Its pretty sad when their are 26 posts on the thread talking about bad sports and only 2 on good sports. My son lost out at Districts again. 12 and Under he was crushed. He was so close but in the end got beat by a better wrestler. He has never made it to state. He shed a few tears coming off the mat but afterwards he saw the boy he just wrestled and he gave the victor a high five and honestly wished him good luck at state. The next match had the wrestler he had beat at subs and he stuck around to cheer him on. He was a really good wrestler but unfortunately lost by a minor mistake. He was going home also. My son went over and consoled him told him they were both going to make it to state next year and hung around to talk a few minutes. I was pretty proud of him for not dweling on the loss. I have watched him spend time with novice wrestlers when our so called good wrestlers (and great sportsmans) don't even give them the time of day. But what happened Sunday floored me and had me looking at my son with new respect. We go to a very large church and usually he goes to the junior high youth group instead he said he wanted to go to the regular services. When they asked for those that wished to come forward he just got up and headed down to the front without hesitation. At 12 years old he stood in front of 2000+ people and relayed Tyler Graebners story and asked for prayers for Tylers family. This is the same kid that some from our club dislike because they think he is a rough wrestler, this is the same boy that has some real issues and problems He practices and wrestles hard yet I have only seen him lose his temper twice in 3 years on the wrestling mat during a tournament. Some may not think so but I believe he is a true sportsman and although has tons of hurtles to overcome will always be compasionate and caring win or lose.

I'd just like to say to those parents who think their kids are perfect and condemn others kids who aren't as perfect... Its easy to be a good sport when your always a winner... the true test of who a young person is, is how they act when they lose more than they win.