By ERIC WILSON
WALL paintings in Egyptian tombs depict wrestlers competing in crude loincloths that drooped to their knees. Greek antiquities show that when wrestling was introduced to the Olympic Games in 708 B.C., participants competed in the buff. In the 1980’s, the glory days of WrestleMania, Hulk Hogan accessorized his banana-colored bikini with matching wristlets when challenging Andre the Giant, he of the chronic wedgie.
Yet to the casual observer these costumes, or the lack thereof, are less humiliating than the wrestling uniforms that adolescent and collegiate competitors have endured for the last century. From the high-waisted tights of the 1920’s to the three-piece tank, stirrup tights and shorts combo of the 50’s to the modern-day singlet mandated by athletic organizations for at least four decades – basically an oversize jockstrap with suspenders – they may be the most mocked athletic uniform in existence, but they are part of a sport that above all values tradition.
So traditionalists may scoff at the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s approval this summer of an alternate uniform, one that has been adopted by more than a dozen universities and made its first public appearances this week at the beginning of the competitive wrestling season. The new outfit more closely resembles a superhero’s ensemble, a skintight T-shirt tucked into skintight shorts, like something the cyclist Lance Armstrong would wear. Compared to the singlet, its design is conservative, but it has touched off a smackdown among coaches, regulators and manufacturers over what two-piece uniforms will do for the sport.
The National Federation of State High School Associations, which administers sports guidelines among state athletic organizations, declined to join the N.C.A.A. in approving the new outfit; it is not permitted for scholastic competitions at some 9,300 high schools with 250,000 students involved in wrestling programs. Some critics have described the two-piece outfit as too casual for tournaments or unflattering to competitors with a spare tire. But in an age of ever vibrant football and basketball designs, others see it as the inevitable wave of the future.
“Within a very short period of time, I believe that most teams will go with them, “said Tom Ryan, the head coach of the wrestling team at Hofstra University, which adopted the two-piece look at its match at West Point on Tuesday night. “I never liked singlets in the first place. But if you love wrestling, you love wrestling, and so you wear them.”
Mario Mercado, a 28-year-old marketing executive and part-time wrestling trainer, has been at the center of this controversy. A year ago he founded a company to promote a two-piece design called the Double. His Double Sport Apparel has received orders from some 20 schools, including Cornell University, Hofstra and the University of Missouri, and several high schools that will use the two-piece in practices.
Yet the dominant companies in the wrestling uniform industry, like Cliff Keen and Brute, look upon Mr. Mercado’s arrival as if he were challenging them to 10 rounds of grappling on a 32-foot mat. They too market two-piece designs but are unimpressed by the demand. Only about a dozen of the more than 200 university wrestling teams in the N.C.A.A. plan to compete in a two-piece prototype this year.
“Most of the coaches regard the two-piece as more of a practice uniform, “said Jim Keen Jr., the president of Cliff Keen. “The singlet has been part of wrestling for so many years, moving to a two-piece uniform would be like taking away the shoulder pads and helmet of football.”
Mr. Mercado started Double Sport after he saw a match between Lehigh and Missouri at the New York Athletic Club in January. The players wore two-piece designs made by Cliff Keen at the request of the coaches, a venture Mr. Keen described as “just for kicks. “But Mr. Mercado, who had previously worked at the YES Network, the channel for New York Yankees games, while coaching wrestling at a Manhattan martial arts club, saw an opportunity to make the unglamorous and frequently dull sport more palatable to general audiences.
The common form of scholastic wrestling in the United States is known as folkstyle. It is a looser variation of Greco-Roman wrestling, the Olympic sport; in folkstyle wrestlers may use their legs to perform maneuvers, but they are more restricted than competitors in international freestyle wrestling, which often looks like two men rolling around and grunting on the floor. Its near invisibility on television – the theatrics of pay-per-view broadcasts of the World Wrestling Federation don’t count – may be because sports networks find the standard uniform potentially too revealing for home viewers, Mr. Mercado said.
