Wrestling Mom

My ten year old loves to play soccer and baseball.  This past October he came home from school with a flier about the youth wrestling team and asked if he could try wrestling.  His father and I immediately said YES.  A day later it hit me that we had agreed to let him wrestle, YIKES!  So we go out and buy the required headgear and shoes.  He attends practice twice a week, never once did he say "I don't want to go today".

On December 12th we attend MJC's first wrestling tournament.  I had no idea what to expect and was overwhelmed, at times, by the experience.  When MJC stepped out on the mat for the first time to face his opponent, I was so nervous, I was shaking.  I was surprised by the skills that he had gained in just a short period of time.  MJC did lose his first match by a score of 18 to 9.  He came off the mat with the biggest smile on his face.  Two more matches to go.  In his second match he was pinned in 1:14 and his third match he was pinned in 0:15.  Every time he lost, he shook his opponent's coaches hand and still had the biggest smile on his face.

All smiles

The rest of the season went pretty much the same way, with every loss he would have the biggest smile on his face.  His coaches even commented that they had never seen any wrestler smile while being pinned.  On January 23rd we attended his last regular season tournament.  This was to be his time to shine.  MJC steps on to the mat for his first match, all I can say is WOW!  He did an amazing job winning the first match 12 to 8.  Before you ask, yes I was the mom screaming, yelling, crying, and jumping up and down in the bleachers.  I may have gone crazy, but come on this was his first win all season!  In his second match, he ended up winning again, but this time by forfeit, due to his opponent putting him in a Full Nelson.  His third match of the day ended when he was pinned in 1:36.  Next up regional.

Regionals, what can be said, other than that is a lot of boys with some sprinkling of girls.  I had never seen so many wrestlers in one tournament up to that point.  This tournament was more intense than any other we had been too.  What impressed me the most was the way the boys and girls would encourage each other.  One such example: While MJC was heading out to the mat to wrestle, the boy who was waiting to wrestle after him and a teammate of the boy MJC was wrestling wished him good luck.  After wrestling the boy, MJC sat down next to patted him on the back and told him it was a good try.  Just seeing this put a smile on my face.  We ended this tournament losing each match but MJC did it with a smile!  Next up Championships!

Championships at the Nutter Center

Forget everything I said about the regional tournament being intense and having a large numbers of wrestlers.  Championships was worse!  The tournament was held at the Nutter Center, there were so many wrestlers that they had to break down the tournament into a morning session and  an afternoon session.  MJC wrestled in the afternoon session.  When we arrived at the tournament the morning session was still in full swing.  After getting settled in our seats and watching the morning session finish, I started to get nervous for MJC.  There were 24 matches going on at the same time with whistles blowing non-stop.  MJC appeared to be calm, then his legs started to bounce up and down.  After a short break the afternoon session begins.  MJC has one of the first matches of the afternoon.  He ended up losing 16 to 2.  Oh boy this was going to be a long tournament.  The second round begins, MJC goes out to the mat, and his opponent has scratched.  So he heads on to the third round.  The longer we are at the tournament the more nervous I get.  No matter what the outcome of the tournament is, I just want MJC to be happy and know that I am proud of him.  During the third round MJC ended up getting pinned thus ending his wrestling season.  He is already looking forward to next year's wrestling season.  As a first time wrestling mom, I am so proud of my son and all that he has accomplished.  Wrestling was a great experience for MJC, it gave him the confidence that he needed to realize that he can do anything he puts his mind to.

Waiting in the stands for his wrestling match

Standing with his coach mat side before his match

Ready to wrestle