Today I attended, with the family, Robbie's first wrestling
match. He has been practicing for a
short three weeks. Robbie has been excited
for this new adventure. Quickly, he found
it to be a hard sport, "but rewarding when you get on top," he says.
Today, as I walked into the gym, it wasn't long before I was
cringing, gasping, and at times near to tears.
It was hard to see boys bodies go through that much pain and their
bodies twisting in harmful ways (from a mom's perspective.) Our 7 year old Lana, who may come across fearless,
has a very sensitive heart and doesn't like to see anyone hurt especially her
loved ones. It wasn't long before we sat
down, she was also gasping and shedding a few tears as she watched boys get
hurt and cry themselves. She said,
"I don't like this. Is Robbie going
to do this? I don't want him to." She was very concerned the whole 3 1/2 hours
as we waited for Robbie to wrestle. In fact,
she would go run and play but return to spot out Robbie and make sure he wasn't
out on the mat. She asked me at least 50
times, "Where is Robbie?"
The time finally came, and Robbie was able to wrestle for
his very first time. It was a great
match....from a mom's perspective. Robbie dominated, and he had the boy pinned
in less than a minute. We were all happy. The girls were on the mat cheering him on and
happy for him, too. Robbie was proud,
confident, and smiled.
His second match was only 5 minutes away. This one was a little harder. Robbie had to work harder. Near the beginning, his opponent lifted him
up and threw him down on his back. It
was an illegal move and was given a warning.
Robbie didn't move much and was crying a bit but mostly because it
knocked the wind out of him. The coach
went over to him and helped him breathe.
Rob was there giving encouraging words.
Robbie's opponent apologized. Nana rushed over to make sure he was ok. On the sidelines, Lana ran over to me and hid
her face in my stomach and cried. She
was so concerned. I was holding back the
tears myself. It wasn't long, and Robbie
was up and ready to go again. He came
back with fire and ended up winning the match.
This time, he was happy, but he
was a bit more tired. He really had to put forth more effort for that win.
Again, his last match came quickly, and he didn't seem to be
fully rested. Lana kept saying she hated
the boys Robbie was wrestling against.
She wanted to watch to make sure he was ok, but she couldn't do it. She
went over to the bleachers and laid down with a coat covering her eyes. That wasn't good enough, so she took Clara to
go fill up the water bottles in the hall.
I'm glad she left because she would have been scarred to see the next
match. :) Robbie's opponent was tough, and he knew what
he was doing. He lifted Robbie up threw
him down a couple times. Robbie remained
tough. However, in the second round, he
was tiring and his confidence was slipping.
The pain in his eyes and face...I can see right now. He was struggling and not gaining much
ground. Rather, he was doing everything
he could just to keep from being pinned.
With a hard-fought battle, Robbie's opponent finally pinned him. It was heartbreaking for Robbie. He cried and was disappointed. I had to hold back tears.
I tried to figure out all day why so many
boys ended the match crying. I have
never seen so many tears, and I have seen a lot of sports. My conclusion: the boys are mentally and physically drained
to the point that all they can do is cry.
They worked so hard (and I mean so hard) to get on top and when they
didn't... it was a hard thing to take.
Rob also explained it and said, "when you lose, it's like you have
been broken....your opponent broke you."
After the match, we tried to tell Robbie how well he did. Others stopped him and told him he was
great. It was hard for Robbie to hear a
compliment when all he could see was the loss.
After 40 minutes in the car, he finally said, "well, I guess I did
ok." We talked about what his coach
told him in practice, "you find your weakness and you work on it, and you
work on it hard until it is your strength.
Then you move on to your next weakness.." I
liked that advice.
Although I am not 100% sold on this crazy sport, I did see
some amazing things about wrestling.
1. The sportsmanship
was amazing. I saw more hugging from the
competitors than in any other
sport.
2. Team unity. The whole Wasatch team stayed late to watch
Robbie. Realize -he just started to wrestle with them a few weeks ago. (He was the last one to wrestle for the night....yes
it was a long day) I can't count how
many boys came up to Robbie after each match and told him good job.
Now to turn this into a life lesson.
* Life can be great,
fun, joyful...especially when things are going our way... when pain is minimal
and others around us are happy too.
* Life can be
painful. It can be physical, emotional,
or mentally draining and sometimes excruciating.
* When we go through these hard times, there are others who
are crying and praying for us. (Lana...Mom)
It's not easy to see others suffer.
*When we are hurt and going through something that keeps us
on the ground and unstable, there are people all around who love us, and who
are only an arm length away. They are
ready to help us "breathe", to give us encouraging words. We just need to know they are there and allow
them into our lives. Heavenly Father has placed them there to help us and
show us His love.
*Living a great life takes works, dedication, and
endurance. It has setbacks. But with the right mindset and with
"faith" we can move forward....working out our weaknesses until they
are our strengths.
*Life is much better when we are kind and when we have good
sportsmanship to everyone around us. :)
*We should be unified as a family, a ward, a community....support
each other, cheer each other on, respect one another.
*Satan wants to break us. He wants us to feel broken. He
wants us to feel worthless. He wants us
to think there is no way to get back on top.
He wants us to be sad, disappointed, and unsure of ourselves. However, Our
Savior loves us unconditionally and
wants us know and feel His love every second of every day. He suffered every pain and emotion in the
garden of Gethsemane. He knows very well
the pain and sorrow we feel in our lives.
After the sorrow and pain, comes Joy and Happiness if we turn to
Him. We can have Hope and Love because of Him.
*Amazing what you can learn and apply to life.....The sport
of wrestling proves to be comparable to
"Life Here On Earth."
