Normal people spend their holidays eating, drinking, visiting friends, spending time with family and spreading joy and goodwill.    Wrestlers spend their holidays making weight and competing.    It's a tradition in our sport. In the United States, wrestling is a winter activity, and there is no better way to celebrate the season than to roll out the mats and hold a really good tournament. It happens at every level of the sport. It happens in every state. Just like you can count on the ball dropping in Times Square every New Years Eve, you can count on wrestlers holding tournaments during the holiday season.    Think about your wrestling career. If you spent much time in the sport, chances are that you spent some time at a holiday wrestling tournament.    I first got involved in holiday tournaments in high school. I attended a small high school on Long Island in New York with a pretty good wrestling team. We were lucky that we got to compete every year in two very good holiday wrestling tournaments.    The first one was before Christmas, the Huntington Tournament. You may have heard of Huntington High School, coached by the legendary Lou Giani. Huntington is perhaps the most successful high school program in New York state history. Giani was just inducted as a  Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. last year. Our high school was the next district over from Huntington. Needless to say, it was a very competitive tournament.    The second one was a few days after Christmas, the Sachem Tournament. You may have also heard of Sachem, one of the largest schools in the state that also had a very strong wrestling program. The team was coached by the talented Jack Mahoney and put a number of athletes into Div. I colleges. Sachem had such a big team that its JV wrestlers could start for most varsities in the county. Again, it was also a very strong competition.    If you did well as the Huntington Tournament or the Sachem Tournament, you knew you were having a good start to the season. I was able to win each tournament once during high school. It was a big deal. Winning those tournaments made you forget that you were not able to eat much during Christmas meals, and spent your free time on the holidays at wrestling practice or out running on the beach. If you are a wrestler, you compete over Christmas. That's just the way it is.    I also wrestled during the holidays when I was in college. I wasn't good enough to go to the most famous holiday event for college wrestlers, the Midlands Championships, and at that time my college did not go to the most famous holiday event in the East, the Wilkes Open.     Actually, our team did not have a holiday tournament on the schedule. But each year, when I returned to visit my parents for Christmas, I entered a college holiday tournament on Long Island, the C.W. Post Tournament. Most of the wrestlers in the event were former Long Island athletes who had scattered all over the nation for college and came home to visit family. It was a great chance to get a few matches in, keep your weight down, and visit with some old friends and opponents.    I would prepare for the tournament by attending a few practices at my high school. It was fun to help some of the younger athletes, and stay in touch with my high school coach. I never won the C.W. Post Tournament, but I did earn a few medals there. Today, there is no C.W. Post Tournament, because the dang school dropped wrestling about a decade ago. Another victim of Title IX and bad athletic administration... another wrestling tradition killed off.    Since I got my career going as a wrestling journalist, I have been able to attend both the Midlands  Championships and the Wilkes Tournaments. Both have great traditions. The Midlands has really worked hard to preserve and promote its history. It keeps records of champions and victories, and has regular alumni activities and awards ceremonies. Wrestling legend Ken  Kraft and all the people at Northwestern truly understand the value of a great holiday wrestling  tournament with they way they run the Midlands each year. It's not just a competition; it's a happening!!!    As I got more involved in wrestling, I realized that every level of wrestling embraces these holiday extravaganzas. High schools in most states have some really big shows. There are a few events where many of the best teams from many states travel to test themselves against tough teams from other parts of the nation.     Holiday events are also big in youth wrestling. USA Wrestling's Ultimate Challenge Series will feature a couple of events that are going on during the holiday season. The first is the Brock Lesnar/Gopher Kids Classic in Rochester, Minn., Dec. 21. The second is the 19th annual Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, Texas, Dec. 27-28. At both of these events, talented young wrestlers and their families will travel great distances to get in an outstanding competition and celebrate the season like true wrestlers - on the mat!    This holiday I am returning home to see my family in New York. However, on the way, I am  stopping over at another great holiday tournament, this one for Olympic wrestlers - the New York Athletic Club Christmas International.    I'm very excited about this. I have never been to this annual event before. And you know what they say about how exciting New York City can get during the holiday season.    And this year, the field is supposed to be very strong. We already know that World Champion Kristie Marano will be wrestling, and many of the top women will participate. I spoke with National Freestyle Coach Kevin Jackson today, and he expects a strong men's freestyle field, perhaps with stars like Joe Williams, Melvin Douglas and Chris Bono on the mats. The Greco-Roman folks are telling me that we may have both of our World Champion heavyweight stars at the event, Rulon Gardner and Dremiel Byers. With the Olympic Trials coming soon, every competition is a great opportunity to get prepared. Who knows who will weigh in and compete in New York on Dec. 20-21???    My family understands. I've been around wrestling for so long, they appreciate the meaning of a great holiday tournament. Ultimately, I'll be there for the Christmas dinner and the church service and to visit with the relatives. Just remember we all need a little time for wrestling during the holidays, too.