"It sounds like you have been around"

mom4,

Funny you say that, I was on the very first Kids Federation Wreslting team in Belleville (KS) in 1973 at the age of eight. There were five of us (two of us eight, twins who were 9, and one of my older brothers who was twelve). All of us wrestled all the way through high school, (one of the twins won high school State one year), and although I qualified twice for State in high school, I was the only one who didn't win at least one match on the big stage.

I don't know for sure how to answer your question. I do believe that there aren't two kids exactly the same, and they all deal with wrestling in different ways. Back when my son was six, he only wrestled in novice tournaments, as he did when he was seven. He didn't want to step out on the mat his very first match, and after a little help from his mother, he went out and eventually pinned his opponent. By the third match that day, he looked like an old pro with his aggressive looking stance and finished the day by taking home the bracket. He won his second tournament that year and went on to win four out of the eight he wrestled in (I think). He won a few more his second year of novice. Since he started wrestling open tournaments when he was eight, he has only taken home one bracket although he has placed in a lot of tournaments. Most of his early success was due to natural ability and a good attitude (sometimes a bad attitude - he sure didn't take losing very well) for the sport.

I believe that his progression throughout his years wrestling has been positive. He has wrestled a lot of the same kids over the last seven years, and some of them have sure gotten a lot better (one young man he beat every match his first few years turned the table on him the last three, beating him five times last year and placed second in State). Last year was the true test as he did not win a match his first four tournaments and started 0-11. He finally got his first win in his fifth outing and was 1-13 at that point. The end of the story goes something like this: he went 13-8 the rest of the year, won seven of those matches agains kids he lost to earlier in the season, finished third in Subs, third in Districts, qualified for State for the first time in six years, and he even won his first match at State and got to wrestle on Sunday.

I am not sure to this day why he didn't at least mention giving up wrestling last year the way things started. I had to help him understand that he wasn't wrestling bad, he was just wrestling a lot of very good competition. In his case, he had above average success in his early years, had his share of losses as well as wins the last few years, and had the worst and best year of his career last year.

The one thing I do know, he is not one of the best wrestlers in his age/weight group in the state, but he is a pretty good wrestler. There is a chance he could miss making it to Districts for the first time since he was eight, but I don't think that it will destroy him. He has had a good balance of success as well as failure, as these things are often measured in wins and losses. I believe he will continue to plug away, get a little better, work a little harder, and when it is all said and done, he will be a pretty solid high school wrestler which is the most that his Mom and I could have hoped for.

This has probably sounded like me rambling on and on about my son. He is just one of many young wrestlers out there that all have to find there own way and are fortunate to learn many life lessons through their own unique experiences in wrestling. They need the support of their families and coaches through good times and bad, with one common goal - continue to improve, enjoy and appreciate their sport, and continue to wrestle as long as they can.