Aquinas Youth Wrestling Program

Will my child have to lose weight in wrestling?

A: Absolutely not!  In the youth through middle school wrestling programs, there is absolutely no talk or discussion of weight loss with our wrestlers.  In all of the competitions that wrestlers in these age groups may attend, they would wrestle at their natural body weight and wrestle against kids of similar size and ability level.  At the high school level, we promote a healthy eating lifestyle with a well-rounded diet with an emphasis on whole foods and staying away from fast or fried foods.  We believe this helps with both performance and recovery and allows the student/athlete perform at their highest levels daily.

I hear wrestling is violent and will cause my child to be aggressive. Is that true?

A: Wrestling has long had the misperception of being a violent sport by those who have never actually seen it. Wrestlers are encouraged to be aggressive on the mat, but wrestlers who are too aggressive, or out of control, will soon find themselves on the losing end of a match won by a more controlled wrestler. Wrestling helps teach young men how to control their aggression both on and off the mat, much like martial arts disciplines do. They are taught to respect their opponents and the sport, and wrestling more than any other sport teaches humility, as they must learn to deal with losses on an individual level vs. a team level, and that lesson is carried with them off the mat for the rest of their lives.

Is wrestling dangerous? I worry about my son/daughter being injured.

A: Participation in any sport carries an inherent risk of being injured, wrestling notwithstanding. Wrestling however though, like stated above, is always done in a safe and controlled environment. During competition, wrestling has the best referee to competitor ratio of any sport with 1 referee per 2 competitors. This allows the referee to totally focus on the safety first and foremost of these student/athletes. Wrestling has less incidences of concussions per athlete than a sport like soccer and fewer lower body injuries in comparison to boys’ basketball (Injury incidence of high school athletes). Injuries can occur in wrestling, but like all sports, efforts are taken to reduce these incidences as much as possible.

Will wrestling make my child’s ears look funny? (Cauliflower ear/wrestler’s ear)

A: Cauliflower ear is easily preventable by wearing headgear. At the high school level, we mandate that all our wrestlers wear their headgear in practice every day, and it is already mandated in competition. In my years of coaching, of the hundreds of athletes I have coached, I have never had a wrestler develop cauliflower ear.

I hear wrestlers contract a lot of skin infections, is that true?

A: All contact sports have an inherent risk of athletes contracting skin infections, including sports like football and basketball. Wrestling takes vast measures to ensure that skin infections are both prevented and diagnosed and treated immediately if found. Our wrestlers are required to shower immediately after practice and we provide them with daily practice gear which we wash daily to ensure proper hygiene. We also wash our mats daily and do skin checks both at competitions and practice to catch anything that may pop up.

Why should my child wrestle?

A: All children should wrestle at some point in their youth!  Here are 10 reasons why all kids should wrestle, even if they decide not to stick with it through high school.







“…I learned a lot about taking responsibility for my actions when I wrestled for 4 years…All professional athletes ought to spend a year wrestling. It teaches you something, you get pinned; you can’t blame the coach. You can’t blame your teammates. The guy you are looking for is staring back at you in the mirror” –former Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams





Have a question we didn’t answer?

Feel free to call or send us a message.

Ready To Become a Blugold Wrestler?

Contact us today to learn how to get started.
Call (507) 208-3084Send a message