Friday, December 18, 2009

First Pin!






Wrestling is not a natural sport.

In my opinion, it is organized fighting. Fighting with rules. And it is probably the most difficult sport for a parent to watch. Because you have to sit in the bleachers and watch some boy hurt your son.

Yes, I know...the official objective of wrestling is not to hurt your opponent. But that's what happens. Scrapes, bruises, accidental scratches, sometimes bleeding. And I have to sit there and helplessly watch. Ugh! It's so hard. Every bone in your body wants you to jump up and scream, "HEY! Stop that! You can't DO that to him!". I can't just sit there. I have to stand somewhere on the end, where I can pace, and yell, and jump up and down, and look away.

Daniel has unofficially wrestled Jr.High for the past 2 years. But he didn't have a very good coach and practices and meets were sporadic. But this year he decided to do high school wrestling for the conditioning between football and track.

He has had 4 meets and never won a match. He came VERY close a couple weeks ago - the opponent never pinned him, but beat him by points ( you get points for executing "holds", and for getting out of holds). That was a hard match to watch. He worked so hard.....he FOUGHT so hard...to get this guy down, to get this guy off of him. But he just couldn't do it.

His coaches have praised him: he's fast, he's strong, and he makes every opponent work to beat him. No one gets an easy pin off Daniel. And they all say he has tons of potential. But he hadn't actually BEAT anyone yet.

That all changed last night. Daniel got his first win AND his first pin!!!!!

Not only was he beating the guy on points, but he pinned him! I'm telling you, I was so happy. And Daniel was beaming. Being a natural athlete, good at every sport he tries, he was having a bit of a self-confidence crisis with wrestling. He was practicing, he was working hard, but he hadn't WON.

There's another meet tomorrow. Say a prayer for no new bruises, no black eyes, and maybe, just maybe......a second pin.

J.
UPDATE: 2nd pin today!!!! All smiles!

3 comments:

Brother Dave said...

Our prayers are with Daniel. He knows he can do it. That is a big, giant plus.

Rick Rockhill said...

I think its important for kids to participate in some kind of activity, sports or something. It teaches them to push themselves, strive for something to achieve and builds confidence. Its never easy as the parent watching the trial and error along the way, but its well worth it! fun post today J.

Jodi said...

Brother Dave - Your prayers worked. My boy did good.

Rick - Thanks, Rick. I like to think that my kids are well-rounded. They all do more than one thing. Glad you liked the post. Thanks for stopping by!

J.