Video from Clinton

Thanks to my sister Laura for taking the video at Clinton and showing me how to add it to the blog.

Please notice how hard the kid from Monticello that Egan is wrestling is kicking his legs. Egan is really putting the hurts on him by digging his chin into the Monticello kid's ribs. It is a perfectly legal move and with the younger kids, if you can inflict some pain, you will get them to give up.

The Clinton Challenge

Well, we fought the bitter cold and went to Clinton for the Clinton Challenge. Wind chills were around -15F. That is the life of a wrestling parent, early mornings in the freezing winter mornings.

The boys were able to each have a four man bracket which ensured that they would have 3 matches. Bowen's day didn't start off so well. His first match was against a kid from Mahomet-Seymour. Bowen lost that match in a decision. His second match he went against a kid from Monticello and pinned the kid with a tight cradle in about 35 seconds. His third and final match was against a kid from Leroy. Whoever won this match would get Second and the loser would get third. It was definitely a tight match. With 17 seconds left in the third period, Bowen was down 7-5. He got a good sprawl on the kid but was not able to spin around to get the two points for the take down. He got too high and was rolled. So his opponent got the two points and Bowen ended up losing 9-5. He didn't realize how close he was to getting the two points and tying it up. He took the loss really hard but he has to understand that he is young and inexperienced. He is going against kids that are 10 and have about five years of wrestling to his two years. Coach Butler has a saying "You are either the dog or the hydrant" and unfortunately Bowen is the hydrant right now.

Egan continues to have good tournaments but it is apples to oranges between him and Bowen. He won his first two matches with pins in the first period. So the third match was going to be for first place. His opponent was from the Champaign Wrestling club. This kid was pretty quick but I could tell that Egan wasn't completely focused due to sitting around all day. Egan ended up losing by decision. I think at the next tournament Egan is going to wrestle in both the 5-6 group and the 7-8 group. I think this will keep him from sitting around too much and keep his mind on the task at hand.

We have the holidays off, just practicing, no tournaments. Our next tournament is January 4th at Mattoon.

Here's a video of each of the boys getting a pin. 

Egan the Imp

I think we all know that Egan is quite a character. The kid comes up with things and you just don't know how he does it. Several weeks ago in practice Coach Dan Butler comes up to me and says, "That Egan is a peach." I knew instantly that my boy had said something crazy. Well, Coach Butler proceeds to tell me that when they were working on a technique where you get wrist control and put the other wrestler's hand in your 'back pocket', Egan looked at him and replied "I don't have a back pocket. Should I put it in my invisible pocket?" Coach told him that that would be fine which Egan was ready with his next one "But what if I have keys in my invisible pocket?" Coach Butler said that it is comments like that that he wishes he would have been writing down for the past 20 years. He feels he could have written a pretty good book. If he continues to coach Egan he might be able to write that book just with the crazy things that our boy says!

Capital Classic

Today was the Springfield Capital Classic and it was just me and Egan in attendance. Bowen has been fighting a horrible cold and he woke up hacking and coughing so we decided it would be best if he stayed home. Egan got stuck with a three man bracket which meant that he was only going to wrestle twice. His first match (after a first round bye) was a kid from Granite City. Boy was he tough! Quick as could be. You can tell that he has been working year round. Egan battled hard and lost 13-8. The frustrating thing was that Egan had the upper hand several times in the match. But he just couldn't get himself in the position for points. He was too busy trying to pin a kid that he didn't have in a pin hold. We had a little talk about that after the match. I wanted him to understand that you generally have to get the take-down before you can worry about getting the back points or pin. Believe it or not, those of you who know Egan, he was actually listening and it showed in his second and final match. He pinned a kid from Monticello in about 35 seconds in the first period. So he ended the day with a 2-1 record (including the bye). Good for a Second Place finish. His overall record is now 5-1.

We will be in Clinton next Sunday, hopefully Bowen will be fully recovered and ready to go. Plus we will have a special visitor!!! Aunt Laura will be arriving by dog sled on Saturday and she will get to watch her first wrestling meet of her nephews. The boys are excited about her coming home and they are happy she will get to watch them wrestle.

Upcoming meets

Here is a list of the upcoming meets that the boys will be competing:

12/14 Springfield
12/21 Clinton
12/27 Edwardsville
1/4 Mattoon
1/11 Monticello
1/25 Mt. Zion
2/1 Litchfield or Metamora
2/8 No Tournament
2/15 Spartan Rumble @ Danville
2/22 Shelbyville or Pontiac
2/28 Regionals

Most meets are scheduled to start @ 9am.

