By Courtney Baumann | [email protected]
With the semester coming to a close and the holiday season coming up, the Iowa wrestling team will get a much-needed break from training during a three-week lull in competition.
The next time the Hawkeyes will compete in front of a crowd is Dec. 29-30, when they travel to Northwestern for the Ken Craft Midlands Championships.
Until then, Iowa will have a few days off leading up to Christmas, and then hit the practice room once again the day after.
The time off comes at the perfect time, said Iowa head coach Tom Brands.
That doesn’t mean he will be lax on his guys, though. They know they need to stay focused outside of the training room, too.
“I think a break is healthy at this time of the year. I think Christmastime is important that they get away with their families,” Brands said. “It’s also important to keep moving forward, take care of your body, and make sure you’re disciplined in those areas. There can be a good balance.”
A perfect example of this is senior 125-pounder, Thomas Gilman. Over his five years with the program, he has become a leader on the team because of his work ethic.
When it comes to level of focus, Gilman’s is at the top. He does not let himself get distracted during time off; in fact, he doesn’t believe time off is even real.
He stressed the importance of keeping up with training even during the few days off the guys do have, because their wrestling lifestyle does not change when they leave Iowa City.
“Just because we don’t have practice doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a break. We’re still training, or these guys should be training, all the way through until we come back. There’s no time off between now and then,” Gilman said. “The lifestyle is the same, still working out, keeping weight down, and staying focused. When you have a mission, it’s easy to stay focused.”
Sometimes adjusting to life in college can be tough, especially for freshmen, but junior Brandon Sorensen said it has never been too difficult to make the change.
Now that he has been doing it for a few years, he also helps to ensure the younger guys stay up on their training during the few days home.
“It almost helps to be away, there’s fewer distractions, you don’t have to think about school, you can focus solely on your training, solely on your competition,” Sorensen said. “[Freshman year] I wouldn’t say was a whole lot different … You gain experience from it and you learn off of it.”
Unsurprisingly, the hardest part about the time off is avoiding the temptation of holiday treats that will inevitably be out.
“You have to be smart about it and not splurge on all the holiday goodies and stuff,” Sorensen said. “When you’re going home, you’re not just sitting watching TV. You’re getting the workouts in, getting yourself feeling good, getting yourself ready to go. [Not eating too much] is definitely one of the more difficult things.”
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