Holy crap that was a crazy day yesterday. We were all up super early to be out of the house by 6:00am for the hour drive to Reardan. I am super happy that we got to the school when we did as we were able to get checked in and weighed before the line built to a long snaking tendril that stretched out of the commons and down the walkway towards the parking lot. After getting them both checked in we went for a wander to see the 2 gyms that they would be competing in. There were over 800 kids signed up for the day which split between the youngs 5-8 in the morning and the olds 9+ in the afternoon.
We found a place to land in the main gym where the 7/8 years olds were to be wrestling. The kids went out and started their warmups on a corner of the mats. The gym had 8 mats sections for the kids since it was a tournament so it was squares instead of circles they got to wrestle in.
It was a wild amount of people. This is the first wrestling tournament for us and the boys so we were all a bit unsure of how things would work.
They finished their warmups and it was time for @stryeyz and R to go to the other gym. With so many kids they had to have the two gyms to accommodate which meant that we had to have one parent in each gym with each boy. Thankfully there was two of us, I would not have wanted to make it work with just one of us.
J and all the kids went to the pairing room where they were paired with another kid and then they were walked back down the hall to the staging area where they sat and waited to be called to their mat.
I was in the pairing room when R was getting called to his mat for his first match and I managed to run across the campus to the gym and was able to watch his match while J was still getting paired. It was R's first match and he was not exactly aware of what he was to be doing. He had the idea but I think the whole thing was a bit overwhelming for him. He ended up loosing his first match on points but pretty mellow about it.
With his first match done I ran back across to the other gym to find J paired and sitting in the staging area.
It wasn't too long before he had his match and I was at the mat edge to cheer him on. I have videos of each match but will have it up later. J won his first ever wrestling match with a pin! He didn't exactly realize what he was doing as was obvious looking in his eyes but once he won I could see the gears turning and the concepts sinking in.
With J done with his first match I went back to the other gym to see R get paired for his second match.
Really proud of my little man winning his second match. It's good he knows how to write his name as he had to write it on the score card as the winner.
I left @stryeyz and R in their gym and went back to be with J in the other gym. He got paired again and then called to his mat. Our head coach was there for his match.
J did a good job but in the end he ended up loosing the match. It put him at 1 and 1 for the day.
Back over at R's gym I was there to see him in his third match. He did really well and there was a dramatic difference in his wrestling between the first match and the third.
In the end he lost on points and was done for the day. It was a 3 match day and surprisingly managed to finish within the allotted time since the olds were weighing in at 11am and starting at 1pm.
I had left J to go to pairing so I could go watch R and once R was done we all went back to the main gym and I walked in to see J on the mat just about to start his third match. @stryeyz and R made it to the side of the mat soon after.
J has a bit of a standoffish type of technique so far. He likes to step back and seems to be looking for a spot to shoot for a leg. He'll get better at the take downs with practice but already he is getting the idea of going for the legs and trying to trip them.
J won his third match and that put him in contention for 3rd place in his weight division.
Being the medal round it was much faster for pairing and J had his opponent were soon in staging.
It was not long and they were on their mat right in front of where we were sitting. It was a good match that went for a while.
In the end he lost on points 10-5 and came in 4th in his weight class for his first ever tournament. Neither R or J cried after their match, which isn't an issue if they did but more so to me it shows that they were experiencing the day. It was a lot of chaos with so many people, so much noise, and so much going on at any moment and they both did exceptionally well.
Once J was done we were able to head out after feeding them some food from concessions. It was an hour drive home and first thing we did was get all four of us in the tub so they could degrime in the chlorine. Especially after the morning on the mats.
We are both super proud of both boys for their day. Neither of them was overboard when loosing or winning and showed really good sportsmanship. I think a bit of it was the shell shock of the new experience but it is also how they are.
Cat didn't take to kindly to the hat being put on him despite being able to see through the mesh.
I had a fire going in the pit for the afternoon and grilled eye of round bison steaks for us for dinner. The boys stayed up way too late as we watched the UFC matches. Once they were over we got the boys to bed and we went out to soak till tired.
Today we slept in and are getting a later start. It is nice and sunny now and I will be getting a fire going mid day to grill more bison steaks tonight. I am going to get all the videos of the matches put together so we can share with the family and so the boys can watch how they did. I think it could be rather good for them to have the video of their matches so they can learn from it and also as posterity. Be pretty cool to see their first matches when they are older and much more experienced and compare to how they are then.
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