We did wrestling in PE class but that was PE. For those of us (stupid?) who wanted to be on the varsity squad it was a nightly routine of training with weekly matches against other district schools. Tournies came along a few times a year and as people got better there were also camps etc... My wrestling coach was also our football coach (US gridiron) and he was way too big to be standing on my knees trying to get my hips to butterfly :' P. I'm not sure which was worse, these stretches or when he would hit you with a butt block while you had a helmet on and he had his baseball cap turned around backwards... crazy people coaches. Still in their own way they were the salt of the earth! FWIW LFD
There was talk of bringing boxing back into school about 10yrs ago which was debated but ultimately (inevitably) scrapped. TBH doubt it was really seriously considered anyway. Wrestling as much as it would be great to have in school, I think popularity/interest and budget comes into it. Awareness mainly, as in the UK, as much as we like to say we are quite open minded, when we mention "wrestling" most think..."you wot? Like WWF?" Then the childish.."urgh, that looks gay" comments come in as soon as you 1) describe the sport and 2) see the singlet. I still have to convince BJJ guys to try it out and the first thing they ask is if they cant wear the singlet. Go figure. We are a boxing / football / rugby nation unfortunately, and until we change (culturally) I doubt we will see Wrestling in our schools any time soon. What we do need is more good wrestling schools, like LAW and others I'm sure that exist hidden somewhere. England does have a Wrestling background (Cornish/Folk), the military and the Police have inter-comps (some you can go watch) and there are good wrestling coaches out there. It just needs a good boost.
