Out of all the Diamond Bar High School sports, the one that has been the most disproportionately affected by COVID has been wrestling. The nature of wrestling requires competitors to get physically close to each other, which became impossible due to the virus. Consequently, the wrestling season was  cancelled and won’t begin again until next fall.

The impact of the lack of practice has been tremendous, according to the athletes. Students haven’t been able to practice wrestling with peers or competitors all year, making it difficult to stay in shape for the next season.

“I’ve been able to condition by myself at home, but practicing techniques and movements have been impossible because I have no one to play with,” sophomore Timothy Kim said.

According to Kim, another aspect of COVID affecting wrestling is the fact that there will be a decline of interest in wrestling since freshmen never had the chance to experiment with different sports. Many students only start wrestling once they reach high school, and students might choose another sport that they can play since wrestling was canceled this year. That obviously presents problems for the wrestling team in future years, as their team might be smaller and interest might decline.

In addition to less interest in wrestling, the relationship between current students has also been changed during this period. The teammates who had previous connections with each other would have been separated for an entire year. 

“The thing I’m most excited about next year is being able to work out with the team again,” Kim said. “It’s much more fun than working out alone.”