For a season, whatever it takes
Area wrestles grapple with changes amid pandemic
Jon Trenge’s college wrestling career nearly ended because of a detached retina.
Wearing goggles while he competed allowed him to finish as Lehigh’s career wins leader with 133.
The goggles also created apprehension and concern for his safety.
“The goggles were like a windshield with Vaseline rubbed all over them because of all the sweat,” said Trenge, who is in his second season as head coach at Parkland, his alma mater.
“You could see up close, but when you got your head tilted down and you tried to look up toward the legs, it was hard to see.”
Trenge’s goggles were part of a fivepoint harness associated with his headgear, which often got pulled on by opponents.
The three-time All-American at Lehigh said masks serve as a similar distraction for wrestlers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Masks are required in all social settings, though the state’s mandate does allow for athletes to remove them to avoid creating a medical problem or further damaging an existing one.
Parkland wrestlers are wearing masks at all times during practices, which began Nov. 20, the first allowable winter sports practice date according to the PIAA — the state’s governing body for high school athletics.
Several area teams, including Nazareth and Northampton, delayed the start of workouts because of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases until early December.
Others, including Bethlehem Area School District and East Stroudsburg Area School District, put sports on hold until January.
Palmerton earlier this month announced it was not starting winter
sports until it returned from an all-hybrid learning format, but reversed course after a recent protest by parents and students.
Wrestling coaches at Bethlehem Catholic and Notre Dame-Green Pond are among those allowing competitors to take off their masks while engaging in a “live go,” which is when they simulate an actual match. Otherwise, however, wrestlers must wear the masks during all other drills, weight lifting and conditioning.
It is not easy, but wrestlers say it is better than the alternative.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Bethlehem Catholic senior Anthony DeRosa said, “but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do if you want to keep wrestling.
“As long as everyone complies,” fellow senior Evan Gleason added, “we’ll be able to continue this. I don’t know about the competition, but we’ll see.”
Wrestling was the last PIAA sport to complete a full regular season and postseason, concluding with the state championships March 8 at Hershey’s Giant Center. Days later, the pandemic set in and sports stopped at the high school, college and professional levels.
There were no high school spring sports in the state. Minor League Baseball was scrapped last summer. Most college fall sports were not held. The PIAA fall sports seasons were condensed, but with state championships.
The winter sports season is on path to be reduced at best, particularly in wrestling with most of the top tournaments in the state and nationally being canceled due to the pandemic.
For those practicing now, there is an understanding of how they must be and the uncertainty of what lies ahead the next day.
“It’s just something different as a team that we have to adapt to,” Notre Dame-Green Pond junior Brandan Chletsos said. “I don’t think it will affect us. This is what we work for, push ourselves for.
“We are just excited to get back on the mat and compete, take the opportunity to push ourselves no matter what is in our way because we don’t know what’s going to come the next day.”
The EPC, Colonial League and Schuylkill League have tentative league schedules starting Dec. 15 or 16, with many teams not having any nonleague matches or tournaments on their slates.
Notre Dame-GP, meanwhile, is hosting Bethlehem Catholic as well as national prep powers Wyoming Seminary and Malvern Prep on the first three Saturdays in January. The Crusaders and Golden Hawks also are slated to compete at the Powerade tournament in western Pennsylvania after Christmas.
But uncertainty remains the only certainty in the days and weeks ahead.
“As seniors it’s a little scary,” Gleason said. “We really want a season, especially a postseason.
“But Easton just went virtual and didn’t start practice yet. They are our first match. Are they going to be able to wrestle us?”
Coaches, meanwhile, must balance between wrestling life with masks and preparing them as if the season will go off without a hitch.
Trenge said that a few wrestlers took him up on the option to not attend practice until after the Thanksgiving holiday. A few others are not wrestling at all because their parents did not allow them to for COVID-19 reasons.
He also learned the first day of workouts that there must be mask breaks.
“I realized how much they were suffering,” Trenge said, “so we started them the second day. We also went with shorter live goes with no stops so no one would get hurt because they stopped to fix their mask.
“For me, the main focus this year is building up the team, having fun at practice, really bonding with the kids and them bonding with each other. I’m working with the younger kids, investing in their future. But it’s tricky because you want to make it worthwhile for the seniors.”
With the Bethlehem and Monroe County schools not starting practice until January and others not beginning until early December and the PIAA mandate requiring 15 days of workouts before the first competition, it is difficult to see the the December portion of the EPC schedule being held.
“It makes sense to me,” Trenge said, “to wait until after all the holidays are over. But as long as I’m in a wrestling room, I’m OK.”
So, too, it seems are the wrestlers.