Sweep the Leg

This is the first year that Will has ever wrestled.  Thursday night was the first time I have ever seen anybody wrestle.

It was... interesting.  I still have no idea what's going on, but I do know that one opponent has to pin another opponent, and they look like they're trying to kill each other (some of the time) in order to do so.

Will's team competed against two other schools the other night, so I got to see him wrestle twice.

The first match, the timer went off 5 times without anyone (let me be honest; Will)  being pinned.  Will was not giving up.  When he was on the ground, he held his shoulders up every time until the timer went off.  The other kid was trying his best to pin those shoulders and just could not do it.

During the last two rounds, Will's teammates were all standing  in front of their chairs chanting his name.  His coach was standing at the edge of the mat encouraging him, saying "18 more seconds!" and stuff like that.

Will lost his match, but he did not get pinned.  His coach gave him a big hug and then his teammates mobbed him after he came off of the mat.  The  lady sitting behind us said, "They don't love him or nothing, do they."

After it was over, his school team won by 2 points.  If Will had gotten pinned, the other boy would have gotten another 3 points and the other school would have won by 1 point.   So I think Will was proud of that.

The second match, the other boy pinned him in 3 rounds.  But he made him work for it, too.

Will is really enjoying wrestling and the boys on the team seem like good kids.  There is a kid with Down's Syndrome on the team and when he goes out, he gets lots of applause from his teammates.  It is awesome to see them encourage him.