Good sportsmanship has taken a hit of late. With NBA stars getting suspended for fighting and NCAA stars getting called out for what some perceive as poor sportsmanship, an incident between two young wrestlers in Illinois shouldn’t be a surprise.
After a wrestling match between Cooper Corder of SPAR Academy, who won his match over Maine West High School’s Hafid Alicea by a 14-2 score, Alicea hit Corder.
When Corder tried to shake Alicea’s hand after the match, Alicea cold-cocked him in the face. The incident shocked the crowd as Alicea was led away.
A youth wrestler was socked in the face while trying to shake hands with his opponent following a match in Illinois earlier this month … and the blow was so violent, police are now investigating. https://t.co/Dz89N2e25e
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) April 18, 2023
Corder suffered a nose injury and now has to wear a mask during matches.
Despite the embarrassing incident, things seem to be ok with Corder.
“He is making the best of the situation and is already back to training,” SPAR Academy founder Justin Pearch said to TMZ Sports. “As you may know, wrestling matches can get heated but nothing leading up to the punch would give cause to such bad decision-making on the opponent’s part.”
“It’s not tolerated in our sport and Spar Wrestling will never condone that behavior, ” he continued to say.
The investigation into this incident is far from over, now the police are getting involved. Neither wrestler nor their families have commented on the incident.
