Chapter 3

The major sports in Iran are soccer, wrestling and gymnastics.  The strongest, physically and mentally, wrestle. A wrestling team, composed of the best American high school wrestlers, is traveling through Iran to compete.  Reza wants to meet them before the tournament, but they are staying in a heavily guarded hotel. At the tournament, Abbas introduces Reza to Ardeshir.  Reza and Ardeshir’s competitive nature forms an instant bond.

1. Risk 
2. Friendship 
3. Competition

1. Reza risks his life just to meet the Americans.  Is he brave or foolish? Support your answer. 
2. What does the wrestling match between Reza and Ardeshir tell us about Abbas?
3. Describe Ardeshir.  
4. What motivates Reza to sneak into Sherkat Naft the first time?  The second time?
5. Describe the relationship between Hassan and Reza.

Interview a high school wrestler.  Inquire about the training routine, match strategy, rules, cutting weight and basic terms.

Selected text:

1. To answer Farid’s protest, he added, “You already know what’s in Kermanshah.” ‘(p )
2. “Reza felt like a foreigner in his own country.” (p )
3. “Setting his feet and scanning Ardeshir’s body, Reza escaped from time itself.  The thuds and grunts of the gym dissolved and only two wrestlers remained.  Flesh and bone, muscle and tissue collided, ripped apart and collided again.  Neither warrior would go down.  Nor relinquish a hold.  Nor quit.  As one pushed harder, the other shoved back harder still.”  (p )

Inner thoughts is the expression of what a character is thinking at a given time in the story. Write a paragraph describing what the reader has learned about Reza from his inner thoughts.

Against the dramatic landscape of world altering events, Reza’s heroric journey unfolds.