Does your H.S child WRESTLE?

[mamajoan]

My ds-15 is a 6'1 220 pound high school wrestler. He made Varsity this year in the heavy weight div. He is at the bottom of a weight class that runs to 275! YIKES Those are some big bodies that will be tossing around my son on the mat.. but he will handle it.. just don't know how mom will do this year. I am a big cheerleader of all the kids on the team. I enjoy sports with great enthusiasum. Tonight was ds first tournament of the season. He came out of it with 2 pins and a first place! It sure brought up his confidence level. He has wrestled for the past 4 years.. each year ending up with a serious injury.. 2 broken wrists to mention a few. He is in better shape this year and excited about his chances.
Tonights most amazing match was btwn a girl and guy at the 145 weight class. The girl pinned him in the first period.. she was really good.
Anyway we are in for a season of long tournaments and sweaty, hormone crazed teen bodies filling gym's across central coast Ca.
Go BALERS!
So how do you survive tournament days? How do you support your wrestler?

 

[browneyes]

My kids are still in elementary school. But, both my brothers wrestled in high school. I used to love to go to the meets. Both of my brothers were about 1/2 your ds's size though. One wrestled in the 119 division, the other in the 126 division, if my memory serves me correctly. My favorite division to watch was the 175 division.

Good luck to your ds.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I dated a guy in HS who was a wrestler. He was not very good, but they put him in because he would not get pinned. They didn't really expect him to win so when he did it was a bonus. There was no one else at that weight class to wrestle.

I went to all of the meets and actually started to enjoy it. My HS had one of the top teams in the state and won the state tournament several years in a row. We always rang the cow bells And made lots of noise when they were wrestling.

Good Luck to your DS!

 

[sha_lyn]

DS wrestled for 3 years (jr team, 5th 6th and 7th grade). First yr he was 5th in the state in his division. 2nd yr he was injurred and missed the last month of the season. 3rd yr he had the flu during the qualifier and lost both matches (didn't know he had the flu until later that evening). He decided to not wrestle this yr. He is doing competitive Karate instead.

So how do you survive tournament days? How do you support your wrestler?

You survive with one eye open. We had a great team. If was fun to watch the way they took DD as their unofficial mascot. When DS would goof off with DD on his shoulders etc it was his team mates running to her rescue before I could get anywhere near him. I miss those guys.

I'll get to see this weekend if competitive Karate is just as bad to watch LOL.

 

[poohandwendy]

My DH was a wrestler in HS. He was 6'5" and was somewhere in the 180-185 weight range. The stories he tells me about 'making weight' are really scary. I wonder how safe it is to constantly try to maintain a certain weight. But, he loved it and went on to win the state championships in his senior year. He also had many injuries, mostly his wrists, shoulders. My son doesn't show any interest, yet (he's 13). Good luck to your DS!!!

 

[mamajoan]

"cutting weight" for wrestling is NOW frowned upon for H.S. athletics here. They had a young man (state wrestler) end up in the hospital for bulemia/anorexia 2 years ago, he did not make the state competition he was scheduled to go to that year. The system went thru a major overhaul. They give the kids nutritional counseling thru out the season.

I remember back in the day.. as does dh.. when the guys were eating only lettuce, drinking water, wearing plastic bags under double sweats and exercising til they almost fainted so they could "make their weight" all with a coaches permission and support. YIKES it was as dangerous then as it would be now to do such a thing.

Jake is "lucky" because he is at the bottom end of the heavy weight division. He does not have to worry about his weight too much. He enjoyed a full Thanksgiving.. but many of the wrestlers did not.. they were nutritionally sound but sometimes that is not too fun..
Thanks for your best wishes and for sharing your experiences!