Saturday was supposed to be another fun day of wrestling for Baby A, but unfortunately, his weight class competitors were a no-show. This season, which is our sons first, has been greatly disturbed by Covid, there just aren't many kids participating. Wife was talking to the mom of the senior that has been training with and teaching our son and she said even up until last year before Covid sidelined everything, these wrestling matches were an all day affair. There are about 14 weight classes, starting at 106 pounds and going up 6-7 pounds initially, then 10-12 pound differences, and all the way up to 285 pounds, which is where our boy competes. It does seem unfair, the smaller kids are kept in a tight pack differing only around 7 pounds (for example, if you wrestle in the 113 class, you must weigh between 107 and 113 pounds), then in the heavy weight class, a 221 pound kid night wrestle someone weighing 285 pounds. Still, Mijo was told he would have two competitors, there were four schools there, but neither kid showed up. The team is very small, there are technically around 5 guys on the team and maybe 3 girls that I have seen, so far, one guy has been involved in track and field and another regular broke his arm in the first meet. The third guy was practicing frequently but he did not show up this week, so the team was even smaller than normal, it was only our son, the senior and a girl. The other school weren't that different, two of them had around 4-6 kids puttering around in team colors and the other school did appear to have a full team of at least a dozen kids in school colors.
I don't like the quick way that it is all over, I know the Crockett competitors work hard and train to exhaustion, my boy is worn out when I pick him up after practice, usually soaked in sweat and looking like he took a beating. Even then, we sit there and the matches might last less than two minutes (there are a total of 3 rounds and each can last 2 minutes, but a pin on the opponent's back ends the match). We were already there and my in-laws had made the trip, so even after finding out our boy was not competing, I thought it would be good for them to see some high school wrestling, so we all stayed. Both Crockett kids lost their matches, even though they went up ahead in the beginning and were winning on points, they made a mistake here and there and ended up on their backs and got pinned. There was so much pent up energy in Baby A from going to sleep early and waking up with butterflies in his stomach, then he finds out he is not fighting, he kept telling me all day to put on the pads so he could box with me, but I certainly don't want this little bull coming at me, and he isn't that little anymore, he is walking around at 251 pounds and now knows enough wrestling that I don't want to mess with him.
The only other thing to add about the meet is that it was in Georgetown and the high school was an amazing and beautiful facility. It almost made me want to move out there. There is just a majesty and inspiring feeling at the size of the complex. It feels like it is three stories tall, it was too far to park around back where the wrestlers were going in and the front where we were let in. It felt like we walked and walked about a half mile to get from the entrance back past the front, then the cafeteria, then the band halls and finally to where the various gyms were, plural. The wrestling meet was in the basketball gym, it was standard sized, but the fact that all the buildings seemed connected and directly outside were the tennis courts, football stadium, and other fields made the whole campus a monstrosity. It is bittersweet to see the differences in schools, seeing the beauty of some of these schools and the realization our boy is in a school that is more than 50 years old.
No comments:
Post a Comment