November 10th, 2007 - The Mandeville High School Open Tournament
This was the first regulation-style tournament we participated in, and despite that we technically "finished first" among all other teams (in the bad way!), Coaches Abbott and Martin are pleased with the results. I believe all who participated were first-year guys who were wrestling against some pretty stalwart opposition.
The hospitality room may have been the highlight of the tournament, at least for Coaches Abbott and Martin. But there were many positive aspects for us.
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| Terrence Joseph "in action." | Matt Roden "in action." |
For one, Matt won what I was told was a grueling six-minute match. Sadly, that six minutes pretty much took everything out of him, and he tired out against a few other opponents he could have beaten WERE HE IN BETTER SHAPE! And for a solid hour on the way home Coach Abbott and myself could not fathom why he tried a cross-body ride in his last match. NO MORE OF THAT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!
Terrence wrestled well in the match that I saw (if you recall, I had the CECP seminar in the morning and missed the early matches). He really should have beaten the guy in the match I saw had he used the "far arm" under the near arm, AS WE PRACTICE IT! But, his mistakes were in reaching back a lot for no practical reason, not riding his opponent's hips prior to breaking him down, and preferring to sit down on the mat rather than splaying his legs and applying weight and pressure on his opponent. That he bit his tongue and got distracted was also certainly a factor in that loss. But so was not keeping his head "up" while on bottom, as that led to the cradle and his pin. I am sure Coach Abbott and I both mention several times a practice to keep your heads off the mat.
I was not unfortunate enough to see any of Brandon's matches, but I think he has learned that "Going California" on someone, whatever that may mean, does not work. This is exactly why we ask you all to keep you arms and elbows "inside." I was told Brandon had some great shots, but with the arms "outside" one is simply asking to get whipped.
I did not have a chance to see either of Jacob's matches, but Coach Abbott assured me that he liked what he saw.
Gentlemen, please recall that we did not expect you to succeed in this tournament. We wanted to see effort, and that we DID see and we are proud of you for that. What we hope you realize from this experience is that you all need to work harder in practice and, if it is not asking too much, to please listen to what Coach Abbott and I tell you.
As for the MVP of this tournament, I have to give it to Josh for showing up in uniform and keeping score quite well. This is not meant to 'dis any of the ones who actually wrestled, but it demonstrated a faithful determination to help the team.
Things will change come Monday. I have the utmost confidence in all of you to adapt to the changes and become better gentlemen and wrestlers because of them.
