Cutter....again

Here I go again, another blog about Cutter. He wrestled again yesterday. I am amazed at this little kid. He has a drive within him that is passionate, honest, and deep. This tournament... he made it to the championship bout. He had victory by pin fall his first two matches. I have to keep reminding myself he has only wrestled for 5 weeks and is 6 years old. The young boy he faced in the finals is the same boy that pinned Cutter in his first tournament in Lubbock. This kid has pinned everyone he has wrestled so far this year. Amazing is right. I was under the impression when we started this stuff that rookie meant a year or less in experience. That is not exactly accurate. It has more to do with their age. I still do not completely understand it all, how it works, but that is the way it is. Over the last 3 weeks of wrestling we have figured out that this kid has wrestled the 'tot' division for at least one season already, maybe 2. Explains why he is so good. Cutter was really getting nervous about his match. The winner got a trophy, which meant everything to Cutter at that moment in time. The match finally began and Cutter wrestled his heart out. He was almost pinned in the second round. The reason I mention it is because of the way he fought off being pinned. My son is apparently freakishly strong. I have watched other kids get in the same position and not work their way out of it. I certainly have not seen anyone do it to the boy he is wrestling. Somehow, from his back, Cutter was able to keep his shoulder from touching the mat and actually pushed the kid up enough to turn to his stomach. This move he did literally took him 15 seconds to pull off. That is a long time with someone squeezing your neck and laying on you. It was so impressive that all the people around me all were talking about it. His coach completely turned around in his chair and looked at me with a look of utter amazement. Unfortunately, Cutter ended up losing the match....on points. Cutter is the first kid this season who did not get pinned by this boy. And Cutter is also the only kid to go into the 3rd round with this boy. As a matter of fact, Cut is the only kid to go to a 3rd round period with this boy, and he has done it twice.
Cutter did a good job, but was very upset. He just couldn't help but cry. He wanted that trophy so bad. It was at that moment in his life the single biggest disappointment he has ever had. Emily and Wendy were at a basketball scrimmage and were driving across town as fast as they could to see him wrestle and got there right as Cutter and I sit down in the bleachers. As soon as Cutter saw his momma and sister he really lost it. It took him 15 minutes to calm down. He kept saying, "I really wanted that trophy." It was tough being a dad and seeing him so disappointed. I had to finally get in his face and tell him to get over it because he had one more match. Apparently, when you finish second, and you haven't wrestled the kid who got third, there is what is called a challenge match. We were packed up, jackets on, standing in line to get his medal and Coach John came up and told us we weren't done. This next kid is one of the boys who beat Cutter last week. Come to find out this is this boys third season to wrestle tots. Cutter got beat again. He finished 3rd place. Thankfully, Cutter was able to keep his emotions in check this time.
Once we got in the truck to leave, Cutter was still ticked off he did not win the trophy. I just told him to work harder and he will win one soon. Cutter has had 12 matches so far in his career. He is 6-6 and 2. All six wins are by pin fall. He has only been pinned 1 time. He has made two kids cry.
He has his eye on the prize. He will work hard in practice over the next few weeks until we wrestle in a tournament again. I am so proud of him for wanting to continue and work hard. Last night we were watching the video of his matches and I was showing him how to try to avoid being taken down and how to escape better. He wanted to practice those moves right then. So we did. He is determined.
I just thought, what if we all had his determination for whatever it is we do? A lot of great things would get done. I have known many people over my life who aren't willing to take a chance. Who aren't willing to fight back. So many people see failure as a final nail in the coffin. Failure is simply another stepping stone to success in my opinion. You can't have success without failure. There are many great things my dad and mom instilled in me growing up. One of those things was never giving up. Looks like Cutter is learning the same thing, or at least I hope he is.
Cutter may only be 6 years old, but he is paving his way through life learning lessons that will form him into the man he will finally become. These stepping stones he will face in his young life are going to happen. God will be there to guide him through them. I will help him avoid the avoidable, and manage the unavoidable. Losing a wrestling match is so not a big deal, but the path to finally winning a trophy?.....That is huge!!

quick update on 'my girls'

Here is the latest update on Emily and the other girls. All the girls made their respective teams. I am the proudest guy around right now. What a great week for "my girls".

