at least mayo is right around the corner
i'm off to the minnesota christmas tournament in rochester to see a whole lotta wrestling this weekend. the lad has been winning in his first varsity year, but he remains the upstart sophomore heavyweight in the upstart 'stang program. tor is in a bracket with some of the best in the country, including the state's top-ranked heavy and others in the top 10.i've been masking my concerns for his well-being (not fears, mind you, just concerns) with lame attempts at gallows humor:
#3. oh sure, they're stronger, faster, and more experienced. but you're unorthodox, dude, nobody wants to wrestle you.
#2. we're in rochester, man, you'll have the best doctors in the world!
#1. Q: dad, do you really want to drive 100 miles just to see me get my azz kicked?
A: son, i'd drive 200 miles just to see you get your azz kicked.
update: the lads from mounds view held their own this weekend, and tor took a couple friday matches before succumbing on saturday to the big fella from totino grace (above). the heavyweight matches seemed especially tough, but no major injuries were reported.
posted by christopher uggen @ 8:27 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I can't help but think that the content of wrestling as a sport, and the proliferation of tournaments, create an environment more conducive to aggression and poor behavior on the parents' part. I've never been to a wrestling tourney (I just saw my first local boxing/MMA show the other week), so I've no idea if it's true or not.
Nevertheless, the content of performing poorly or losing a wrestling match, which is more likely to involve bodily harm (or intent to) by the opponent, can be taken more personally by parents (as in "they tried to hurt my boy/they cheated and hurt him" compared to "the umpire kept calling balls way on the outside strikes").
Have you any experiences with overszealous parents at wrestling matches (I'm still searching for the right terminology - matches, tournaments, something else)? Have you ever *been* that overzealous parent? Or, am I just hypothesizing he whole thing in my head, and wrestling matches don't invite or create poor attitudes/behaviors in parents any more than another sport children participate in?
I have observed overzealous parents in multiple arenas - ice arenas in particular. I once observed a father at the ice rink at 5am "coaching" his four-year-old shooting pucks at the goal. Of course, what I was doing there donning my figure skates at 5am on a weekday morning is another matter...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that "meet" is the best term to use to refer to wrestling events, unless it truly is a tournament. Matches refer to the bouts between individual wrestlers, but a showdown between two teams is a meet. Having been (and still remaining) a Hawkeye wrestling fan, I have seen plenty of zeal at such events!
mike, in my experience the wrestling parents are better behaved than football or hockey parents. they ride the refs in heated matches, since points are somewhat discretionary -- sort of like an umpire's strike zone -- but i haven't seen any aggression between parents or fans.
the only time it gets creepy is when parents or fans chew out their kids after a match. i'm sometimes tempted to intervene, but at most i'll just mumble that it is much tougher on the mat than it is in the stands.
as for myself, i get emotional during the matches but generally keep it to myself. i have too much respect for the lad's coaches to yell uninformed instructions to him, though i hoop n' holler with the crowd when he's closing in on a pin (or, of course, when they're yelling u-gen, u-gen! or toooooooorrrrrr).
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