Oct 19, 2010 11:39 PM GMT
Just posted this Extras clip from my documentary. How many of you were on your high school wrestling team, and did you notice any kids picked on?
AnotherKevin saidMan that's a loaded question. Our team was weird because we were athletic misfits of the school. Everybody made fun of us already for wrestling so we became a family. My teachers would even tell me in class that wrestling was soft core porn for perverts. We got teased as a unit so anytime someone caught wood during practice it was almost funny. It happens so much if you didn't you prob weren't trying you hardest. I know most of those guys weren't gay but you spend so much time with each other that it just did not matter. I remember two events that put me to ease while on the wrestling team.
As a freshman I remember a senior on another team called me a meat hawk and a fag during weigh ins. I wasn't even looking at him, I didn't want to be completely nude in front of 100 strangers. My team captain came over used his body as blockade and told the Senior teasing the whole locker room was staring at his small equipment. It was nice to have someone defend you while gangs of people are questioning your sexuality.
In my Junior year we had a new guy make varsity and hold his own for most of the season. We went to a 18 team tournament in a back wood county in Virginia which scared the shit out of all of us. This guy ended up wrestling a state qualifier early in the tournament but caught wood. The other teams coach made such a stink that he was pretty much teased off the mat and lost his match. On the way back our coach told us the next time someone calls anyone of us a homo or a fag during a wrestling match to just focus. He said you may not be able to win but I know all of you can run arm bars then figure four the head. And no one talks shit when your dick is pretty much in their mouth in an arena full of people.
But our team was weird and I was lucky. My coach had a son he thought was gay and most of the guys on my wrestling team were already social outcasts so we had a lot of tolerance for each other. I did see a lot of teasing, bullying, harassment and even some people sent to the hospital because the were perceived as gay.