Pin Him Now! By Courtney Welch
“Pin him now” are my famous words as a wrestling mom. I will never forget the look I got from his coach the first time I yelled those words. We still talk about that to this day, and my husband loves to mimic me yelling those words in my high pitched voice. In my mind, every time I yelled those words, anxiety through the roof, I was thinking just get that kid in a cradle and get that first round pin I can relax until the next match–10 minutes or two hours from now.
I had many years of a hoarse voice from screaming right above the mat, or the top of the stands at the State tournament in Winnemucca, NV. That’s when the coach gave me “that look.” At that time, it was only club wrestling and just the beginning of several more years. My spirit stayed there the whole time. Going back and forth to check the bracket and unintentionally memorizing everyone’s name and school in the same weight class. Ridiculous right?
I never knew I had a competitive nature until our son started playing baseball. Well, in baseball there’s a whole team out on the field, and in wrestling it’s just your kid, alone, on the mat. Very different, so my Wrestling competitive-protective nature was amplified times a million when our son started wrestling in middle school. He was so small in 7th grade, that the middle school singlet didn’t even fit him. He’d be so mad I wrote that, but that just shows how great wrestling can be. Size doesn’t matter. It’s all about the mind and skill. You don’t have to be over 6ft to make your mark in wrestling.
In wrestling he found his passion, but it’s a fine line to keep your kid and yourselves sane in such a competitive, passionate sport. We had our ups and downs and cheers and tears along the way. It is something we committed to as a family and made our unit closer, with dad often by his side on the mat and traveling long distances over the holidays and birthday–with a car full of sweaty, hormonal teenagers. I miss those days now, but I remember them with love and some residual anxiety of never knowing what will happen out on the mat. Occasionally, I look at ears to see if someone has wrestled, and I still always ask my son what he weighs these days. And when we see him, of course, we can’t end the visit without a father/son wrestling match. It’s anyone’s game, but it is one of the best sports and it stays with you for life, and I’m sure you have heard it said, “but the only thing tougher than a wrestler, is his Mom!”