Some of the best wrestling I saw last week happened right here in the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.
No, there wasn’t another indy show at the Hillsborough Community College Trinkle Center (but, please, let me know when the next one will be). I’m talking about Strawberry Crest’s “Grapple on the Gridiron,” held Thursday, Jan. 5.
The Chargers took what could have been a normal meet against the Lennard Longhorns’ team and turned it into an outdoor showcase on the football field. Thankfully for the fans in attendance, Crest was able to beat the cold front that gripped Florida over the weekend and wrestle at what must be an ideal temperature for the sport.
Before each match, the Crest wrestlers ran out of the tunnel to the sound of cheering fans and the entrance music they chose. There weren’t any fireworks or other effects, but it didn’t matter: it was clear as day that the kids were really into it and having a great time. It might have also helped that the Chargers were able to get past Lennard with little trouble, remaining undefeated.
Really, the only problem that Crest ran into was the condition of its mat. Though it wasn’t exactly warm weather, humidity often made the surface slick with water, forcing Crest to constantly dry it off with towels, leaf blowers and big fans. Luckily, no one took a bad slip and got hurt.
I wish more area high school programs would take a leaf from Crest wrestling’s book and use their resources to host special events of their own. My favorite thing about the event -— besides that it gave me the best lighting I’ve ever had to work with at a wrestling meet — was that it gave the kids an avenue to let their personalities show more than usual. Sports are fun in part because they’re fun to play, and in part because we can get behind a competition with stakes, but I love when athletes get comfortable enough to let their work show us who they are as a person. I’ve always enjoyed watching athletes such as Steve Smith, Alex Ovechkin, Adrian Beltre, even J.R. Smith — people with their own unique quirks and habits that make you smile (well, maybe not so much with J.R.) and say, “Only he can get away with doing that.”
Even if it’s just as simple as playing part of a censored hip-hop song and letting a kid run out of the tunnel, maybe hamming it up a bit for the crowd, I’m good with it.
Not all indoor prep sports can go outdoors, like wrestling did, and not all of the outdoor sports can feasibly go indoors. But I want to suggest to the area programs that don’t normally do anything like this, or like the Durant-Plant City Halloween baseball games, to add another example. Even if it’s only for one day, why not try and have a little more fun than usual?