Wrestling Season Update

I had two more matches this week.

The first was in Richmond.

The bus came 35 minutes late, one of my students got a referral right before the match and couldn't come, another skipped for drama, and one of the kids I did have go on the bus told me he had a broken finger and couldn't wrestle. One of my kids who had just recovered from a concussion three weeks ago got concussed again. I called his parents, was worried about him the whole way home, and kept talking with him to help him stay awake and pass the time for the cold, dark bus ride home. My guts rebelled on the way home as I had not had a bathroom break since before 2 o'clock. I nearly exploded by the time I found a time and place to relieve myself.

Coaching is not for the faint of heart. I hope it looks more professional from the outside.

The boys who did wrestle did well. Not everyone won, but everyone was competitive, got experience, and enjoyed the experience. It was the first time at a match for one kid and I think I've converted him to being a wrestler for now on!

The second match was a lot smoother.

The bus was on time and I knew who was going and could wrestle. The match was at Covenant just south of town, so it was an easy drive. It took longer than expected, because we swung by the high school to pick up the HS team! The bus driver managed a miraculous 3-point turn on a 2 lane road right before a light to turn the bus around when one of the varsity kids realized he'd forgotten his wrestling shoes!

The match itself was chaotic. The refs were almost 20 minutes late. The coaches all put our heads together and started matching up kids to find competitive matches and then I spent my time chasing wrestlers onto the mat no matter what team they were on. When the scoring table started to slow down, I walked up and started assigning colors (green or red) to wrestlers to keep the process going.

Lots of parents showed up this time and I ended up with only three wrestlers on the bus home. They wanted food, so we stopped at Wegmans. A parent needed groceries (?) and dropped by Wegmans to pick up two of the wrestlers and I ended up on a big bus with only one kid to end the night.

A word on concussions: They really bother me.

I don't really remember any from when I wrestled. I knew what they were, and they were talked about at some point. I think I saw a kid knocked out, but my memory is vague. I know I've seen what I deemed serious injuries like broken arms, twisted knees, a busted collar bone, and my own back got jacked once. I remember sleeping on the floor with my feet on the couch and knees at 90 degrees. I split my head open jumping over a chair and nearly had to get stitches before bleeding all over a mat as a sophomore. I know I got bounced around, head butted, and bled, but I can't recall ever being concussed. 

There have been a spate of concussions in the wrestling room this year. I don't think it's anything we're doing. The room feels much less intense than when I practiced in high school. I know that's not nostalgia either. The HS coach makes kids do a set of 11 push ups, because "we don't stop at 10!" My HS coach made us do pyramids from 10 to 1 early in the year (10-9-8-7-6...) and then made us start at 15 and even 20 later on (though we never did a full 20 to 1...he'd stop at 10).

So what's up with the concussions? Are we hyper aware? Are the kids less skilled at knowing how to protect themselves and doing rooking things? Are skulls thinner, or brains bigger? One kid slipped on his stairs at home and got a concussion!

The kid who got a concussion on Tuesday didn't look like he suffered any particularly violent impacts. His opponent did start to run power halves which puts pressure on the back of the head, but if he hadn't told me he felt dizzy I would not have thought to check on him for anything medical.

I told him that wrestling is supposed to be fun and it's only a season. His brain is for a lifetime. He was only an 8th grader and I'd prefer he ended his season and took the time to really recover rather than 'tough it out for six weeks' and risk a third.

That's a big enough wall of text for now. Ask me in person, and I'll talk your ear off.