Originally Posted by NewChief (Post 11301777)

Well, it's been a pretty awesome first season of wrestling. While my youngest hasn't won any tournaments he's placed as high as 2nd in one (admittedly, a small bracket, but still).

We'll be heading up to Lebanon, MO next Sunday for a National Novice tournament.

My son has progressed so much this year. He still drives me crazy at times with lack of effort during an actual tournament or not having his "game face" on, but his abilities and drive have really developed.

Our last tournament was in OK, and he wrestled in both the novice and open. He got his butt kicked pretty good, but he won a few matches. Since then, though, he's really come on in practice. At the end of practice sometimes, we line all the kids up smallest to largest and do "king of the mat" where first points scored stays on the mat, then next biggest kid comes up.

The last two practices, he has "beat" 3 kids larger than him and held the mat. Two of these kids have absolutely destroyed him in the past as well.

Anyway, if he'll ever start getting a little quicker and more urgent in his movements, he may start being truly competitive. He has the head for it, his double leg shots are just slow, reaching things, and he is bad at anticipating his opponent's shot and sprawling before the opponent is into his legs.

Still, it's been a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by Sorter (Post 11301801)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7H4ueNGqZrc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Originally Posted by GloryDayz (Post 11307655)

****ing awesome!!!

https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...ef&oe=55657991

Originally Posted by NewChief (Post 11375983)

Good stuff, rico!

We have state this weekend for the youth. My son peaked about 4 weeks ago, and he's really sort of lost his fire over the last few weeks. I'm not expecting much from him at State this week, but we'll see. Maybe he'll surprise me.

Originally Posted by rico (Post 11375582)

Interesting year this year for the brothers.

First off, our team won state for the first time in the history of our program. This was an unbelievably awesome experience.

Secondly, both the Junior and the Freshman won districts an qualified for state. The Freshman qualified at 120 and the Junior at 126. Better yet, they both made it to the semifinals when they got there. However, both of them had rough draws in the semis.

My Freshman brother drew a Junior who has not been beaten since the state finals his Freshman season...the kid placed second as a Freshman, 1st as a Sophomore and won it this year. To add on to this, coming into the semis match vs. my Freshman brother, in 48 matches, the kid had only been to the 3rd period twice all year. He had pinned or teched everyone except 2 guys he wrestled before the conclusion of the 2nd period coming into this match. The kid had just an insanely good season. And to say the least, my brother was a HUGE underdog coming into the match...being a Freshman, taking on future Mr. D1 in the semis. However, my brother ALMOST pulled the upset of the tournament. Was winning 8-6 with 50 seconds left in the match when he got taken down to his back and pinned with 8 seconds left. Prior to that happening though, the match was crazy...the crowd there was louder than I've ever heard it...In that entire 2nd period, the entire arena was on it's toes, thinking they were witnessing a major upset. It was pretty neat...wish he could have pulled it off.

Here is the video to that match. My brother is in the orange and black on mat 4:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n9JNfeHPXws" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

My Freshman brother didn't wrestle so well on the back side and placed 6th. Still pretty good for a Freshman at 120. Very proud of him. It's crazy listening to Mark Ironside and Dan Gable call the match and talk about my baby brothers and reference the history of our last name with the school we wrestle(d) for. Just crazy. I didn't even know they knew who we were...I mean, it's Gable and Ironside....Cool stuff. Ironside's commentary during this match was pretty funny...they basically zoned into my bros match after he put Rathbun on his back and didn't really pay attention to the other matches. He couldn't believe what he was watching.

My Junior brother was ranked #2 in the state and drew the #1 ranked guy in the semis. He was beaten, convincingly. He didn't have an answer to the guy's legs after he got taken down. The match is a bit hard to watch because it's kind of uneventful...my brother struggled to get anything going. For what it's worth, here is the video to that one. He is on mat 3.:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0stVmeH-Yho" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

My Junior brother placed 4th. Was beaten by the #3 ranked guy for 3rd and 4th. Frustrating thing is that the kid he beat in the finals at districts made the finals on the other side of the bracket and got worked by the champ who beat my bro in this video.

Originally Posted by NewChief (Post 11375983)

Good stuff, rico!

We have state this weekend for the youth. My son peaked about 4 weeks ago, and he's really sort of lost his fire over the last few weeks. I'm not expecting much from him at State this week, but we'll see. Maybe he'll surprise me.

Originally Posted by Rudy lost the toss (Post 11376592)

First year, right? Doesn't sound unusual. Wrestling is a weird sport for newcomers. Takes awhile for things to come together and start having success. I didn't really care for it my first two years, but by the time I was done, I wished I would have started as a youth. Best of luck at states.

Originally Posted by Sorter (Post 11376631)

You going?