Fifteen minutes of conditioning, one hour of drilling takedowns and turns, and thirty minutes of live wrestling matches. The wrestling team, led by captains Hayden Foote, Joseph Doherty, and Gabe Hassan, practices six days per week from December through March. Intense practices, limited diets, and talented coaches and athletes construct a formidable team. Two years in a row, the boys wrestling team at FHE has placed second at conference. This year, they plan to win.
Hayden Foote began wrestling in 6th grade and has been wrestling at a varsity level since freshmen year. In the offseason, he competes with his club team in meets from Nevada to Rhode Island.
At the first wrestling meet this season, Hayden won four of his five matches. His goal is be ranked on the top 4 in the state this year. Hayden is engulfed in his passion for wrestling and hopes to pursue this passion after high school. He plans to wrestle in college as well, possibly at the University of Michigan.
Hayden’s favorite part of the sport is the relationship with the team. “We would die for each other, and we have fun together.” The team is very tightly knit and includes athletes from all grades in high school.
“Wrestling is 90% mental and 10% physical”
This year, the team hired a former FBI agent who specializes in mindset training to work with the athletes on the mental aspects of the sport. According to him, “wrestling is 90% mental and 10% physical.” Hayden believes that this can also be applied to life. “A healthy body and a healthy mind lead to a healthy life.”
