I learned how to wrestle in a tiny portable that our school had. It was so small that we had to curl the mat up on two sides of the wall in fact. It had such a low ceiling that after practice was done and the door was opened to the winter weather, clouds would sometimes form. Don’t worry, it never rained, though. But we had just spent the last two hours practicing hard: grinding each others body into the mat, taking off noses with crossfaces, slamming each other into the mat from a double leg. These are just some of the things that every wrestling practice will have around the country. Sweat will puddle all over the mat and many times will mix with blood as wrestlers contort their bodies and their opponent’s into new shapes.

Wrestling is the most contact sport that man “plays.” It’s constant skin on skin contact. Because of the conditions, such as blood, sweat and contact, contracting skin viruses, fungi and bacteria is very common. But what happens when you contract a virus that affects you for the rest of your life? And what would you say if your coach new about an infected wrestler on the team and not only let him wrestle, but required him to? This is what happened at York College in Pennsylvania.

Andrew Bradley (left) and James Harris (right)

Two wrestlers are suing the college for at least $50,000 each because their coach allegedly permitted other wrestlers to be on the mat and practicing with active outbreaks of herpes gladiatorum – herpes simplex virus Type 1. At one point, the two wrestlers, James Harris and Andrew Bradley, claim that about 70% of the team, or 25 wrestlers, had contracted the virus.

So what’s the deal? Aren’t there rules forbidding such things? ABSOLUTLY! In fact, the NCAA has specific rules just for herpes. They say that a wrestler with a herpes outbreak cannot practice or compete until after a 5 day anti-virul treatmeant it completed.

I don’t know about you, but I remember some kids having an outbreak of ringworm – a much, MUCH less sever fungus. Those kids sat out, no matter how small the outbreak. Our coach was constantly checking us and having us check ourselves to prevent an outbreak. My sophmore year, I threw my back out but still showed up to practice unable to do much except for the clean the mat every single day while the team ran.

Preventative measures are key when you are dealing with any kind of skin outbreak. Shower before and after practice, along with in the morning. In fact, I was so paranoid my senior year that I showered 5 times a day! In the morning, before practice, after practice at school, when I got home and again before I got into bed. Not once did I have any kind of outbreak, except for an allergic reaction to lobster that we thought was something for a couple days. But that doesn’t count.

So bottom line: wrestlers – don’t wrestle and get your entire team benched from competition or worse, or even one other person, for that matter and coaches – if your wrestlers have an outbreak of any kind, don’t let them in the wrestling room, let alone touching the mat. You don’t need to deal with a sick team.

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