Wrestling fans – I could not be a more proud coach tonight. Our guys represented the club with purpose and determination, this past Saturday, in the Florida High gymnasium during the inaugural Tallahassee Summer Slam, folkstyle wrestling tourney in Southwood – the first official TBWC event. The tournament boasted well over 100 competitors, from the Tot division (6 and under) all the way up to the Senior division (19 – 29 yrs) and demonstrated that wrestling is alive and growing in Tallahassee! As an Ohio boy, it makes me feel quite at home.
I want to thank the parents who were brave enough to bring their athletes out to the event with many definite unknowns – to both them, and me. We were unsure of both the structure of the event, and the caliber of the opponents we would encounter in this, the first wrestling event for most of our kids.
While the scoring was of open tournament caliber (off-duty wrestlers, coaches and helpers giving back), the quality of the competition was quite refreshing. I felt, as a coach, that our kids were well prepared for their first event, in that, they knew the most important aspect of the sport (in my humble opinion) – how to battle. We did not win all of our matches and were quite out classed in some; however, we fought with all of our beings in each and every match. Sometimes that meant hanging in until the third period until our opponent finally was able to get us in a position that was defensively terminal (we got pinned – which was, in some cases, a blessing), or we fought off our backs in a position that was certainly out of our favor, simply because we did not want to be there and had enough (easy to write – not easy to do). Some guys found a gear they had no idea they possessed, and some guys found that they wished they had listened to Coach Dale more in practice at some points – such is our discipline, our sport and our passion.
TBWC Parents – I will do my best to keep you all abreast of upcoming events that are local and events that are, perhaps, not so local, but relevant. Please consider attending or having your wrestler compete in the June 6th event we will be hosting at Chiles High School – while the time commitment is significant, I was reminded this weekend that the rewards are unmatched. I would like to think that we could have a similar turnout as this past weekend.
We had a great Mother’s Day workout today, where we consider our time on the mat, “me time” for Mom. Whether or not that is true is open for debate; however, we wrestlers LOVE our Moms. Though we would rarely say it out loud, we would likely not be the fierce competitors that we are without the love and support they provide. Happy Mother’s Day to all the wrestling moms who sit, tirelessly, in high school gymnasiums for hours and hours awaiting that short opportunity to support us. It’s a thankless job but we do appreciate it – I promise you.
Congratulations to the guys that competed this weekend – below is a pic of a few of the guys we were able to catch after the awards were given out.
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