Wrestling

Soren and Gabe have been wrestling for the past few months.  They went to Tech Wrestling Club in Centerville every Tuesday and Thursday night from 7:00-8:00.  By the end of January, we were all getting a little tired of it!  I think Soren enjoyed it a little more than Gabe did, but both of them did ok with it.  They wrestle around here all the time with each other, so I thought it would be perfect.  They learned some moves, but they didn't advance as quickly as we had hoped.  We don't know if it was the teaching/coaching style, or our kids' lack of attention (probably a combination), but they seemed a bit overwhelmed with it all and didn't really grasp it like we thought they should have. 

Show me your wrestling faces!

In December, they were in a big tournament in Farmington for kids who had wrestled no more than two years, and then they wrestled in a practice tournament at the practice facility in January. It seemed like none of the kids they wrestled in Farmington were first year wrestlers.  They all seemed to know what they were doing, so our boys got beat in their first two matches of the double elimination tournament.  Gabe was up first and I don't think he knew what to expect, so he was pinned pretty quickly in the first round.  But the second time he was looking to redeem himself, and he put up a much better fight.  I think he went all three rounds, but lost on points.  Some friends of the boys came to watch them (Shayler and Wesley Mahan), so I think that was fun for them to have a cheering section in the stands.  It was near Christmas, so Grandma and Grandpa Jensen were in town and able to go as well, so that was extra fun for the boys to have them there.  Soren wrestled after Gabe was done and I thought since he had seen a few more matches, he would do pretty well.  He was sure he was going to win a trophy!  Well, he's strong, but the lack of experience was evident, and he got beat by points in three rounds his first match (by a tough girl), and then pinned by a boy in the second or third round of his next match.  I've never been a proponent of participation awards for everyone who plays, but after I watched how hard these boys worked and how hard a sport wrestling was, I was glad that they were awarded a participation medal, because it made them feel a lot better, and I felt like they had worked hard for it!  I also didn't want them to be completely turned off to wrestling in the future, so maybe the medal will motivate them to try a little harder next time so they can win a trophy.  I guess your perspective changes when you see your kids work hard for something.  You want them to at least get a little recognition.  But the coach side of me thinks, "They didn't win, they don't deserve any award!"  It's tough to be a hard nosed coach and a mom at the same time.  Glad I wasn't coaching them! I just realized all the still action shots are of Gabe.  Soren was further away from us in the stands and I filmed him but forgot to take a still.  I know I say this all the time, but someday I'll figure out how to add video.

The season is done now.  If they wrestle again next year, I think we'll look for a different program.  They never even seemed to know our boys' names, and there were too many kids for the few coaches that were there.  Not enough individual instruction.  They also taught them so many moves that Sean didn't even think were necessary, especially for younger kids.  He thought they should have just stuck with a few of the basic but best moves and let the kids really learn them, instead of brushing over so many different moves and not giving them a chance to practice and learn them all.  Just our opinion, but if they want to do it again (Soren might, not sure about Gabe), we'll look for a different club.