KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Youth wrestlers from as many as 40 states are in Kansas City, Missouri, this weekend for the Rocky Mountain Nationals youth wrestling event.
The competition runs from Friday until Sunday at the Hy-Vee Arena in the West Bottoms.
A 41 Action News reporter observed those attending get security checked and have their temperatures taken before entering the arena.
Inside, there are two separate floors for the nearly 2,500 wrestlers to compete.
The Hy-Vee Arena can hold nearly 12,000 people but is limiting attendees to just around 1,000 for safety reasons amid the coronavirus pandemic.
On the mat, everyone besides the wrestlers competing wore masks.
In seating areas, most visitors wore masks, though some either were maskless or had a mask around their neck.
The precautionary measures were reassurance for some parents.
"I felt that with the regulations that they let us know ahead of time that they were going to take every precaution with the temperature checks and the masks, I felt like we would be safe as long as everyone followed protocol," said Shawn Soto, from St. Louis.
Wrestling parent Lucretia Keller said it is "kind of sad to see, but as long as they’re letting them wrestle then it’s fine with us."
Many participants said they came to the Hy-Vee Arena because the Rocky Mountain Nationals was one of the only wrestling events going on in the country.
"In Texas, they aren’t wrestling, and so we have to travel outside of the state to get matches," said Jazmine Pina, from Amarillo, TX.
But for so many of these wrestlers and their parents, they said going to an event like this is worth a risk.
"We don’t want them to get sick, but this is a part of their life, like they’ve grown up doing this. So we don’t want to take that away from them. They shouldn’t be penalized for it," Pina said.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department approved the event three months ago.
"It wasn't an easy decision, but since we would actually have to change our order to prohibit it, we decided that no, it will go on," Dr. Rex Archer, KCMO Health Department director, said. "They will do these extra precautions. We will monitor it."
The department has pairs of two people going around at various times during the tournament to monitor everything. There were no violations during the event's first night on Friday.
The event wraps up Sunday.
