Reggie spent the first two months of wrestling season in a cast and then doing physical therapy. From the start, we had January 27th circled on the calendar: 9th grade individual sections. Reggie's goal was to wrestle that day. Reggie did all his PT homework, and I manipulated the schedule to get him into his post-op appointment a week early. He was cleared to wrestle on the 24th!
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| But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 |
Of course his stamina and strength would be lagging behind a lot of the competition; even being on the mat at all was a win. Reggie went 3-2 and finished 4th. The top two wrestlers move on to 9th grade state. He's got one more year to qualify.
The next opportunity to wrestle was a team quad. Someone didn't make weight, so Reggie unexpectedly got called up to the varsity mat. Reggie got a varsity win only 101 days after his surgery!
The next day, Reggie wrestled in the JV SEC individual tournament. He went 3-1 to finish 2nd. Reggie wrestled a total of 11 matches this season, with a record of 7-4!
As an 8th grader, this was the last year Reggie would be eligible to wrestle in the youth tournaments advancing to NYWA State, which he has competed in every year since 2nd grade (except 2020 and 2021 due to Covid). But by February we had learned Reggie would need a second ankle surgery. In order to have the best outcome and a shot at playing baseball, we decided to schedule the surgery right after the high school wrestling season.
