I used to get so exhausted by the end of a wrestling tournament. It was my sophomore year in college and I was competing at the Southern Scuffle, one of the toughest tournaments in the country. After losing around 10lbs and getting a horrible night sleep, I arrived at the University Of Tennessee At Chattanooga.

As soon as I arrived I checked my weight and realized I was a half pound over. I worked out for 30 minutes to make weight, then I ate and drank and gave myself 45 minutes until I had to warm up for the day.

Throughout the day from 8AM-8PM I had 4 matches all spread out. Every match I had to warmup and compete at my highest level.

In between matches I was cheering my teammates on and watching my competition.

I finished my last match at 8PM and went to go cut weight for the second day of the tournament. After getting to a pound over I went to sleep at 11PM and woke up to repeat another day of tough wrestling.

I was so tired by the last match of my second day that I knew I had to change something. So I talked with my brother Stephen to get some advice. What he told me dramatically helped my energy levels during a tournament.

After every match my brother made sure he ate and drank something and then took a 10 minute nap. He also encouraged me to avoid watching too much wrestling throughout the day, although it is a lot of fun, cheering on your teammates can be draining. I implemented this in my next tournament and immediately felt 10X better.

Next tournament, encourage your child to eat something after their match put a timer on for 10 minutes and go lay down.

Best,

Ebed Jarrell