of dedication and if wrestling
influenced this dedication in a positive or negative way. All three wrestlers felt that they
were motivated to finish their homework and did so after difficult practices. Sam agreed
that he felt motivated in accomplishing his studies and worked very hard to obtain a 3.8
GPA. However, Tim and John felt little motivation to complete their assignments and
admitted to skipping classed frequently. The second question focuses on the discipline
that each possesses. Aaron and Tucker both felt self disciplined and able to persevere
through the task at hand unnerved by the difficulty. The third wrestler Matt felt that the
more difficult the assignment the more likely it was for him to slack off and procrastinate.
Sam was the only one of the non-wrestlers to feel disciplined and able to work harder in
order to complete the task given. The other two non-wrestlers, Tim and John, both felt
little self-discipline and chose to either take the easy way out or not try at all. The third
question relates to the participants ability to work in collaboration with a unit. Wrestlers

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are more capable of this aspect because of the close quarters they work in daily with one
another. All three wrestlers felt more than comfortable working with others in
collaboration and were seen as more friendly and reliable. Tim was the only one of the
non-wrestlers to answer the question in the same manner in that he enjoys working as a
unit with the company of others.
Wrestling to the Dedicated
There is a myriad of discourse communities ranging from big to small but none
are able to compare to what wrestling has to offer its dedicated followers. In the world of
wrestling it may be about who is stronger and faster but it is also about who has the most
heart. Wrestlers form close bonds with one another through long grueling practices; times
when all your teammates including yourself are unable to leave for vacation or the
holidays because even though school may be out wrestling is never out of season. This
also demonstrates to college admissions that if a student is willing to devote their full
effort and time into the sport of wrestling then simply making it a habit to do your
homework on time and study should be a piece of cake. This is what they need to take
into consideration. Wrestling to many is not simply a sport an individual participates in
after school to keep busy it is a lifestyle that you must accept and prosper within. The
majority of wrestlers will admit to dreading going to practice and who would kill to eat
an enormous portion of the greasiest, fattiest foods they can only imagine but
unfortunately this is impossible for the life of a wrestler if they want to make weight and
keep out of the wrath of our coach.
Throughout the years that an individual is involved in the sport of wrestling they
will develop an impressive intercommunication web through different wrestling

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communities. In my experience with my wrestling team we communicated through many
aspects of social media such as twitter or Facebook. We also used emails and phones
primarily in communicating with our coaching staff in the case of an emergency. I use
emergency very loosely in this statement because an emergency to our coaching staff
would be along the lines of breaking both your legs because that is the only reason they
felt someone should miss practice. Wrestling is an intense discourse community that
many are unable to handle but the brave few able to stomach it are the true heroes.
Discipline
Colleges look for students with self-discipline because there simply isnt a
respectable college that wants students who are unable to motivate themselves. This is
where wrestling comes into the picture because of the self-discipline that is taught.
Imagine running for so long and hard that you want nothing more then to stop because
your lungs burn and you feel like you need to vomit but rather than quit and get that
second of satisfaction wrestlers push through that pain in order to better themselves. This
concept is taken into the classrooms as well, for example I remember a time when I was
forced to stay awake all night in order to finish an extensively long research paper. I
worked for a week on this paper and it all boiled down to the last few hours of darkness
in the sky but I focused and pushed myself to finish that paper. Wrestling is important in
developing self-discipline and demonstrates importance of it in order to balance the busy
life of a wrestler with academics.
Work Ethic
The work ethic of an individual is detrimental in determining the success and well
being of people. Work ethic is defined as a belief in the moral benefit and importance of

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work and its inherent ability to strengthen character. The amount of work that wrestlers
have to do in order to prepare for a match is overwhelming. When I first began wrestling
at my high school I was a novice and started from the bottom by learning the specific
lexis. This included the many different forms of wrestling moves and take downs such as
a single leg, double leg, hip toss, sprawl, and many more. Learning all of these new code
words and techniques felt unbearable at first but I was required to use my strong work
ethic to develop and hone my newfound skills quicker so after practice I would return
home and continue to repeat the new moves until I was able to execute them with ease.
Wrestlers have to posses a strong and reliable work ethic to even survive in the sport
because of the amount of stress it puts on the body.
What College Administrators Should Take Away
Wrestling is an extracurricular activity like no other in that the amount of
dedication, discipline, and work ethic required of an individual is enormous without
adding into the mix the fact that they also maintain a high academic standing. College
administrators need to take into consideration these qualities that wrestlers possess
because it builds hardworking reliable students. These are the students that college
admissions should be looking into in order to fill their Universities with well-acclimated
individuals. Wrestlers are use to enduring physically demanding activities as well as
mental ones. Wrestling is a physical sport but also has to deal with the psychological part
because if you do not try your absolute hardest or you slack off for even a minute you
will be thrown into the mat and pinned just as you would be in life if you dont try your
best in school. Universities need more students like wrestlers that understand the
dedication, discipline, and work ethic required of them to succeed in their education.

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