There were 64 girls who tried out at Crockett were I have 6 players. There were 45 who tried out at Bonham were I have 2. Of my 11 players, 9 made the gold team, 1 made silver. My other girl is being home schooled right now. I just couldn't be more excited for them all.

Yesterday, there was a scrimmage between Crockett and Bonham. I walked in just as they were about to tip off. I looked out on the floor and there were 5 Shock players on the floor. (2 for Bonham, 3 for Crockett) 7 total in the game. As a coach, I was just proud as I could be. As a father seeing my own Emily out there starting the game, I just about cried. No one knows what she and I have gone through to get her to this point. The countless hours on the driveway working on her shot, (and one of these days she will start actually shooting in games), hours just talking on what to do in situations. Some of you understand what I am talking about. It was great. She has earned her spot. She is the only girl on the gold team that didn't play volleyball. Emily has taken this challenge head on, and so far is doing awesome. I am so proud of her!

At this point I am going to brag. My girls were easily, no questions about it, the most fundamentally sound players on the floor. It was very obvious to me, watching them play that they knew what they were doing out there. I can't say that for some of the other girls. I can hardly wait for this season, it is going to be fun. I will keep you posted.

Cutter update and buddy.

So many of you have asked that I keep you updated on Cutter and his wrestling. Well here is your latest update. He wrestled again this past weekend. Cutter ended up 5th place out of 10 kids. He won his first match by pin fall in 21 seconds. The second match ended rather quickly. He pinned the kid in 8 seconds. I am not kidding, 8 seconds! His third match was a bit more competitive. This match was to go to the championship bout. The match went all 3 rounds and unfortunately, Cut came out behind 6-4. He kept his emotions in check, but was disappointed he lost. His 4th match was to advance to the 3rd place bout. It was a very good match, but again Cut came up short, lost 8-6. After this match, we had to go outside for a bit and have a good cry. He was really upset about losing that one. His last match was for 5th place. This match was a rematch from last week. If you remember, he lost a match last week 11-7. What I left out of the details last time was it was a girl who beat him. He simply would not engage with her last week. I have taught him not to beat on girls. Very strange having to wrestle girls. When I figured out who he was wrestling, I told him who it was. He just looked at me and said, "I am winning this time." He attacked this little girl this time. He just went ahead and wrestled her hard. This little girl is tough. Make no mistake about it, she knows what she is doing. Cutter had her on points, but got the pin anyway in the 3rd round. He executed a half nelson just darn near perfectly. He locked it in very hard and twisted her over just like Coach John has taught him. When he had her on her back, he squeezed her down just like he is suppose to until he pinned her. He did well. The two boys that beat him got 2nd and 3rd. He was literally 1 to 2 moves away from winning those bouts. The boy who won the tournament is the kid who pinned Cut last week in the 3rd round. Cutter is the only kid so far who has even made it to the third round against this boy. He is doing good, and hey, he didn't get pinned this week.