First Meet

Well, it only took about 12 hours to return to the house but we have arrived. Let me tell you that wrestling life is hard. Four practices a week and then get up at 5am to get to the site in time for weigh ins. We got to Lincoln with about an hour to spare. Egan weighed in at 53.8lbs and Bowen was 67.6lbs. Unfortunately, Egan got a kid from our own club in his bracket. It isn't that bad of a thing but it is a boy that he wrestles with in practice. At least they set up the bracket to where if they met it would be in the third match and for first place of the bracket. In his first match, Egan pinned his kid in the first 15 seconds of the second period. In his second match, he pinned his kid in the first 20 seconds of the first period. 2-0 and it set up his showdown with Reese (the boy from Mt. Zion) for first place. Reese had won his first two matches also. Egan came out hot and furious. By the end of the second period Egan was up 10-0. Egan had a throw on Reese that made the crowd around the mat gasp. It was cool to hear everybody cheering then all of sudden stop and go 'Ooooo'. But Reese has been working really hard and was able to roll out of it when Egan got too high. Reese then managed to get Egan on his back long enough to get some back points. Reese fought really hard in the last period but Egan was able to hold on for a 10-7 win. I think he got overconfident with that lead. Something we will work on this week in practice. But still a great job for the first meet of a very long season.


Bowen is wrestling in the 9-10 yr. old group. Being 9, he is definitely at a disadvantage going up against 10 year olds with 4-5 years of experience. His first match was against a boy from PORTA. This boy is in his fifth year of wrestling and it showed. But Bowen fought really hard and lost in a 5-2 decision. He gave that boy the best match of the bracket. In his second match, Bowen wrestled a boy from Leroy. He was doing a great job working his half nelson, but ended up getting in a position where he could sink a cradle. He rolled the kid to his back and 10 seconds later he had pinned the kid within the first 35 seconds of the first period. The third match was a battle. He was wrestling a kid from Bloomington (he had lost to the PORTA kid 3-0). It was a tough match with Bowen missing some scoring opportunities due to time running out in the periods. He ended up losing this match 3-2. I think Bowen had one of the toughest brackets in the 9-10 group and he did really well with his Third Place finish. I know he wasn't that happy because it was the same finish as last year at Lincoln, but I explained to him that if he had wrestled those kids last year he wouldn't have made it out of the first period.

All in all, I am proud of both boys. I am proud of Egan for running the table in his group and I am proud of Bowen for never giving up against some tough kids. I guarantee when he meets that kid from PORTA again (which he might next Sunday in Springfield) it will be a different story.

So next Sunday it is on to Springfield Southeast High School for the Capital Classic. I think Kim and Gwen aren't going to make that trip. It is really tough to ask Gwen to sit in a gym with nothing to do for 7-8 hours. I know it is really tough on me! haha But I know it also makes Kim nervous watching Bowen go against the experienced wrestlers. No concern about Egan, he is such a tank and he completely manhandles the kids he wrestles. He has a hard time getting kids to practice with him because he is so strong and he beats the crap out of them .

Be watching, there might be an update during the week if something transpires during practices.

New Format

I have changed the format of this blog. It is all dedicated to the training and matches of my two boys. The 2009-2010 season is about to begin and the boys have been training very hard. We have been going to a facility in Mt. Zion where they have been getting instruction from Jason Eckenrod and Brad Cravens. These guys are doing a great job pushing the kids, motivating them to become elite wrestlers, but they do an even greater job of keeping it fun. I can tell you this, most parents would not be able to sit through these practices. This kids are pushed to the limits; they sweat profusely, the cry during the conditioning, some even vomit. But these are kids who want to be champions. They younger kids see how hard the older kids work, they see how the older kids win and bring home the hardware, they look up to these boys. And what is really awesome is the fact that the older boys take the younger boys under their wings and treat them like younger brothers. They watch out for them at meets, they come out of the stands to sit mat side and cheer on the little guys, they are the first to slap their backs and give them high fives. In a world where we are concerned about the lack of role models, I can easily say that my two boys have a great source of role models. I am constantly using boys like Ryan Scharf, Adrien Payne, and Jacob Morgan as examples of how a wrestler is supposed to work in practice. Egan enjoys being around these boys because they treat him like a little mascot sometimes and we all know how Egan loves the attention! Bowen, being the ever quiet one, just sits there watching the moves, picking up little things that the years of experience have taught the older boys.

I am expecting big things of my boys this season. I know that I won't be disappointed. They have already accepted the challenge of the intense workouts. I am very proud of them. Now the time has come for them to take it out on the mat and whip some butt. First tournament is this Sunday, December 7 at Lincoln High School.

I am sure I will have an update of how that goes.