I'm Wrestling with What to Blog About

Guys, Ivory wrestles a lot. 

It has been kind of hard to get my pictures in order (from last year and this year, of course) and so this post has been pushed back a bit. And I need to get January on here pronto so I don't fall behind my most excellent blogging catch up. (Can you hear Bill and Ted say "Excellent?")

Let's get to it: 2022

Ivory was such a new wrestler last year. She was good to begin with, but she had lots of things to learn. She struggled to turn people over so it was hard for her to finish her matches. She won more than she lost. But she still lost plenty. It's always hard to watch get bested, but she was always a good sport.

Here's a quick match. Still the struggle to turn the girl over, but she got it in the end.

Her next opponent was really hard. Ivory was almost pinned a couple times. She spent most of her time trying to break the girls hold around her waist. But she escaped enough times that her points added up and she won. I am not good about watching the score and looking for the points, so the winner is sometimes a surprise to me.

This was a good day since I think she won most of her matches. At least most of the ones I have pictures of. This one I like because she does a little heel pop at the end. Victory, woot!

Wrestling leads to all sorts of injuries. Too many bruises to count, bloody noses, missing skin, sore muscles. What a fun sport.

But Ivory also gained lots of muscle and made lots of friends, so probably the net gain was higher than the net loss.

And the true testament was that she did it all again the next year: 2023

Ivory is better this year. I don't know anything about wrestling, but I can tell she has improved greatly. She still gets beaten here and there, but I would guess that she wins more matches on average. (I actually don't know that. I wonder if she would know.)

I do like that it is all very friendly. Everyone always shakes hands before as if to say, "I know you are going to try and twist my body into a unnatural pose until I want to give up the will to live, but I know it's just for fun."

Ivory is getting much better at rolling people over. Her arm bar has improved greatly and sometimes the positions the girls get into, to keep their shoulders off the mat, don't just look uncomfortable, but almost impossible. Well, they would be impossible for me at my age. 

Ivory attended an event out in a soccer stadium. That seemed an odd place for wrestling. There was turf and all the small pieces were getting in everyone's shoes and singlets. Isaac also wrestles, so sometimes he is there to cheer Ivory on, depending on whether the girls and boys are wrestling in the same place.

Ivory really likes her teammates. They've had a good season together. 

And I believe she did pretty well in that particular event. I think it was called the Red Rock Tournament and she got a cool medal!

She also scored a first place in another match, where they were divided up by skill level. She wasn't in the top group, but she did get first place for her level. (Which is still pretty boss.)

Perhaps my favorite match of the season so far was one I almost didn't make it to. I showed up shortly after it started and recorded as much as I could. (Wrestling is weird because sometimes they are really behind schedule and other times they are ahead. I guess you never know how long each match will be.) In this match, Ivory was doing really well. You could tell that she seemed to be the stronger of the two. 

Then she got a bloody nose. She was leaking blood on her opponent. Look closely and you can barely see the drop of blood on the other girl's back.

Naturally, they paused and Ivory went to get a plug. The poor other girl had to get wiped down and sanitized. I could almost hear someone from Monster's Inc. yelling 23-19, we have a 23-19!! Red Alert! Prepare for decontamination. And then I'm sure it was adding insult to injury when Ivory came back and pinner her. Sometimes, it's not your day. 

Got to love this tough girl. Wrestling is kind of kicking her trash this year. She has so many more bruises and aches and pains. One week to go. She can make it to the end. Strong finish.