The Brave News

by Andrew Fierro

Bosco Wrestling is back in a new format which has already affected the wrestlers and their seasons leaving an impact on the future of their wrestling careers.

Though the wrestling season for most of the wrestlers starts in the fall of every year, this year due to restrictions from Covid-19 the season isn’t getting underway until late April and into May.

With the restrictions from Covid-19 the seasons format will be updated with new schedules and different outlooks on duals. There will be no tournaments and instead will have duals and a will indeed have a CIF Dual Championship at the end of the season. This is different from the usual season with a variety of team duals and individual tournaments for the wrestlers.

The biggest update for the season is the unlikelihood of a state championship tournament. With no tournament at this scale it will have a major effect on the seniors wrestling who are scholarship hopefuls. Without this type of stage that will give the seniors the chance to make a name for themselves it will become more difficult for the wrestlers to get the notoriety of different colleges in hopes for scholarship opportunities.

Many seniors who are not looking to wrestle in college will also be heavily impacted because of the loss of a large portion of their last season. Many wrestlers from all over the state will be disappointed to not have the opportunity to compete at the highest level.

One senior who was hoping to have a standout performance in the 2021 wrestling season to help boost his scholarship opportunities was Bosco Wrestler Jasper Centeno.

“The season usually is able to provide us with exposure to college scouts, so with the season being dramatically reduced, it has a large effect on being scouted,” said Jasper.

Though he has had to deal with lots of issues with the season Jasper shows excitement towards the season and being able to wrestle.

“I’m just happy I will be able to participate in something in my final year,” said Jasper.

It’s been hard for wrestlers like him and many others who may have lost focus and motivation for the oncoming season which is something that Jasper spoke on. 

“It’s easy to stay lazy and not better yourself, you have to make that choice to get up and improve yourself,” said Jasper.

Many seniors like him are going through the exact same issue and are being hit hard with the chance of not being able to get offers to wrestle at a higher level college next year. Covid has had a drastic effect on the way colleges scout, though seniors are not the only ones going through tough times due to covid. 

Another wrestler having to fight through the adversity caused by covid this season is junior Bosco Wrestler Oscar Aranda. Oscar Aranda has also dealt with many challenges going into this season and is disappointed that the season is not as long as usual which doesn’t bring the same excitement as usual. His biggest disappointment is in the unlikelihood of a state tournament.

“The changes to the season are restraining and the possibility of no state tournament is bad because it is the highlight of many wrestlers’ high school careers,” said Oscar.

There are also limitations on practice and with all of the wrestlers being unable to practice up until now it will be hard for them to compete at the best of their abilities. There will be strict policies from each school in the CIF that will limit the amount of participants and what the criteria is to be able to participate.

Though one good thing that has come out of covid is the eagerness it has given the wrestlers to compete. The wrestlers have been starved from not only competition but even practice which has caused wrestlers like Oscar to become anxious to get back to it.

“Yes not being able to practice much has made me hungrier to get back on the mat which I believe is a good thing,” said Oscar.

As the season begins Bosco Wrestling looks to keep that high status in the wrestling community and continue their dominance throughout the year with hungry wrestlers who are eager to get back to sport.