Ok, I am through talking about Hulk Hogan. I do just want to add one more thing. We all know people who have older children who are good kids. We are so very fortunate to know many people like this. I want to mention one boy who I feel deserves some props. Cutter has a serious man crush on an older kid. Peyton Stafford is his name, he is a 5th grader. He is the son of Joe and Lee Stafford. Let me put the connection down for you. Their daughter Katie Beth plays on my basketball team. Joe is the head wrestling coach at Tascosa. Joe is the one who got us going with this. As you can figure, Peyton wrestles and this weekend, Peyton was wrestling also. Peyton always, and I mean always acknowledges Cutter and gives him genuine attention every time he sees him. It was getting close to Cutters second match and I saw Peyton walking down in front of the bleachers we were sitting on. He was coming down to get Cutter and help him warm up! Understand, Peyton is with some of his buddies. He took the time to keep watching the bout numbers where Cut was wrestling and drop his buddies to come get Cutter and get him ready to wrestle. Stayed right there with me while Cutter did his thing and really gave Cutter a big high five afterward. He really made Cutter feel like a star. Unless Peyton was wrestling or getting ready to, he was right there cheering Cutter on every time. And of course, Cutter wanted to watch his buddy as well. Peyton is a very respectful, kind, genuine kid. I can only pray that Cutter will grow up being like his buddy Peyton. Peyton has know idea the impact he has on Cutter. Peyton is just being who he is, and how he is being raised. I wish every Christian could be that way. Peyton is not trying to be anything but Cutter's friend. It doesn't seem to matter a bit that they are 6 years apart. To most kids Peyton's age (especially boys), it isn't cool giving attention to a little kindergarten kid, but Peyton doesn't seem to care about all that. He is just doing what I think Jesus tells us to do....build relationships through genuine love and care for each other. I wish everyone could have a "Peyton." I am thankful Cutter has the real thing!

live without regrets.

We all have things we get ready for. Be it a long term goal, a short term goal, or somewhere in between. As most of you know, I have been coaching Emily in basketball since she was in the second grade. As the years have gone by the motivation of why she plays ball has changed. It started as something fun to do. A way for her to burn off extra energy. Within the last couple of years, her motivation has turned to playing ball in high school. Her dream is to play for the gold and black of Amarillo High School. A tremendous goal worthy of her effort to achieve. My other girls on the team have similar goals. The brutal truth of it all is not all of them will play varsity high school basketball. Some will play other sports, others will stop playing all together. They will all follow their life path into doing whatever it is they are meant to do. You ask, where am I going with this? Well...here goes.

Do we all have the patience for a long term goal? Today marks the first day of try outs for my girls (except Makaela, she already made the A team at Westover). This is the first time in the history of my relationship with Emily she will be playing ball for someone other than me. It is weird for me to think about sitting on the other side of the court and watching her play as a spectator. This is good for us. She needs someone else to teach her. I need the perspective of watching versus coaching. We both will benefit from this. This morning her Mom took her to practice. Another first for me. When has she ever gone to practice without me? I can't be there to give her a pat on the back or "the look". She is on her own. Does that scare me? No. Am I excited for her? You bet I am. My other girls....Zoe for example. She has never played hoops for anyone other than me. Am I thinking about her today? You better believe I am.

I feel like a mother bird who is letting her babies go into the wild. The girls, me and my Dad have spent so much time together over the last few years working for this one moment in their lives. The time that they go and start on their journey to achieve the goal of playing high school basketball. Everything has a beginning. Today marks that beginning. I sent all my girls a text last night. I told them good luck, play hard, be physical. I told them I loved them and was proud of them. I have been sitting here all morning thinking about what all this means to me. Am I being a bit emotional about it? Yes. I think I have a right to be. Am I making a big deal about it? Probably, but again, I feel like I have a right to.

My goal has always been to help these girls mature. Basketball for me is a great way teach those lessons. Basketball is a game of ups and downs, streaks and stops, endurance and intelligence. My opinion is that a good athlete can play any game, but not every athlete can play basketball. My dad and I always try to have our girls motivated to play. But more importantly, we want to have them prepared for what is to come. Being prepared is the single most important thing to basketball in my opinion. It is the most important thing to life for that matter. That is what I have been thinking about, do I have the girls prepared for what they are about to experience over the next few months. Time will tell. I do get them back mid February when we start our tournament season. So my time with them is not over.

I have been just thinking about something over the last few weeks. This experience with the girls kinda brought a few thoughts together. In our daily lives, are we preparing ourselves for our ultimate goal? Do we live each day like we should? Do we end each day with a regret? I teach my team to play hard and leave nothing on the court. Give it everything they have. Mistakes are going to happen, it is what we do with those mistakes that makes us who we are. How we respond is what matters. Living with regrets is painful, haunting, and sometimes devastating. I have regrets, who doesn't? Be open to what God is telling you. God will never mislead you. God may take you somewhere uncomfortable, but it is where God wants you. How will you feel the next day if you didn't go and you knew that is where God wanted you.

