Reggie's wrestling season has been pretty intense this year. Practice is two nights a week for 1.5 hours. There is a tournament nearly every weekend with the first one in December. Tournaments are optional, but what's the point of doing wrestling if you don't go to the tournaments? Last year, he participated in most of the tournaments held on Saturdays and we passed on most of the tournaments that were held on Sundays - so we could attend church. This year, we decided we would attend Saturday night services at our church so he could also participate in the Sunday tournaments. The tournaments bracket kids based on grade, weight, and, if there are enough participants, experience level. Typically, 1st and 2nd graders wrestle together. Because Reggie is often one of the older kids in second grade, and above the 90th percentile for weight for his age, he has ended up always being in one of the heaviest weight brackets for his age group. There are a lot more 50 pound 1st-2nd graders than 78 pound 1st-2nd graders! This has basically worked to his advantage except that sometimes his wrestling brackets have not been a challenge for him. We are sure that we learn more from losing than winning, so while Reggie is having fun collecting medals and safety pins (he gets one every time he pins a kid), we would have liked him to be more challenged throughout the season.
At one tournament, I saw a little girl wearing a shirt that said "I have no life because my brother wrestles". I think these two can relate!
The season culminates at the district, regional, and state levels. At the district level, everyone is allowed to advance to the regional level unless there are more than 200 wrestlers. There weren't, so it didn't matter that Reggie got 1st in his bracket. At the regional level, wrestlers must place 1st, 2nd or 3rd to advance to the state tournament. Last year, Reggie placed 4th (of 6). This year, we were really hoping Reggie would have to work for a place on the podium and not advance to state by default due to not enough wrestlers in his weight bracket. Of the heaviest five weight brackets for 1st-2nd grade, his bracket was the only one that had more than 3 wrestlers! By comparison, some brackets had as many as 15-18 kids. Reggie's bracket had five wrestlers, and he did have to work for his place on top.
We are very proud of Reggie! The state tournament will certainly be an adventure!
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