I know we are all supposed to be above this kind of thing. We are not gloat. We are in it for the challenge and the discipline of the sport. But oh my, it is one of the 10 best feelings in the world when your son has his hand raised in victory in a [...]
You know you’re a wrestling parent when: Beyonce sings about all the “single ladies” and you hear “all the single legs” and wonder why Beyonce has a song out about wrestling?…The smell of wrestling shoes brings back memories of matches rather than makes you sick to your stomach (ok, it might make you sick to your stomach as well)…You know more about rashes than your doctor.
See for yourself in this video why being on this team with this coach is an extraordinary experience for the young men on the team, including all three of my sons. Coach Powell talks about the coaches, the Oak Park-River Forest High School Huskies wrestling team, recent 2010 grad Charlie Johnson, and how any man can be extraordinary. Listen to senior Brian Toldeo talk about how wrestling changed his life. Watch Chris Ellis embrace Coach Powell. And maybe you can understand why it is about much more than wrestling.
Speaking of off-season work ethic, Coach Mike Powell is in San Diego with some of the team training with the Vista wrestlers for a week of twice a day wrestling practices. Colin is there and working hard. The Vista wrestlers come to Oak Park in two weeks to train here.
The truth is many men need to step up to their responsibilities. It is not a class issue, a race issue or even a generational issue. It is a human rights issue.
Today my oldest son forwarded me an email from the head of a much bigger household. Barack Obama, himself raised by a single mother in the absence of a father, writing from the White House.
It’s all fine and dandy and true-feeling from the bad coaches and kids who are horrible in practice to the skinny kid, Stemler, who is terrified of wrestling, to the entire team on the bus en route to their own pinning crucifixions. We also loved the brief scene with all the wrestlers piling up the stairs and out of the Flaherty basement in a blur of muscular adolescence. And Kyle’s tatoos. A lot of wrestlers have tattoos.
I have taught all my boys to read, ride a bicycle, drive a car, heck, even eat with a fork, make a bed or a sandwich, fold clothes and study for tests, plus 10,000 other life skills they need to know to be able to get from Monday to Tuesday and from kindergarten through college. But it is Coach Powell they listen to. He’s tough when he needs to be. Kind when it counts. A mother is not a coach and maybe it would be weird if we both delivered the same messages the same way. But we both want the same results.
You would think that good sportsmanship is a given, that as parents we are old enough to know better than to boo a young wrestler, a coach or a team. We want to teach our kids to be respectful, play fair, respect the referees and the opponents. After all, every match begins with a handshake between the opponents. And it is supposed to end with a handshake to the opposing team’s coach. It doesn’t always work the way it should. So here are 10 Commandments for Wrestling Moms (and Dads) to help you be a better fan.
From where I was now standing , I could see Colin unconscious, completely immobile, out. In my mind’s eye, in that future scary place I go to and have gone to since they were daredevil toddlers, I saw him paralyzed. Forever. I saw him in a wheelchair, 30 years old. I saw me pushing him, I saw his life changed from this very second. But it was just a bad thought. It did not come true.
Wrestling is not just about mothers and sons, fathers and sons, but brothers. My oldest son, Weldon– in from college for holiday break– has been training and coaching his youngest brother, Colin at tournaments, in the wrestling room. True, they have been wrestling each other in the basement, living room, family room, hallway and stairs (can’t make that up) since they could all walk, but this is different. This is an older brother passing down his expertise to help his youngest brother shine.
Do you know how much your child weighs down to the ounce? Do you avoid making eye contact with your child after he or she loses a match until your child approaches you? Do you find yourself wearing the school colors every day whether or not you are attending a meet or tournament?
Then you're a WMD. A Wrestling Mom or Dad.
And we'd love to hear your stories. Submit a guest column, a few photos, videos, or comments and we will publish them on the site.
breast cancer
brendan
brothers
cancer
Caryn Brooks
coach
coaching
Coach Powell
Colin Rogers
high school
High school wrestling
making weight
mike powell
mom
mother
oak park
Oak Park-River Forest High School
parenting
powell
recovery
Sam Brooks
single parent
tournament
training
weldon
winning
wrestling
Wrestling Family
wrestling mom
Youth Wrestling