Emily left this morning prepared physically and mentally. She is feeling confident, not cocky, just sure of herself. She knows what to do. She has been preparing herself for this moment. I know my daughter, she will give it all she has, she will leave no regrets. The other girls on the team will play hard. They are prepared. Are we going into today prepared? Will we get to the end of the day and have no regrets? Live without regrets!

later....

By the way....which one is me in the photo above?

Cutter's first wrestling tournament

This past weekend Cutter had another first. He wrestled in his first ever tournament. We got involved in this two weeks ago. The wrestling coach at Tascosa is a friend of mine. He thought Cutter would enjoy wrestling and might have a chance of being pretty good. So we figured why not? Cutter and I went to a practice three Mondays ago and watched. You know, to see if he would like to try it. Of course he wanted to. We came home after watching practice and he wanted to wrestle. We got in the floor and I showed him the moves that they had been working on. Now, before I go any further I must admit I know nothing about wrestling. I wrestled a half season when I was in the eighth grade. That is the extent of my knowledge. The only thing I know is what I am watching at practice. Tuesday night came and Cutter was ready for practice. He just jumped in there and started learning best he could. He loved it. I wasn't sure how he would take being beat on. They practice their moves on each other. Basically, one kid just stands there while another takes them to the ground. Then they will get a half nelson put on them. That is a move where you put one of your arms under a kids armpit and hook it around the neck and drive them with your shoulder until they end up on their back. Trust me, it is not comfortable. Anyway, Cutter was hooked. He had only 4 official practices before last weekend. He and I and his sister Emily have had many more than that. Cutter is considered a rookie. So when he wrestles in these tournaments, he is supposedly wrestling kids his own weight, age, and ability. We get to weigh in Friday night and realize Cutter has been registered in the wrong weight class. They have him in the 50-60 lbs. weight division. He is 49 lbs. Big problem. He could wrestle a kid 10 lbs heavier than him? I am thinking this is not good. But because that is where he was registered, he has to wrestle in that weight class. We got up early and left for Lubbock Saturday morning. When we got there, Cutter had an auto win! In other words, no other kids signed up for that weight division, so he got the automatic win. Great!, but now what? I am thinking I got us all up early on a Saturday to be in Lubbock by 8am and he doesn't get to wrestle? It worked out good. He actually got to wrestle his weight class.

His first match ever in his life was about to begin. Cutter is so excited, but very nervous at the same time. He kept saying on the way to Lubbock that he was nervous, and asking Wendy if she was too. His mom said "a little." That was good for Cutter because he would respond with, "thanks Mom." I think it helped calm him. Back to the match. Cutter walks out on the mat, faces his opponent, shakes his hand and the referee blows his whistle. The next thing I know Cutter is putting moves on this kid like he knew exactly what he was doing. He took the kid down, slipped the half nelson, rolled him over, grabbed the kids neck, gained leverage, and pinned the kid in 30 seconds!!!! I was shocked and impressed all at the same time. His coaches were impressed! One of them didn't even know his name. (but you can bet he does now) Cutter has 2 more matches that he lost. The next kid pinned Cutter with 20 seconds left in the match. This kid was really good and Cutter held his own very well. His last match went the distance and he lost on points 11-7. In the end, Cutter walked out of that gym with a first place medal around his neck. I tried to explain that he got first and third. It didn't matter, he won first place and that is all that mattered to him. He had practice again last night. I think he walked a little taller last night when his coach asked him to lead the team in their warm-ups. The coach who didn't know his name, worked with Cutter all night long. I think he made an impression on these guys.

What did I learn from Cutter this weekend? Alot! Also really nothing I already didn't know about him. He is a competitive, determined, fun going little kid who just rubs off on you in the greatest of ways!!! I thank God every day for my son and the lessons he teaches me. He has 2 more tournaments in the next 2 weekends. I can hardly wait to see him wrestle again. Who knows....the next Brandon Slay??????