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??????
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