General

It's no secret that disordered eating practices are common among weight-conscious athletes. A top sports dietitian has some helpful tips for making weight healthfully.

Varsity wrestler Reid Paswall had an idea. In November 2009, with the team's opening match only days away, he approached the Somers (NY) High School athletic director to suggest that the captains for the opener be two classmates who were not even team members. The two -- Adam Stein and Matthew Moriarty -- were special-needs students with Down syndrome. "I thought," Paswall  (in red singlet in photo) told the athletic director, "that we can have our special-needs kids go out and shake the other team's captain's hands, and . . . represent Somers."

Every sport has its rituals and culture. Wrestling is no different. The focus is, and always has been, on the weight of the athlete. Because athletes are grouped by weight, each team and coach decides which athlete fits best in a weight class. This should be no problem, except that the weight of young wrestlers fluctuates considerably, which may make it difficult to maintain a weight class throughout the season.