Tournament in Powhatan

Shane and I picked up Izaiah at 7:30 AM. There was no bus. Wrestlers had to come with parents or find rides. Izaiah ended up being in car entertainment for Shane (He quizzed him on Pokemon....that statement works either way).

We drove right by the club, but found it on after a u-turn. It was much nicer on the inside. People trickled in after us. Six of my eight made it and started to eat. The 9:00 AM weigh-in was a misprint. The brackets were made off of what coaches emailed in.

By 10:00 AM, the place was packed. There wasn't going to be much downtime or space to do anything save wrestle.

Or mooch electronics. Shane spotted a kid on Minecraft when we walked in. He was his new best friend.

I felt bad for the kid after a while. I don't think he bargained on gaining a shadow. One of my wrestler's sisters loaned Shane her device after a while. He happily started a Minecraft forest fire.

Thankfully, Shane didn't get to keep the device forever. I don't know what burned out first: the batteries, the girl's patience, or Shane's ability to sit still. Maybe something gave simultaneously. I was too busy coaching to notice. Shane spent the rest of the day playing with Ryan.

They were contained to the bleachers for a short while.

Then they accosted random wrestlers.  ("_____, do you know these kids?"  "No.")

I liked it better when they attacked wrestlers I knew.

The practice mat was a God-send.  The boys played hide and seek, tag, tackled each other, and any other kid who didn't look too tough.

One of their new friends stole my hat when I checked in once. The boys did a decent job of playing nicely and not getting in the way. Shane started to run onto a live mat once just as I walked in to the room. He didn't make the mistake twice.

Mixed bag of results, as always. There was some stout competition. My boys are getting better, but there are some stout kids out there. I saw some 8 year-olds wrestle what looked to be a high school level match. My best wrestler's record of the day was 4-1 (which he started off with a freak accident in his first match - He broke a girl's arm).

Shane and I grabbed Sheetz on the way home. I hadn't ate all day. Shane was so worn out he slept, a half-eaten hot dog clenched in his hand. We got home after 5 PM.

I'll need to remember this tournament for next year.