Date of Award

Spring 6-12-2023

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Abigail Droge

Abstract

In very recent times, one of these sports-related issues that I found myself interacting with in meaningful ways was the issue of weight cutting in wrestling, with a particular focus at times on the issue of weight cutting in high school wrestling. Weight cutting is essentially the losing of a notable amount of weight in a short amount of time, typically for a short-time purpose. Weight cutting’s prevalence in wrestling can probably in part be traced to its inclusion of a weight class structure -- since wrestling splits its athletes up into weight classes for safety and fairness purposes, wrestlers can find themselves trying to attain or maintain a specific weight. A weight class structure in an activity does not inherently mean that a weight cutting issue will come about in that activity, but because the weight class structure has led to wrestlers trying to wrestle at weight classes lower than their natural weight in order to bring a strength advantage to that lower weight, the issue of weight cutting has become very prevalent in wrestling. This concept that cutting weight is a strategy wrestlers can use in order to wrestle at a weight class where they will be stronger than their opponents has become such an accepted part of wrestling that the likelihood is most people within wrestling would recognize weight cutting as a part of the sport’s DNA. Unfortunately, this is a very troubling fact. Weight cutting is a strategy that comes with a lot of difficulties, risks, and danger, as any person who tries to lose a notable amount of weight in a short amount of time is sure to feel negative effects in doing so, and those negative effects are only amplified by the intense physical and mental toll that the sport of wrestling asks from its wrestlers. These negative results of weight cutting can be physical, such as dehydration, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and cramping, and mental, such as decreased alertness, decreased concentration, confusion, irritability, and moodiness. Frankly, all of these negative results can increase in severity depending on the severity of someone’s weight cut, or on the severity of how one’s body and mind reacts to the weight cut. In extreme cases, Smith, 6 weight cutting has led to instances of people passing out, bodies going into shock, and most unfortunately, death. As such, the risks and dangers of weight cutting are too much for it to be such an accepted part of wrestling, especially when it comes to high school athletes, as no adult should feel the need to put their body and mind through what weight cutting asks them to do, let alone an adolescent student-athlete who is not fully developed and already dealing with all of the challenges of adolescence.

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