When a boy walks onto the mat, HE STANDS ALONE.  No one will run interference; no one will pass him the ball when he is under the net.  No one will catch a high fly if he makes a bad pitch.  HE STANDS ALONE.

In other sports where individual scores are kept, the contest is determined in time, distance and height.  But in wrestling, the score is kept on a boy's ability to overcome an opponent in a hand to hand contest where at any second, at any time, it can mean a loss or a win.  If an opponent gains any advantage, there will be no help, no substitutes; there will be no time out and all can be lost in one second.  Yes, THE BOY STANDS ALONE.

From the spectators standpoint, attention is focused on two boys, not 100 yards away as in some sports, but in most contests, just a few feet away.  Every move can be seen; every act detected.  A failure in endurance, in technique or courage will be spotlighted.

There is no place on a wrestling team for the lazy, the show off or the half-hearted.  When the whistle blows, a boy puts his ability, his determination and his courage on the line.

We who are close to the young boys on our wrestling team have watched the full range of human emotions, from elation to heartbreak.  We have seen coaches with tears running down their cheeks as they try to console a young boy who has given his all . . . yet lost.

Wrestling is a tough, hard sport and like life, it is the survival of the fittest.  The young boys who enter and stay with the team know this.  They also know that when the times comes and the whistle blows . . .

THEY STAND ALONE!