Body fat / hydration testing for football?

[CoachDelgado]

We are being informed that the body fat / hydration testing is for the health benefit of our athletes. I will admit that when it becomes the rule in TN next year, it will make my job a little easier. I don't have to figure out where my athletes can go, the machine will tell me. Others will have to stick to the same standard (even though the colleges have already figured out a way to cheat the system).

Since the health of our athletes is of utmost importance, I propose it should be done for other sports. Football is allowed to fatten up their players with no consequence. One of my generally fit wrestlers came to me after football season at 23.8%. Over 23% is clinically obese.

My proposal is that football should have to keep athletes below 20% to be eligible to play. Any thoughts?

[jgannonnvp]

is it still the standard mode instead of the athlete mode?

[cbg]

Jose,

 

How can you cheat the system? All they do in college is hold their urine and test 1st thing in the morning. People are less dehydrated in the early morning than later in the day.

[jgannonnvp]

ask any college coach they will tell you how.

[ArtusCimber]

Interesting, Coach Delgado. I had a kid come in last year from football who was 25% bodyfat at 241 pounds. Our football coach had the audacity to claim that I wasn't interested in his health because I wanted him to cut to 215. Wow.

I'd agree with you on the testing, but it will be a task competing with football coaches who follow the rationale (as ours does) that the heavier you are, the stronger you'll be.

 

Then, when we get a kid in and tell him we want him to get bigger, he discourages them with the rationale that the arduous conditioning of wrestling will keep them from gaining weight. Light and in condition is apparently no good. Fat and out of shape seems to be the credo here.

 

It blows my mind.

Edited January 29, 2004 by ArtusCimber

[noonesfool]

Good point Coach Delgado, I have never seen to many skinny wrestlers 5 years later but i have seen way to many obese former linemen. Number one lie in HS football to 5'9 to 6'0 linemen: put on another 30lbs. and I will get you a division I

scholarship. The problem is to many kids buy into this health and play 1 sport issue.

[rabidmonkey]

a lot of really good lineman are just fat naturally and making football players make a certain size would keep talented players that couldn't make it off of the field and that wouldn't be fairto the big guys

[ankLpik]

I'll agree that some are "fat" naturally. NO ONE is OBESE naturally.

Edited February 5, 2004 by ankLpik

[noonesfool]

I need a Twinkie :justwrestle:

[WrestleSBA]

I have to agree with Coach Delgado on this one. This can be a particularly touchy subject at smaller schools like ours where you need kids to compete in more than one sport if you want to be able to field full teams. We are in a situation where the football coach actually discourages his kids from wrestling because he thinks we will force them to lose the weight they put on for football. I have a particular problem with this attitude because we don't force anyone to lose weight. It is true that if you come over from football with a ton of fat to wrestling then you will probably lose some of it. However, the benefits you will gain are much higher because the muscle mass of an athlete will increase, he will learn a lot about body control and form/technique of how to move other people, and in general they will become tougher ( yes this means that I think wrestlers are tougher than most football players ). I can understand where a football coach might want a lineman to be as large as possible to fill a hole, but what about having a strong, muscular, explosive lineman that can move people and create holes. I just think that any football coach that discourages his players from wrestling doesn't understand what he is missing and is doing his players a great disservice. While I am not a football coach I would think that they would want players who were in shape and with the strength and stamina to match. After all weight/size/girth (for lack of a better word) does not equal strength.

[BigDogDaddy]

Yeah but....if a kid is obese to start with, he ain't gonna get any skinnier by not being on a football team or a wrestling team. If you don't let him play he's going to workout on XBOX while he drinks Cokes and munches ding dongs.

[CoachDelgado]

If nothing else, it can give him an incentive to get off of his keister and try to trim down. Did any one see the HBO Real Sports segment on the ex-football player. He is severely obese, almost 500 lbs. All through high school, college and pro football he was pushed to gain more and more weight. He can now barely move. He did what he had to do to play at the highest level and now has a very low quality of life. As WrestleSBA stated, "but what about having a strong, muscular, explosive lineman that can move people and create holes."