Auditory Overload

This past Saturday saw a first for the Andrews family; the boys had their first wrestling tournament. It was crazy. It was fun. It was LOUD. (It was several hours before I stopped shouting at everyone.) There were 6 mats going in a sardine can full of parents, wrestlers and disinterested siblings and the Fire Marshall was nowhere to be found - I have a theory that involves a lot of duct tape and a dark closet...

A few quick observations:

• People really do say 'rasslin. I heard it a lot - in moments outside the gym where the noise level made hearing possible.
• Chaos breeds panic, which provides a great opportunity for a calm person to prevail. Kota won one of his matches simply because he was in the right place when the match started and the other kid was not. This was our first meet and we really had no idea what to expect. But our calm in the storm paid off.
• The proximity of a wrestling singlet to porcelain causes an apparent (and severe) dysfunction in the aiming capability of the singlet wearer.
• 2 years of experience makes a huge difference, even if size is relatively equal. Kota was mis-placed into the 10 and under bracket (instead of 8 and under, where he should have been). By the time we discovered that, it was too late to fix it. This resulted in two matches full of a "what the heck just happened" look on his face while being twisted around by kids who knew what they were doing. (By virtue of the forfeit win, Kota finished 3rd in his bracket.)
• Josiah is amazingly difficult to pin. I watched a kid in his bracket pin every other kid he wrestled knowing he would be Siah's final match. Josiah spent the whole match in the kid's grasp and giving up a ton of points, but made it through all three rounds without getting pinned. In fact, he went full time in each of his matches (which made for one tired fourth place medal winner).

Meet #2 is this weekend in Gering if you feel like your ears haven't been assaulted enough lately. I'd suggest earplugs...