February 12, 2011

Wrestling for dummies

Today was absolute insanity! Today was our first wrestling tournament. I am a planner and like to be as prepared as possible for things. I am ok if it changes along the way I just like to start things off by at least thinking I am prepared. I arrived at the gym 30 minutes before the tournament started (when the coach said we needed to be there). The gym is already packed. I am actually concerned if the fire marshall were to come they would have to shut the place down. The boys quickly change from their shoes and wedge their feet into their wrestling shoes (seriously why are they so tight?). They run off to join their team to do strange warms ups wrestlers do.

I found the sign that was put up on the wall so our team would all sit together and headed up. I carried my camera bag, the bag I brought of things to do in "free time", the bag that held the boy's tennis shoes and 4 winter coats. I shoved through the stairs hopeful I would find a place to sit down. There were a few areas that appeared to be open but after wedging myself right up to multiple options and being told "sorry these seats are taken" I went and stood at the top of the stairs.

Finally a mother (from our team) offered to move a few of her things that were holding a seat in case her kids wanted to sit there later. I am so thankful for her! She then helped explain what was going on and what to expect. Later when I was watching Noah wrestle and Ethan had to go to the bathroom she took him. She helped keep an eye out when Ethan and Jacob would wrestle since they seemed to start at the same time. I wanted to hug this woman!

Ethan wrestled first and won. He was very excited! He later wrestled 2 more times and lost both of them. He put a lot into each match and wasn't always convinced he should stop when the ref told him to. He would shake his opponents hand vigorously. If he was an old lady his arms may still be shaking from these hand shakes! It warmed my heart the entire time he wrestled it was so stinkin cute!

Jacob lost 1, won 1 then lost his final match. He did a great job listening to his coaches and doing what he was suppose to. His final match he got hurt. His shoulder got pinned behind him and he started crying. I teared up as well. I was proud of him because he finished the match. Sometimes when things get tough Jacob will just give up and I was sooooo proud that he pushed through! He did great!

This is the first year of wrestling for Ethan's age group so today was all of their first tournament. For Jacob some have wrestled for a year or two but there are plenty that are new to the sport. This isn't the case for Noah. All of the kids he wrestled today have been wrestling since they were 4 or 5. For at least half of their life they have been on the mats. They have lots of experience. Watching him sitting on the mat before his first match I felt a little nauseous. I think he did too.

His nervousness was very apparent because his coach was shaking his arms before he went out there to loosen him up. He lost all 3 of his matches today but he gave it his all. He has scrapes and bruises all over his body to prove it. Those older boys tough!

Today was very difficult for me. It was hard to watch my boys in hand to hand combat. At the same time I was so proud of them! They all worked so hard. I can't wait to watch them grow throughout the season.

I too am excited to grow this season. I have a lot to learn about wrestling. This is the first sport that they've played that I have no clue what is going on. I am going to be doing some online searching of "wrestling for dummies" tomorrow. I already know I am smarter than I was this morning. Next week I'm going to get there 1 hr early so I can have a seat, we are leaving winter coats in the car, the cooler is coming in with me so I don't have to run out to the car a dozen times. Ethan is going to go pee when the 8 year old kids are wrestling.

It really was a great day and I can't wait until the next one!