THE MENTAL GAMES : Dropping Weight, Getting Psyched Up Are Part of the Contests That Go On Before the Match

Most high school wrestlers and coaches say their sport is at least 70% psychological--that matches are won more with the mind than the body.

As for the wrestlers themselves, well, they seem a lot more psycho than logical.

How else would you describe a kid who drops 10 or 15 pounds to wrestle at a certain weight, lives occasionally on a diet of ice cubes so he can maintain that weight, and spends two to three hours a day doing strenuous aerobic workouts that would have Jane Fonda gasping for air, all for the pleasure of possibly having his face smothered into a mat by some brute?

“Deep down inside, I guess you have to be a psycho just to go through the life of a wrestler,” said Loara senior Brian Malavar, who wrestles at 157 pounds.

Added Mike Phillips, a 147-pound junior from Capistrano Valley: “Most of my friends and teachers think I’m crazy sometimes. Our sport seems pretty bizarre to a normal person.”

Each step of the wrestling process, from dieting to making weight to preparing for a match and to the match itself, is accompanied by psychological challenges, and the manner in which a wrestler deals with these challenges contributes heavily to his reputation as a different breed of prep athlete.

Most wrestlers try to lose enough weight to drop one or two divisions, so they can be matched against a smaller opponent. But, as anyone on a diet knows, losing weight is more of a mental than physical challenge.

Eat-To-Win diets just don’t cut it for these wrestlers.

“The hardest part about dieting is wanting food,” said Tom Odar, Fountain Valley’s 147-pound wrester. “You crave everything, even things you normally don’t like, such as liver.”

The day before a match, Malavar, who played football last fall at 180 pounds and moved up to 167 from 157 last week, usually chews on nothing but ice cubes, making sure not to swallow.

“Self-discipline is where it’s at,” he said. “If you’re not disciplined, you’re in trouble, because when you look in the refrigerator and see all the good stuff staring you in the face, you just want to pound it all down. You want to eat it all, but you can’t until after weigh-ins.”

Weighing in, Step Two in the process, also tests the mental toughness of a wrestler. And his creativity.

Three years ago at the Five Counties Tournament, Odar remembered a wrestler who was slightly overweight and had apparently exhausted all reducing options. Except one.

“He shaved his head, made weight, and then went out and won the tournament,” Odar said.

Talk about a heady decision.

Some wrestlers will wrap themselves up in sweat shirts and run laps around the gym, take sauna or whirlpool baths, chew gum and spit, make frequent restroom stops, or stand on their heads for five minutes (don’t laugh, it works) to lose precious ounces.

“One time our coach rolled up one of our wrestlers in a mat and sat on him,” Malavar said. “It got pretty hot in there, and he lost the weight.”

Once a wrestler makes weight, his next mental challenge is getting psyched up for his match. Many, such as Bolsa Grande’s Daryl Christian, prefer to listen to music and visualize the match in their minds.

El Dorado senior Todd Tomazic, who won the state championship at 167 pounds last year, tries to imagine that he’s trapped somewhere and has to get out.

“You have to have the feeling that no matter what it takes, you’re gonna do it,” he said.

Others have even more bizarre tactics.

“When I was a sophomore, a guy on our team (Dan Bass) started banging his head on a wall before a match,” Malavar said. “Then, he punched two or three of our guys in the face. I thought he was gonna hyperventilate or something.”

Two years ago, Capistrano Valley had a wrestler named Tim Ige, who, just before shaking hands with his opponent at the start of a match, would run several circles around him.

“It was pretty intimidating,” Phillips said. “They (opponents) didn’t expect a regular match.”

The tactic must have worked. Ige was the 1985 state runner-up in the 135-pound division.

The actual match--Step Four--is the fun part for wrestlers, the culmination of all the preparation. But the head games don’t end here. If anything, they get even more intense.

“Being physical helps, but most of of the match is mental,” Malavar said. “Especially at the end, when people are burning out. Some may be better technique-wise, but whoever wants it more will win it.”

Perhaps, Canyon Coach Gary Bowden put it best in 1985, when he said of the sport and its competitors: “It reminds me of the guy rolling around in a bed of cactus. Somebody comes up to him and asks him why he’s doing that. And he says, ‘Well, because it feels so good when I stop.’ ”

Those who are only familiar with the pain and anguish that wrestlers endure wonder why they do it. But one only needs to experience the exhilaration of having a referee lift his arm after a tough match to know it’s all worth it.

“Sometimes I think, ‘Why am I pushing myself? I could just quit,’ ” said Christian, a 193-pound senior. “But then I think about winning and what a feeling that gives me, and I keep on pushing. It’s hard to describe, but it makes me feel good all over.”

Said Phillips: “Cutting weight and hard workouts are usually the only things people hear about wrestling, but they don’t understand the pride in it, the glory of winning. Just winning a match makes my day.”