Wrestling Tournament

Tonight was Jonas's wrestling tournament. This tournament was the culmination of his season. He has had one match a week for the past several weeks, in addition to twice a week practices. He has done extremely well for his first year. There have been only two matches in which there was a kid who beat him by points. (He was never pinned.) In the first situation, he was paired with that kid again that same night and went on to pin the kid that originally beat him. The second time, in a completely separate match, Jonas did not want to re-wrestle the kid...but that all changed tonight. We got there early enough to weigh-in and get registered then Jonas was placed in a bracket with three other boys similar in weight and ability. Two of the boys, I knew Jonas had easily won before, but the third was the boy who had beat him a few matches ago. I was a little nervous. Jonas was so excited for this tournament. We had been informed that every child would receive a medal so I knew that he would get one, I just wanted him to feel like he earned it...and he did! His first match was easy. He pinned his opponent in the first period, but the second match was against this kid who had already beat him once before. This kid was tough! He knew different moves and was very much Jonas's equal in strength. The first two periods were exhausting! Between having his head bounced off the mat and getting a knee to his face at one point, Jonas was done. He asked for a time-out to get a drink. He was in tears and adamant that he could no longer breathe. He wanted to give up...but he didn't. He came back strong in the third period and pinned his opponent! I don't think that has ever happened to him before. This time, it was him who was crying, yet Jonas graciously went up to him and his parents to tell them all what a good job he had done. I don't think Jonas's excitement of winning sunk in until after he was finally able to catch a breath, but it definitely did when they gave him the "gold" medal for finishing first in his bracket. Jonas has worn that medal with pride. We were beyond proud of him. He fought hard and earned that medal. I'm grateful that Jacob was there that night to give him pointers and encouragement that we couldn't. Jonas is a little scrapper. At this point, we're trying all the different sports this year and going to slowly narrow it down, but I think wrestling might be in the running for one of his favorites. Way to go Jonas!