Phil Bloom, age 13, of Quincy, I11., for his question:
WHEN WAS WRESTLING FIRST PRACTICED?
Wrestling is a sport in which two opponents try to hold each other's shoulders to a mat on the floor. The sport goes back to the earliest prehistoric times.
Carvings and drawings on the walls of caves found in France go back between 15,000 and 10,000 years. The old drawings show more than 500 wrestlers in various holds and leverage positions.
Wrestling is also mentioned in the Bible's Old Testament. There is a report that Jacob wrestled God in the form of a man.
About 708 B.C., wrestling was introduced into the Olympic Games in Greece. The Greek philosopher Plato won many prizes for wrestling when he was a young man.
Wrestling became popular in England during the early Middle Ages.
And in America Indians wrestled as part of their sports activities before Europeans arrived in the New World.
History tells us that both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were skilled wrestlers.
There are more than 50 kinds of wrestling. Each has its own rules.
Some types do not require a pin of the shoulders for victory. For example, in Japanese sumo wrestling, a wrestler tries to throw his opponent to the ground or force him outside 15 foot circle.
Amateur wrestling is a popular and fast growing sport in many schools in Canada and the United States. Each year students in junior high school, high school and college take part in wrestling matches.
National and world championship matches are held each year. Also, wrestlers compete in the Summer Olympic Games every four years.
The two most popular forms of wrestling in the world are Greco Roman and free style. Both types use the same general rules and Olympic competition is held in both. Greco Roman is most popular in Europe while free style is more popular in the United States.
In Greco Roman wrestling, a wrestler may not grasp his opponent's legs or use any hold below the waist. A wrestler may use his legs only for support, not to hold, trip or lift an opponent.
In free style wrestling, which is sometimes called catch as catch can, a wrestler may use his legs as scissors to grasp an opponent's arm or leg. But he cannot close the scissors around the opponent's head or body. A wrestler may also trip or tackle his opponent's legs.
There are 12 weight classes in high school wrestling in the United States and 10 intercollegiate classes.
The high school classes are 98 pounds, 105 pounds, 112 pounds,
119pounds, 126 pounds, 132 pounds, 138 pounds, 145 pounds, 155 pounds,
16?pounds, 185 pounds and heavyweight.
Intercollegiate classes are 118 pounds, 126 pounds, 134 pounds,
142pounds, 150 pounds, 158 pounds, 167 pounds, 177 pounds, 190 pounds
and heavyweight.
High school matches are divided into three periods of two minutes each while intercollegiate matches start with a two minute period and end with two periods of three minutes each.