Back on the mat

I'm not saying it was that long ago but the last time I had set foot on a wrestling mat Ronald Reagan was president and "Platoon," was the No. 1 movie at the box office.

For years I had been wishing for an opportunity to roll around on the mat once more. Not competitively, mind you, but just to have a workout and a chance to remember my glory days of high school wrestling.

So last week when Comanche wrestling coach Casy Rowell posted on social media that he was having open workouts at the wrestling room where anybody could come, I immediately messaged him and told him "I'm in."

Thursday was the first workout I attended and there is no way to overstate how much fun I had. I had my memory refreshed on a few things and learned some new things.

I didn't go in with high expectations, I just wanted to be able to get up and down on the mat and not embarrass myself too much.

My main partner was Cade White, a Comanche junior who is a third of my age and a state placer at heavyweight the past two seasons. So, yeah, he took it easy on me.

It was a great workout and to me, it was so much more fun than just going to the gym to lift weights and walk on the treadmill. At the gym, the weights don't fight back.

Which is one of the reasons Rowell is doing this. In addition to his love for the sport, he wants to give people an opportunity to have fun while they are working out and learning new things.

The classes are Tuesday and Thursday, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., at the Comanche wrestling room, the building behind the visitors' side of the football field. The workout sessions are free and open to men, women, and children, who have an interest in wrestling whether they are experienced or have never wrestled before. Participants can come to as many workout sessions as they want. There is no sign-up or commitment, participants just show up.

I woke up Friday morning a little stiff and sore with small matching bruises on my biceps. Getting the chance to once again do things like run a "double chicken wing" and a lock in a "cradle," made a little soreness well worth it.

How much the participants push themselves is completely up to the individual. There is no forced participation or judgment. If an individual wants to sit out an exercise in order to catch their breath, it is totally fine.

It had been 35 years since the last time I wrestled, so if I can do it, anyone can.

"The more people we have, the more fun it will be," Rowell said.