“When you look at basketball and football, whenever they make changes to their uniforms, it’s for the purpose of television, “he said. “We are a visual generation now. Wrestling needs television, and in order for television to accept wrestling, they need to change that look.”
Mr. Mercado, who has wrestled since he was 5 years old, growing up in the Bronx, argues that the traditional singlet creates a psychological phobia among many young athletes. “I was always picked on, “said Mr. Mercado, who wrestled at 112 pounds as a freshman at Mount St. Michael Academy. “My mother, who is from Puerto Rico, made me wrestle, but when I wore the singlet, I still got made fun of.”
The Double – so named as an insider’s reference to the double leg takedown, a basic maneuver used to bring an opponent to the mat, and also because it is not a singlet – offers more coverage. It also includes antimicrobial technology to combat common skin infections associated with wrestling. Now 6-foot-3 and 213 pounds Mr. Mercado is marketing his venture with the gusto of a full-body hold, sponsoring matches on College Sports Television with advertisements that show the Double on well-known wrestlers like Renzo Gracie and Karem Gaber.
“A lot of kids participate in school sports because you can wear a cool-looking uniform, “Mr. Mercado said. “They won’t compete in the singlet because it shows too much skin. Some guys have too much body hair, or they have acne, or they are too bashful.”
Or worse.
Some coaches say that the singlet dissuades potential wrestlers from pursuing the sport. “There is a lot of peer pressure when they are younger, especially in junior high school, “said Brian Smith, head coach of the wrestling team at the University of Missouri. “We need kids to think of this as a really cool-looking outfit. We need them not to be afraid of coming out for a team because of the uniform.”
Ty Halpin, the associate director for playing rules at the N.C.A.A., said the subject has been a hot point for coaches, but the rules committee was more concerned with whether a two-piece uniform might cause injuries, like snagging a finger in a tight waistband. Another issue was how to judge a player whose shirt comes untucked. If excessive tucking begins to disrupt a match, “eventually kids start to lose points, “Mr. Halpin said.
Jim Giunta, a senior vice president at the Primerica financial services company in Dallas, recalled wrestling at Penn State in the 60’s in a uniform that consisted of leggings with stirrups, a singlet top that buttoned under the crotch, and shorts on top of that.
“People would chuckle back then, “said Mr. Giunta, who is now the executive director of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association. “Of course once you get a football player on a mat, they don’t make fun of you anymore. I can see why a person, on first impression, might see a singlet as immodest, but golly, today that’s such an oxymoron.”
Mr. Giunta said that his association has no problem with the two-piece uniform but that its widespread acceptance would be determined by how players react this season.
John Purnell, the president of Brute, which also began offering two-piece uniforms in response to requests from several teams, said he was in favor of moving to the new look because it offers more opportunities for design. But he said it was too soon to tell if the look will become the standard for the thousands of student wrestlers.
“Some coaches are still traditionalists and are not too keyed up to change into a new garment, “Mr. Purnell said. “I don’t know if they ever will. A two-piece garment is very form-fitting, therefore it doesn’t look good on different body types. A singlet won’t stick to the player quite as tight.”
Mr. Mercado said he believes the two-piece will take the sport forward, possibly encouraging higher-scoring matches. Some moves, like the fireman’s carry, are virtually impossible to execute against a player who is sweating heavily. “You slide right off, “he said. “If you see more action, more moves, it makes it that much more exciting. It’s boring to watch a one-point match. “The Double, he added, may also encourage more women to take up the sport.
But the primary function of the singlet was always to prevent catching and injuries to an opponent’s fingers in the midst of a hold. If the uniforms are considered unappealing for what they may reveal, well, that is part of the allure for wrestling enthusiasts who consider the sport to be the ultimate test of manhood. The message is hardly subliminal: the meek or modest need not apply.
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