Wrestling is Over

March 13, 2010, my son participated in the Regional Wrestling Tournament in Nixa, MO in hopes to advance to the State Tournament in Columbia, MO on March 26.

However his dream for the state trip ended horrifically. My son started out great by quickly pinning his first opponent in the first period. He came off of the mat and looked up to the sky and told his Granpa, "that's one!" The passing of my father has been very hard on all of us, especially Ethan. Those two were like peas in a pod and Ethan was determined to keep his promise.

He walked out to the mat for his second match of the day with more confidence and swagger than I have ever seen him exhibit. His performance in the first period of the match matched his swagger before the match started. At the end of the first period, Ethan was winning 10-0. As the second period was about to begin Ethan's coach told him to defer the descision to his opponet. His opponet chose the nuetral postion which has both wrestlers standing up. As the period started you could tell Ethan was ultra aggressive and wanted to end the match. A rule of thumb in wrestling is that you never throw a head and arm takedown manuver unless you are losing and you need catch up points quickly or you need to pin your opponent to win. Well, Ethan throws the head and arm and quickly puts his opponent on his back. However, in doing so, Ethans foot was caught underneath both kids. Subsequently, Ethan broke his foot which led to him withdrawing from the tournament and not being able to advance to the state touney.

Ethan was more upset with himself that he would not be able to fulfill his promise to his grandpa. I told him that Grandpa was and will always be very proud of him.

Ethan guarantees a state championship next year.