Sunday Reflections 11/13/2011

My boys were seen crying in wrestling this week...all of them.  Just briefly mind you (as it's not "manly" to cry) and only one time each, but crying nonetheless and my boys rarely cry.  I'm finding out that wrestling can do that to boys.  I never had any idea how tough you have to be to wrestle.  You've not only got to be fit physically, but fit mentally too.  We had our first wrestling tournament yesterday...and I'm proud to say I did manage to survive the ordeal myself, just barely.  The tournament was split into two sessions so parents wouldn't have to stay there all day, but since we had 3 boys participating, we didn't get any such breaks.  All seven of us(yes, Kenzie and Jake too) attended from 9 am - 3 pm.  When we arrived the gym was crowded and we had to push our way to a seat.  As I looked around and watched the crowd, I was amazed at the intensity  of the wrestling culture.  The parents alone filled me with a sense of foreboding as I took in their "Live or die wrestling" shirts, UFC tattoos, body piercings and intimidating builds.  Their trophy child would be sitting next to them in their "club" warm-ups awaiting their turn to inflict terrible pain and agony on my happy go lucky kids.  The whole atmoshpere  reeked of Karate Kid #1 with shouts of "Kubra Kai!!!  Sweep the leg!!!   No mercy!!!" hanging in the air.  Wasn't that coach from the Karate Kid so evil?  There were several versions of this guy and his 5 year old in a singlet running around the gym.   The crowd was pulsing with energy and the Cobra's were waiting to pounce on poor Daniel.  Only this time there was no karate match, it was wrestling and the underdog wasn't Daniel, it was each one of my own boys.  I wondered if they had any hope at all...even though they were "supposed" to wrestle other beginners like themselves.

We'll start with Jordan.   To be fair, before I start, I must explain that I think Jordan had the most disadvantage going into this tournament.  He is the oldest, and most kids who are serious about wrestling have started already.  Even though he was wrestling beginners, most of the beginners had a year or two of experience and compared to Jordan's 3 practices and no matches, that is quite a bit.  I don't even know if he realized he was wrestling his first match before he got pinned.  That's how fast it all happened.  From Brad's account of his 2nd match he had the same experience.  By the 3rd match he was ready.  For most of the match he led by quite a bit, gaining points here and there.  I thought for sure he would win.  He was able to hold his opponent close to a pin several different times but didn't have the know how to finish.  With 20 seconds left in the match and a 15-6 lead, he made one fatal error and got himself pinned.

I didn't get to observe any of Ben's matches.  Brad did.  He said Ben's first match was identical to Jordan's.  He looked like he wanted to give his opponent a hug when he started and before he could even blink, both shoulders were flat on the mat and the match was over.  Ben has quite a temper though and some amazing strength for a 7 year old boy.  So while something like that may happen once, it certainly will not happen twice if he has any say about it.  So in his 2nd match he looked like the hulk as he picked up his opponent and threw him to the ground head first.  He won the match by points.  His third match was a no show and he ended up taking home a 2nd place medal for his weight division.  Not too shabby.

I got to watch every one of Riley's matches.  Riley was the lucky wrestler of the day because he got to wrestle in two separate brackets.  Since he had two older brothers at the meet and was present at the morning session, he had the opportunity to wrestle with the  7 and 8 year olds in his weight division.  I thought maybe he'd start out the same as his older two brothers, but was pleasantly surprised to see his natural ability and finnesse as he ended up in a tie for his first match.  His 2nd match was won by default and his 3rd match was against a girl more than a head taller than him.   She looked so much bigger than him, I was afraid he wouldn't be able to compete at all...and being beat by a "girl" would be really hard on Riley.  He came out with all his strength and defeated her fairly easily.  I felt bad when tears came out of the girls eyes during the match.  I'm not quite sure why parents put girls in wrestling with boys anyway, it really isn't the place for them.  If I have offended you by saying that, take that for what it is, my own personal opinion.  In the end he got first in his weight division for the 7-8 year old bracket.   By the afternoon session Riley was fairly confident that this was all pretty easy and he was born to be a champion.  He was sorely dissapointed when he had another competitor no show for his first match.  His second match he pinned his opponent in 30 seconds. And then came the final match of the day.  Up walked the coach.  Yep, he was one of THOSE coaches that I had described earlier; the sweep the leg, nationally recognized coach.  Not only that, this coach was also the dad.  I sat kneeled next to the evil Coach during the match and as he sat there yelling instructions to his kid, drowning out Brad on the other coaches corner about how to put the hurt on my poor little Riley, something came over me and I transformed.  My competitive nature and protective mothering combined to bring out a Chelsey who, quite frankly, I didn't know existed before.  I was not about to let this coach be heard over me.  Riley needed me in this match and I wasn't going to let him down.  I shouted to Riley so loud that Brad couldn't even be heard coaching on the other side of the mat much less the evil coach next to me.   The other little boy was vastly more skilled than my Riley but there is a toughness in my boys that seems to compensate  for their lack of experience.  The match went back and forth and each of the boys had several near pins.  The other boy would work a magic move and Riley would go down on his back, then up again and, not having enough skills in his tool bag, would simply push the other kid by the chest down to his back.  The match went on and on like this with the other boy leading in points.  Even better, the coach would yell at the ref  ( a 15 yr. old kid) and coerce him into awarding more points for take downs or reversals where no real control was ever established.  As I watched the match, my muscles tensed and I found myself screaming hysterically and squeezing Jake so hard that at one point he cried ,"Mommy you are bweaking my aawm!!"  Whew, it was truly intense and that coach...he just brought out the worst in me.  I think next time I'll sit in the stands.  Riley fought a good battle.  Like I said earlier, he almost had the pin several times, but similar to Jordan's last match of the day, got tired, made a fatal mistake and found himself pinned near the end of the 3rd set of the match.  The other coach stood up proudly in his "Live, Die and Eat wrestling" shirt and said, "That's my boy, all natural.  I haven't taught my boy a thing."  I felt like saying, "Yeah, right.  I can see you haven't taught him a thing.  You want to see the real natural, take a look at my boy.  He's only been to 4 one hour practices and did you see how he hung in there?"  However, by this time I had reverted back to my calm nature and let well enough alone.  As they placed the 2nd place medal over his head, tears streamed down Riley's face as the realization that he is not already the best out there washed over him. 

Overall it was not too bad of a first match.  And while Brad and I will  never be the "Live or Die Wrestling" t-shirt wearing, tatto and body piercing bearing, "Sweep the leg" shouting type of parents with our trophy children sitting by our sides, it ended up being a good experience and lots of fun for our boys.  If only I hadn't left my camera at home....