Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Little Stingers Wrestling Tournament

Over the past 2.5 months, Jacob has been involved in our area youth wrestling program. It is called the "Little Stingers" program. (Our high school mascot is the Yellow Jackets, so that is where that comes from.)

Jacob has really enjoyed his time wrestling. He loves the coaches and it does help to keep him active. The season consists of two practices a week culminating in an end of the season tournament. That tournament was this past Sunday.



Jacob had to be at the gym by 9am to be checked in. He weighed in at 68.1 pounds and was placed in the 71 pound weight class. He would be wrestling against 3 other wrestlers in his weight class.

The tournament began with them warming up and getting ready as a group.




Then all the wrestlers were taken in the hall and then processed in.
Then we all stood for the National Anthem.



Then it was time for wrestling. They went through weight classes...finally it was Jacob's groups turn. The first person he wrestled against was the best in the group, as he comes from a line of wrestlers (his family is known in our community for being top of the line in wrestling).



The next 2 matches, Jacob did much better. He did a great "bridge" move, which is basically where he has the guy on top of him and he is on his back and he has to use his hands behind his head to push his back off the ground. It takes a lot of strength to do that.




Jacob unfortunately lost all 3 of his matches. However, he had a ton of fun. I love that this program, stresses that wrestling is about having fun. The coach told the kids he didn't want any one coming off the mat with tears. There would be a winner, but then there would be a learner (someone who wasn't as good but that means that they are still learning).

Jacob came in 4th in his weight class. At the end of the tournament, they handed out trophies for each weight class, and Jacob got called up to receive his trophy.




He was one happy boy! And I am proud of how he took to wrestling and how well he did in his tournament.

1 comment:

  1. Great afternoon! I spent many weekends at wrestling tournaments watching Son2. My sons participated in many sports and I still think wrestling took the most strength and skill.

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