Wrestling

(November 2021 & 2022)

This is one of those things that fell through the cracks as I got a year behind on blogging. Ivory joined wrestling last year. She was encouraged by the coaches, who saw great potential in her, and she finally caved. (Well, she was interested in wrestling. It's not like they bullied her into it. Also, at the same time, I tried very hard to talk her out of it since she had too much going on. But to no avail. Ivory likes to do it all.)

Ivory was as fresh as they came, meaning she had no idea about any wrestling techniques, but she was also scrappy and held her own from the start. She made Varsity and competed in many matches. I told her from the beginning that I couldn't make it to all her events because many were far away, but I tried to go to as many as possible. 

Here is a good example of a match. And remember, I am also new to the sport, meaning I have nothing useful to offer when watching a video. I can tell you whether she lost or won, but I can't tell you about points or how they are received. (Well, I know they get some when they escape, but there are way more ways than that.) Here is Ivory talking to the scorekeeper before her match.

Ivory wrestled three times at this event. The first girl looked inexperienced. It seemed they both were learning. It took Ivory a bit, but she pinned her.

The next girl was way more aggressive and you could tell she had more training. She got Ivory pinned fairly quickly.

The third match was so fast. Ivory got pinned in 33 seconds. She had the girl on her back, but she was on her back too. She realized too late that it was a pin...not in her favor.

But it was cool for her to be wrestling and learning. Here she is with Elena. They were both first time wrestlers.

Wrestling goes from November to February. I'll have another post on here, but right now I'm just covering the first month or so. December was fun for Ivory. The Christmas Clash is right before break. I wasn't able to go, but she did great. She came home with some bruises and a medal. She barely made the podium, but it still counted for bling.

Fast forward to this year. Ivory is wrestling again and now she has some experience. She started by battling for Varsity and she got it again. She wrestled Emma, who is new this year, but I think you can tell that Ivory is wrestling smarter.

Sometimes there is no one for her to wrestle. She went to a match the other day and warmed up simply to have the guy raise her arm. Winning by forfeit is less work, but probably less fulfilling. 

More often, she works her butt off for a win. In another match, she wrestled a girl that was expected to win. The other girl was super squirrely and had an arch that was impossible to pin down, but Ivory got her on points! Way to go.

These pictures are from a recent match. I don't know who takes these pictures, but she makes these kids look buff. Look at Ivory's arm, and even more...look at Isaac's! Hello muscles.

She did the Christmas clash again this last weekend and she did a great job. She won her first two matches, but only one out of three the second day. No medal this time around, but she is still learning a lot.  

I think Ivory really enjoys wrestling. She doesn't always love practice and making weight, but such is life.