Wrestling With Wrestling

O.K., so yesterday I find myself at the Middle School wrestling match cheering and carrying on as if I actually like wrestling. We live in a wrestling town, the Mayor's hometown. But I do not come from a wrestling town. I come from a big city where, in my day at least, guys wouldn't think of grappling intimately on a mat with other guys fully clothed, let alone wearing anything as undeniably ludicrous looking as a wrestling singlet. Seeing my first wrestling match left me in an odd state that was equal parts incredulity, bemusement and horror. Maybe, since I had to watch my son in hand to hand combat with another little kid, there was a bit more horror than anything else. But the Mayor and his brothers were big wrestlers here in high school and the boy is now a seasoned wrestler, too. I've had to adjust.

For years I attended matches with the sole purpose of being on-hand when, in my mind inevitably, the boy would need to be rushed to the hospital with a concussion or neck injury. Thus far, and I am pounding wood here, this has not occurred. It's been about 7 years now. I still view the sport as dangerous to some degree, but it is less so when they have years of training behind them and face opponents with years of training. That, I think, is the difference that allows me to enjoy the sport now. When both wrestlers know their moves and are methodically looking to gain the advantage through recognized wrestling techniques, the match has a certain grace about it. It is logic and knowledge of anatomy applied. And, much to my surprise, it can be a lot of fun to watch.

I've learned a lot of pertinent things to yell during the match. Cries of drive, circle, off your knees, and get heavy have all escaped my mouth. Yet, I still tend toward the more motherly, "you can do it (insert kid's name here)!" I love watching the boys cheer for each other. They are told to get up and applaud after each match and they do. But you can tell the ones they really have their hearts in--when a teammate is winning his first match or has been unnecessarily roughed up, but pulls it out in the end--the cheers fill the auditorium and the excitement is palpable. It's a dynamic that makes me wish I'd been part of a team at some point in my life. Though I've never been a sports participant or much of a fan, wrestling has helped me see it's value and experience it's joy.

These matches can still get a bit dicey, though. Kids who join up later are big and strong, but don't have the moves down. They are dangerous to other wrestlers. If your kid is pitted against a kid who doesn't know what he is doing, it is ugly to watch and actually very risky. If you're lucky, the inexperienced kid is a "fish" and gets pinned easily. Otherwise, he's a strapping kid who is frustrated into fight mode. Technique is out the window and there is a lot of throwing and slamming. This is not fun to watch and the fact that this can happen is the reason that, although I do enjoy a match here and there, I will not miss this sport too much when the boy outgrows it.