As High School Wrestling Comes To An End, Trisha Reflects On Her Son’s Wrestling Career

So, Wrestling season is about to come to an end this weekend when the State Championships are held at the Casper Events Center.   When I was in high school, I never paid a lot of attention to sports because I worked.  I knew who the talented athletes were, but other than watching cross town rivalry games or matches on occasion, I didn’t spend a lot of time as a spectator. 
When I met my husband and we began dating, we went through the usual exchange of personal information and past interests and hobbies. Although we both participated in sports as well as enjoyed watching many different sports, neither of us got too serious about them because in high school, we chose to go to work instead of play.  My husband was always way more interested in hunting. fishing, and trapping than he was in sports anyway.
Eventually we married and we would end up having three boys.  Our first child was born and as he grew, he quickly became a sports fanatic.  He can tell you who plays for what team, give you their stats and replay highlight reels through the years right in his head, no  matter if it's football, baseball, hockey, NASCAR, or whatever else it out there.  Something we always found a little funny, because neither of us was really all that into sports.  But this child lives for sports.  He could not wait to learn to read because he wanted to read the sports page of the newspaper.  When he went to Kindergarten, by the time we were at Christmas Break, he was doing just that!
That summer, he played T-Ball and that was our first experience with any organized sport.  As most of you know, T-ball can be a riot to watch.  Most times, kids have no interest in playing the actual game, they just are there to have fun.  Not our boy though…he was all about playing and winning.  Even though we didn’t always keep score, he kept score in his head and always knew who won and who lost (he would go on to play baseball through CYB 5A).  He decided he didn’t want to play flag football because he wanted to tackle because after all, that’s what football is all about, right? (He did end up playing football from midget through his sophomore year, but then decided golf was a lot easier on the body) :D  Anyway, later that year, my husband had an employee that worked for him that would come to work on Monday’s and always be so excited to tell him about how his boys did wrestling over the weekend. My husband finally asked how he got them involved in the sport and the rest in history.  We began taking our two boys to practice when our eldest was 6 and our youngest was 3.  This seemed pretty young to me, but I found out this is the best time to get them started.  So they would put on their shorts and wrestling shoes and go to work!   In between games like duck, duck, goose – the coach began teaching my boys wrestling techniques and drills. Single leg takedown. Circle. Run the half. Get to your belly! Watch your hips!
We went to watch the first tournament not knowing what to expect. After all, it had only been two weeks of practice before the first meet and they were 6 & 3. I had the video camera and was ready to film them. I was so nervous and low & behold, they both won their very first wrestling matches and Mom was hooked!   My boys took that mat with their opponents and I became a mother bear. The thought of another kid putting his hands on my son and grinding his face into the mat set me off! The next thing I knew I was yelling and cheering for my son like I have NEVER cheered for anyone or anything in my life. Not only did I want my son to win but he better punish that kid for what he tried to do earlier on in the match. TAKE THAT! A wrestling mother had been born.
At this point in our lives 12 years have passed. My husband has been coaching for all of those years in USA wrestling and I his team mom sidekick. We’ve helped run our local club and several tournaments.  We now have a third son who we’re starting the process with all over again.  I’ve  snapped hundreds of pictures of pins, sold thousands of dollars worth of raffle tickets, I’ve helped plan celebrations and organized numerous tournaments. I have spent 15 hour stretches in a wrestling gym watching 6-8 mats rotate wrestlers throughout the day. I have run back and forth with pieces of paper writing bout numbers and watching the boards rotate matches. I have watched many things happen on a wrestling mat. I’ve seen bloody noses plugged with gauze and cotton while those wrestlers continue on. I’ve seen bones snapped. I’ve seen wrestlers throw tantrums. I’ve seen tears and screams – I’ve heard cries of pain and passion. I’ve watched fathers and coaches completely lose it in the emotional turmoil of a wrestling match. I’ve seen mothers on the mat hysterically screeching for their baby boys. I’ve watched grandmothers become cougars ready to pounce on their grandchild’s opponent. I’ve sat with anxious mothers while their sons were assessed by a medic. I’ve hugged wrestlers that were overwhelmed with their losses. One thing I know is certain, most times, everyone involved leaves everything they have out on that mat.

Wrestling is the most character building sport I have ever witnessed. There are two wrestlers on a mat. All eyes are watching. There is one winner and one loser. Clearly defined. No team to back you up. Nothing to blame and no one to blame but yourself. Someone is always faster, stronger or maybe just wants it more. You have to love the heart of a wrestler. And those wrestlers have a respect for each other that is unlike other sports. The support that wrestlers give each other is outstanding. I’ve watched my boys wrestle matches that were like a death to the finish and leave the mat arm in arm with their opponent – hug each other and say “Great match.” Each ready to completely collapse with exhaustion but truly inspired by the other’s ability.

Well, Son #1 is now about to finish his high school career.  I have experienced a whole range of emotions so far this year and there is still more to come this weekend with the final culminating event, State Wrestling.  As many of you already know, son #1 took 1^st at Regionals this past weekend.  That has seeded him 1^st in the State Tournament as well.  The road to the championship is not going to be easy, but his years of hard work and dedication to sport will help him along the way.  We are sad but definitely excited for what is to come. After all, this is what he has been preparing for since he was 6 years old.
It is so hard for me to believe that he is a Senior in high school, weighing in at 190lbs. It has been an amazing journey getting here. His dressers are cluttered with dozens of trophies. Racks of dozens of medals hang on the wall. We’ve laminated brackets where he took the championships. But that is all behind us now. All those wins and losses have been the path to here. This is what he's been working for for all these years. This weekend, Son #1  will wrestle his final high school Varsity matches and to me - it doesn’t matter if he wins or loses, because I’ve seen it all from the beginning. I know how far he has come.
I have been there to watch and record his story up to now. From that little boy that lost match after match year after year. To the wrestler that I watched stand on the podium last year as 5th in the state while wrestling up almost 20 pounds for the better of his team. So much more happened during those 12 years than trophies and medals. There was confidence. There was belief. There was dedication and attitude. There was hard work and sweat. There was tenacity and hope. There were goals and aspirations. There were injuries and disappointments. There was the transformation of 3 wrestling brothers as they worked their way up the weight classes together and practiced on each other in the basement for hours. There was the creation of a full blown wrestling mom. There was love of the sport and commitment to family.  There was my husband in the corner on the mat coaching his sons for the past twelve years… but not this weekend – he’ll be sitting in the stands, watching what might possibly be the final matches of our eldest son's career. Go get ‘em Bridger…Mom and Dad love you and are proud of you today and always.

I invite you all to come out and watch one of the greatest sports of all time and support some fine young men (and a few young women as well) who work hard to keep the sport alive.

Click Here for the State Wrestling Schedule