A High School Wrestler

The day before we left for the beach, Evan had a big day--his first high school wrestling tournament. He had a practice with the team earlier in the week, and we were at the school at 7:30am to drive to a tournament near Charlotte:

 

Summer wrestling is completely optional, so we were so proud of him for stepping up. This tournament had teams from three states and many private wrestling clubs. Even our best wrestlers didn't win every match.

I ended up driving two other wrestlers, and I enjoyed spending the day getting to know them, the rest of the team, and several parents. The coach has really created a positive culture:

The parents were so welcoming to me, and I loved watching the older kids coach the two freshmen who went. It was so interesting to listed to what they noticed and what they wanted to teach their new teammates.

Evan's goal was just to get at least one pin. He wrestled five times, and he got a pin, got pinned twice, and lost on points twice--not bad at all given the competition and how different high school wrestling is from middle school wrestling!

The coach posted this picture at the end of the day:

It really was a fun day. Evan learned a lot, and he know what he wants to work on this summer. I learned we needed bleacher chairs, and now I'm ready for the next tournament!