Being a San Diego Charger fan at this point of the season I'm usually stuck not really caring about the NFL playoffs. I'm not a cheese head nor am I rooting for the "Black and Yellow" so at this time of the year I choose to focus my attention on the ever exciting high school wrestling season.
This weekend is the ever-popular Holtville Rotary Invitational wrestling tournament which is entering its 48th year of existence. For as long as I can remember I have been attending this tournament to cheer on the Brawley wrestling team but now as a sports writer for the entire Imperial Valley I find myself cheering on every local team when they are on the mat.
The tournament brings together all sorts of fans from all over the valley as well as other parts of the state which always makes for a great atmosphere, but it's the traditions of the tournament that make it second to none. Since the tournament's inception the brackets have been written by hand and to this day there are still a group of faithful Holtville wrestling supporters that give up a weekend to run the tournament by hand. I used to think they were crazy to want to write out all the bout sheets and brackets by hand and I would constantly beg them to switch to a computer system but it never seems to work.
The tournament wouldn't be able to work without all the support it gets from the Holtville natives and other helpers throughout the valley. In a small community like ours tradition is important and for me the Holtville tournament is one tradition that I look to keep alive in any way I can, so I encourage everybody who is a fan of wrestling or just good competition go head out and show your support.
Ryan Leon, Sports Writer
