Winter Wrestling

One source of busy around here this season has been wrestling. My son discovered the sport last year and it was love at first smack on the mat. His excitement and energy around wrestling makes all the practice and meet times worth it. It never ceases to amaze me how much of a time drain it is when practices of anything are twice a week. That one extra evening shapes the rest of the week. But this is one area where we wallow in the busyness of it all!

Here's what a Sunday afternoon looks like for us:



Mats are seething with shiny-attired boys (and a few girls), ready for the weekly round-robin meets. Our matches have been at Tucker High School this year - an original "old school". This week was the big end-of-regular-season tournament.

Brendan (on top) started off with a bang by pinning his opponent in the second period. That's the referee to the left signaling the pin. Check out the arc on the other kid's back:



Horrible shot again, I know, but a symbol of Brendan's new-found offensive game this year. He's been trying all sort of moves - sometimes even on me (in slow-motion).



After winning the first two matches, he went to the gold-medal round - and won! Here he is on the top of the podium holding the schedule of his bracket that he won.



The closer to the top, the more smiles.

And no, the kid who came in second is not his twin! It was a little difficult watching them wrestle together as the are so similar in appearance, but the not-mine has much redder hair and is a bit taller. Other than that, it was two very white skinny boys going at team mates.

And here's the Wheaties box cover:



SO proud - both of us!