Fashion in wrestling

I always wear a collared shirt when I play golf. My high school wrestling coach told me, "to be good, you have to look good." He said it tongue-and-cheek, of course, but it has stayed with me. He explained that if you're a good golfer, but carry a junky bag and wear raggedy clothes, when you have a nice shot, people think you're lucky. On the flip-side, if you have a nice set of clubs and look like a golfer, but you're actually horrible, when you have a bad shot, people will think that you're probably really good, but just had an isolated bad shot.

On a similar note, I recall a teacher encouraging me to "dress-up" on big test days. He said, "If you look good, you feel good and if you feel good, you perform better."

I don't know if there's merit to these philosophies, however, many people seem to believe in them. Either way, the sports world has as much of a fashion culture as Hollywood does. The style of uniforms, workout gear, etc. change as rapidly as the preferred fit of jeans. It's difficult to say if sports style is related more to social acceptance/popularity or to performance.

This blog is about wrestling-specific sports fashion. The idea is a request from one of the most stylistically interesting athletes that I've coached (imagine 3-inch Rocky Balboa shorts and a turquoise sweatshirt). His style was definitely his own and outside of the trends. So, what are a few trends that I've seen?

When I was in high school, it was a trademark for wrestlers to tuck their sweatshirts into their pants. From a performance standpoint, the idea was to keep your body heat from escaping and to eliminate baggy clothing during practice (fingers break in baggy clothing). It was also a way for wrestlers to clearly distinguish themselves from others. I wore sweatpants with elastic ankles and tucked everything in - t-shirts, warm-up jackets, sweatshirts, etc. If I had an elastic waist band, it was a license to jam something down those pants. Very few wrestlers do this today.

In 1998, there was a significant shift in how coaches, athletes and others approached wrestling because of four weight cutting tragedies. People evaluated what was actually best for athletes instead of following "old school" stereotypes. Hydration became a major part of the sport and it affected fashion, too. Bulky clothes were out and tight fitting clothes were in. Wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts "drained" too much energy and the loss of excessive water weight during practice was counter-productive. Wearing light clothes and staying hydrated during practice allowed for individuals to train at a much higher level. I was a college freshman and spandex shorts were "it." Once you go spandex, you never go back. Tight fitting shorts made so much more sense in a wrestling practice room. College athletes aren't insecure about their bodies, so everyone wore them during practice. My brother was a senior in high school and it wasn't socially acceptable to bring the spandex into the high school room, but he did it anyways.

This all coincided with the emergence of sports super company Under Armour. Not only did they make compression shorts, they rolled out a line of "Heat Gear" compression shirts in nearly every team color. By 2001, wrestlers across the US were covered in spandex. It wasn't uncommon to see an elite wrestler practicing in a long sleeve Under Armour shirt and long spandex pants. Under Armour took hold of other sports, too, so tight fitting practice clothing trickled down to high school wrestling rooms because athletes could wear a $50 shirt under their football pads and then wear it during wrestling season and whatever he/she did in the spring.

Currently, it's not uncommon to see high school athletes wearing singlets during practice. Little kids wear their singlets to practice and until recently, it was unheard of to see an elite wrestler practice in a singlet. I think the emergence of female wrestling has made it culturally acceptable to wear singlets during practice. Most females wear singlets because it's one piece. It has led males to understand that it is comfortable practice attire. Senior-level Greco-Roman wrestlers have practiced in singlets for as long as I've been involved and many international athletes wear competition singlets during practice. It's not the norm and, in most rooms, the guy who chooses to wear a singlet is usually the "coolest" guy in the room and isn't peer-pressured out of it. Fight shorts have emerged, but it's basically mesh shorts and cotton t-shirts that is worn during practice by most wrestlers today.

The fashion within wrestling stretches across many categories. Practice attire mildly affects competition attire. Hair styles, head gear, socks, singlets, warm-ups, head phones and bags have all gone through various kinds of style transformations. I was in sixth grade when a few high school athletes stayed at my house during an event. I immediately began rolling my socks over my shoes. Rolled socks, tall socks, short socks, no socks, wool socks, double socks, bunched socks, flamboyant socks, basketball socks, name brand socks, black socks and the list goes on. All have found their place as the "it" way for sock protocol in the past 20 years. Long hair, short hair, dyed hair, bleached hair, designed hair, big hair, bangs, mohawks, tails, stripes and mullets have already started to recycle within 20 years.

I could go on and on about this subject. I'm actually quite passionate about it. I see styles and trends change across the coaching world, too. Going to a wrestling tournament today, nearly every coach seems to have a shaved head. Under Armour rules the coaching world, which makes sense since the spandex wearing athletes in 2001 are now coaches. Mustaches, goatees, sideburns, clean shaven...so many decisions for coaches, too.