Snapshot Saturday

Wrestling is kinda sorta our life right now. My two oldest boys are newbie wrestlers this year and wow, it’s been a crash course in the sport for me.  Brian wrestled through college, relishes the smell of the sweaty wrestling room {gag} and loves even more demonstrating moves like the whizzer and crossface on, you guessed it, me, to show the boys the right method {him} and the wrong method {me}. Apparently shrieking while doing a crossface is strictly prohibited in the sport. So sue me. I tend to shriek when someone is trying to tear my nose off.

I’ve learned a few things this wrestling season so far. I’d like to share them with you, if that’s ok:
1) When your kid is wresting, it’s best not to shout things like “Shove his face in the mat, son!” when everyone else around you is shouting productive things like “Half-nelson!” especially when your voice carries. Like mine.

2) I want to kiss the feet of every person who has organized one of the tournaments we have attended and judiciously decided that every wrestler, regardless of how high or low they place, will get a trophy or medal. My kids feel like Olympians.

3) For all that is good and righteous, please let someone else videotape the matches if you tend to shriek like me (told you), otherwise, you won’t be able to focus or hear a darned thing upon playback and your kids will be a bit annoyed since they are trying to see how big their muscles looked while they were wrestling.

4) Whatever you do, absolutely never tell your little wrestler he looks cute on the stand. Not ok. It’s tough. He looks tough not cute.

5) Don’t glare at the 1st place finisher and his parents even though the high school ref called a pin on your son when he clearly was.not.pinned. It’s a friendly competition, not life or death, even though your son, obviously, should have come in first.

As you can see, we are learning just so, so many valuable life lessons here. Can’t wait to see what the last few weeks of wrestling season brings (hopefully not ringworm or cauliflower ear)!

If you’d like to check out past Snapshot Saturdays, click HERE.