Christina Alejandro
Picture Courtesy of the Alejandro Family
Work Hard–Play Hard
Work hard–play hard. That’s the motto in our household. Rewarding the hard work is just as important as putting in the hard work. I am the mother of 3 wrestlers, one boy and two girls. Matthew is a Junior at Wayland Baptist College in Texas on a wrestling scholarship, Jenavi is a Junior at Centennial High School and Juliana is a Sophomore at Centennial High School. We learned early on, you must make it fun. Wrestling is a hard and grinding sport and there comes a time when your child either wants to get better, or just wants to hang. For us, all three of our kids wanted to get better and this meant we needed to travel to get more experience.
The first few times we traveled out of state with Matthew were grueling. The tournaments were tough and above his level, but we figured that even so, they would be great learning experiences, and that they were. Sometimes you just have to jump in with both feet, win or lose. At the same time, when we traveled to these tournaments we would make sure to find some other fun things to do. If we traveled to California, we would visit with family, go to the beach, and go out for seafood. When we went to Idaho, we took the RV and camped; afterwards we treated the kids to Yellowstone. We took the girls to New York to wrestle; our first stop was Manhattan and Central Park, and they wrestled up a weight class so they could enjoy some New York Pizza. We just came back from a trip to Chicago, same thing–Pizza and the big city. We take lots of pictures and make funny videos, so they have something to look back at. The trips do not have to be expensive. If the flights are too costly, we do not go. Chicago round trip, this time, was $70.00 each.
These types of activities along with the traveling, in my opinion, makes for a more rounded child. Matthew was not scared to move away and go to College. He always loved the adventure. The girls dream of moving to a big city, sometimes even mentioning the Big Apple. The most important part of being a parent is giving your child their wings. For us, wrestling has given that to our children. Just to keep some perspective, the kids don’t always win. Sometimes you will travel to a tournament and your child will go 0-2. Its not all about winning. There are times the knowledge they gain from their losses is more important than just winning the whole thing. It is important that your child knows this. The time you will spend with your child in their youth will come and go quickly. Remember they worked hard, and they didn’t want to lose. They still need to have fun.
We believe that it is always important to leave on a positive note. Trust me, wrestlers are their own worst critics, and they won’t lose that bad flavor in their mouth from their losses until they get back on the mat and redeem themselves, so having fun is mostly just a distraction from their own thoughts. We are lucky that our kids have coaches who understand their goals and share our philosophies. We feel that this will breed the most success for our athletes. There are definitely coaches that like to have fun! I will share the time that Dan Burgess was the lead for the Team Nevada Fargo Team, he is a big believer in work hard–play hard. He rented bikes for the kids, among other activities, and he made sure they had a good time. The kids loved this. There was another time when my husband Coach Jay took a group of girls to Folkstyle Nationals and they joined a break-dancing contest. He always looks for fun stuff for the kids to do. These kids will always have these memories, and they grow up so quickly. Embrace this time with your children and make sure they are having fun.