wrestling

avery started wrestling a few weeks ago with tim (bonnie's husband) and even had practice early in the morning all through christmas break. i signed him up just to see him in a singlet!! j/k his first meet was this saturday (jan. 2, 2010) and blake and i enjoyed watching him. bonnie said that she had to explain to the kids why you don't want to let both shoulders hit the ground at the same time or be on your back. she had to tell them, then you lose. i don't think that avery got the concept until then. he isn't real competitive (except maybe with his sister), but i can see him maybe getting that edge in this sport. it was kind of sad when you realize that your sending your kid into the ring to be man-handled by another kid. his first match went all right (he lost by points, but we were just glad to see him get some experience). the second match the kid kind of choked him and it scared him enough that he started crying (there is a lot of bawling in wrestling we found out). it was pretty sad when you send your hurt, crying child back into the ring because you can't let him quit now or else he may never go back in again. he did seem to take a lot from the experience and is excited for the next meet, phew! it was pretty funny when we realized that the kid that choked him's dad was his coach and blake said, "i think that kids dad could beat up avery's dad." blake was more excited than avery i think because he thinks that he is learning a life skill that could benefit him in future situations (i personally think that there is always a better way to solve things that to resort to violence, but i also hate ufc).

we sent him in early at 6 a.m. with tim so that he could weigh in (i know, hilarious). they marked his little arm with 49 pounds and a b for the bantam age group (that includes all kids who were born in 2003). we walked into a gymnasium with 500 people and 20 coaches screaming at around 9:30 and we were overwhelmed by it all. blake asked avery later what he was thinking when he walked in with tim and he said, he looked at every kid he passed and thought, "am i going to have to wrestle him, am i going to have to wrestle him?" we'll have to keep you posted on his progress, it goes until the end of february if you make it to state and is almost every weekend until then.