Wrestling 2009

The 2009-2010 wrestling season is well underway for Gabe. Practices every Monday & Tuesday, meets the last three weekends.

As you may recall, I wrote about his success in his first season last year, and his success has continued this year. We've gotten a lot of comments about how he's just built for wrestling, or that he 'looks' like a wrestler. He's a little bull for sure, with his strength constantly amazing me. He uses that strength to win a game they play at practice called, "King of the Mat." Here is how the game works, at least the way I understand how it works...They line the kids up from smallest to biggest, and start with the two littlest. The first person to get a take down wins, and gets to stay on the mat, then challenging the next biggest guy, and so on. Our first grader, Gabe, is often the winner, going up against 'the big kids' as he calls them. But his brute strength is perfect for a challenge like that...he's built just like dad! {And I know that Dad is thinking this will really come in handy for football someday!}

Gabe definitely has natural talent for the sport. He is starting to really develop his 'mat presence' and is working on learning technique in practice. But he definitely lacks the experience that some kids have whose parents drive them to meets every single weekend, all over the state and beyond. We've taken Gabe to a few meets close to home, but that's it. He just competed in his third meet of the season. So you can imagine that when there is a wrestler that has wrestled 30 meets versus Gabe's 3, Gabe is going to be at a little disadvantage that comes from all that live wrestling experience.

But, he makes up for it in determination. I am so proud of how hard he works. He has gone out there every single match this year and given it his all, every time. He hasn't won them all, but he has tried his best for them all, and that is to be commended.

So when Gabe placed second today out of four wrestlers in his bracket, he asked Jason and I, "Are you proud of me, even though I didn't win?" And our response, of course, was a resounding, "Yes!" Gabe is hard working and a good sport. And yes, he's talented, but we are most proud of his character, because that's what is hard to come by. There's lots of talented wrestlers out there, but what's talent good for if you don't have sportsmanship to back it up? Not much in our book.

We're definitely proud of our little wrestler!





Here's Gabe with his friend Damon at today's meet...



They're cute...



And goofy...



And good buddies, having both requested to be brothers.
Awww....



And here's Damon's little sister, Bree, with Cooper. I think someone has a little crush...



Don't they look like perfect angels...



Let me tell you, looks can be deceiving. These two can both be a little bit ornery ;-)

With the season not even half over, I look forward to seeing Gabe continue to thrive and develop the kind of character that will take him far, and not just in wrestling.