State bound

Friday, after our crazy run to Chicago for a renewed passport, we drove to Sheboygan where C-man weighed in, we went out to dinner, and we went to bed. Because Saturday morning, we had to be at the State Qualifier tournament by 8:30.

C-man drew a bye in the first round. Lucky in that he'd skip a round, but unlucky in that the longer this kid waits to wrestle, the worse his nerves get. And he does not wrestle well with raw nerves. But he learned he'd be wrestling a kid whom he'd beaten once and got beaten by twice, and somehow that "known" wrestler made things better. Well, that, and a poop, apparently. Ah, wrestling life.

As it has been in the past, it was an incredibly good match. They traded takedowns and reversals, tied at 7-7 with 4 seconds left. They reset their positions, with C-man on the bottom. Beerman shouted, "You HAVE to get free and get the escape." The whistle blew, and C-man escaped so hard, the other kid went flying to the ground and C-man was on his feet, turned around, and the ref's hand up for one point. The stands erupted. We went out of our minds. He won 8-7.

So hard fought. So deserved. And C-man was beyond thrilled.

I always get nervous, but didn't realize until I stood that I was shaking. This wrestling thing really gets to me.

His second round, he started well, but then got beat 10-3.

C-man was in tears, because he had to go in the consolation, or wrestle-back, round of things. It's a longer, harder road to get back to 2nd, but was his route.

And then we realized that the kid he'd beaten his first match had wrestled back for 3rd. Since you don't have to beat the guy you've already beaten, C-man got the 2nd place spot. He sobbed. He got his medal. He stood on the podium. He declared he was never taking that medal off.

At the start of the year, he set a goal of getting 4 pins (one more than last year). Once he got those, he upped his goals. Then Beerman and C-man sat down and wrote out a plan of goals and how to achieve those goals, which included working out and jumping rope and learning new moves. The last goal was 'Make it to State'. I felt it was a little far fetched for him, but was glad he was setting goals, so kept my mouth shut. Well, buddy, you and your hard work proved me wrong once again. And I couldn't be happier for him.