Youth Wrestling

[BMF]

Useless trivia: For Dan Enos's (Miami OC) family, I was closer with his older brothers Gary and Lorne, who both played football/wrestled. Danny always wanted to wrestle too from the time we were small, but his dad wouldn't let him because he didn't want to risk a shoulder/knee injury to Danny from wrestling (#2 sport for bad injury second to cheerleading).

I told this story in one of the other forums, but I was in Vegas this summer (over 4th of July week) and met Dan Enos' wife (Jane) at the Encore pool. Very nice lady, classy as hell. She said they met at Southern Illinois University when she was on the golf team and he was an assistant football coach.

 

[NVGator]

Thanks to all who contributed. Glad to hear all the positive thoughts and discussion about the sport, especially for younger kids growing up. Looking forward to starting next week.

 

[NVGator]

@Detroitgator You mentioned injuries. Our oldest son has broken the same arm in the same place (forearm) twice in this past year. Is that an issue? He wore a soft cast all football season for extra perfection. It’s been 6 months since the last break.

 

[Detroitgator]

@Detroitgator You mentioned injuries. Our oldest son has broken the same arm in the same place (forearm) twice in this past year. Is that an issue? He wore a soft cast all football season for extra perfection. It’s been 6 months since the last break.

I’d ask a doc, especially if he might say “give it a year”, but I wouldn’t think it would be a problem. The big injuries you see (and even they are pretty rare, are knees and especially shoulders. Once a guy gets a bum shoulder, it can reinjure, a lot, to the point of surgery.

 

[Detroitgator]

I told this story in one of the other forums, but I was in Vegas this summer (over 4th of July week) and met Dan Enos' wife (Jane) at the Encore pool. Very nice lady, classy as hell. She said they met at Southern Illinois University when she was on the golf team and he was an assistant football coach.

Yup. Danny has a great family. He played basketball instead of wrestling and pitched in baseball in high school.

 

[GatorInGeorgia]

@Detroitgator You mentioned injuries. Our oldest son has broken the same arm in the same place (forearm) twice in this past year. Is that an issue? He wore a soft cast all football season for extra perfection. It’s been 6 months since the last break.

He’ll be fine...anything happens, just tell him to rub some dirt in it & walk it off.

 

[NVGator]

He’ll be fine...anything happens, just tell him to rub some dirt in it & walk it off.

I know. I don’t have to do that. He’s a tough dude. The second break happened at school when he was pushed from behind. He got up and told his teacher he broke his arm and she told him to get in line. When he insisted, she told him to walk up to the nurses office, which he did, by himself and they called me saying he was complaining. No one believed him. I was so pissed.

 

[GatorInGeorgia]

I know. I don’t have to do that. He’s a tough dude. The second break happened at school when he was pushed from behind. He got up and told his teacher he broke his arm and she told him to get in line. When he insisted, she told him to walk up to the nurses office, which he did, by himself and they called me saying he was complaining. No one believed him. I was so pissed.

I know, I was just kidding. When I was a kid, the “rub dirt in it & walk it off” comment was the catchphrase of all the volunteer coaches. How times have changed.

Look on the bright side with the wrestling. If he has to wear a cast during the match, while you distract the ref your son can load his cast with a metal foreign object, crack his opponent over the head knocking him unconscious and then cover him for the 3 count. The Masked Assassin will be proud. /joke

 

[NVGator]

I know, I was just kidding. When I was a kid, the “rub dirt in it & walk it off” comment was the catchphrase of all the volunteer coaches. How times have changed.

Look on the bright side with the wrestling. If he has to wear a cast during the match, while you distract the ref your son can load his cast with a metal foreign object, crack his opponent over the head knocking him unconscious and then cover him for the 3 count. The Masked Assassin will be proud. /joke

I got the phrase and I have that mentality with all these kids I’m coaching. There are some tough little dudes out there though.

 

[SeabeeGator]

I find wrestling to be disgusting - sweaty dudes hugging and grabbing each other on filthy, sweat-sodden mats.

But dudes wrestling youths per the thread title? That's just perverted.

Who knew @jmskjrgator was right about the perverts ruining this board?

 

[NVGator]

One of my friends asked "Why would you pay so much money for your kid to wrestle”? Well I have a confession to make; I don't invest the money for my kid to wrestle.
So, if I am not paying for him to wrestle, what am I paying for?

- I pay for those moments when my son becomes so tired he wants to quit but doesn't.

- I pay for those days when my son comes home from school and is "too tired or too sore" to go to practice but goes anyway.

- I pay for my son to learn to be disciplined, focused, and dedicated.

- I pay for my son to learn to take care of his body and his equipment.

- I pay for my son to learn to work with others and to be a good team mate, gracious in defeat, and humble in success.

- I pay for my son to learn to deal with disappointment, when he doesn't get that win he'd hoped for, but he goes back week after week giving it his best shot.

- I pay for my son to learn to make and accomplish goals.

- I pay for my son to respect, not only himself, but other wrestlers, officials and coaches.

- I pay for my son to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years, of hard work and practice to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight.

- I pay for my son to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.

- I pay for the opportunity my son has and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of their achievements as I am.

- I pay so that my son can be out on the mat instead of in front of a screen...

...I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for the matches; I pay for the opportunities that Wrestling provides my son with to develop attributes that will serve him well throughout his life and give him the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I was a wrestling ref for a short tenure some years back....here's some of my better work.

 

[Zambo]

Yeah, I was at Forest in the early 90s. Our coach was a former Olympian and just a complete badass. Orange Park was always good but not in the Gateway. Mandarin was just coming online and they had all the rich kids. At that time, it was always us vs Wolfson vs Mandarin. We had an odd opening slot at 130 my freshman year and I was lucky that was the 1st year that freshman went to the high schools. I was a runt at 112 pounds and simply got murdered. Sophomore was naturally 119. Junior was kinda tough to stay at 119. As a senior, I pretty much didnt eat for 6 months and was running 10 miles a day to remain at 119.

My brother and I wrestled for Orange Park, as did my best friend. Our coach was an old Marine named Joe Brownlee who didn't know a lot about wrestling but was a judo champ. Anyway, the only reason we won a lot of matches IMO was because of conditioning. Brownlee was a total fiend when it came to our workouts. The only guys we had that ever went anywhere beyond district tourneys would go up north to wrestling camp in the summer where they would learn from actual wrestling coaches. I never went and was a .500 wrestler, but my buddy Greg went as did my little brother and they both got to the state tourney. Anyhoo I remember wrestling Forrest and Middleburg as the two biggest matches of the year. Good times.

 

[itsgr82bag8r]

On a whim, I decided to tryout for the wrestling team as a freshman in HS. I actually enjoyed it as it is a pure competition against another human. I hit my stride my junior year, going undefeated in the Gateway (Jacksonville) and cleaning house through districts and regionals. That's when I discovered that north and central FL is weak. Them boys from south Florida started wrestling when they are your kid's ages. As a senior, made the Florida Times all-team. There are many life skills that I still follow because of the coaches I had in that sport.

I would say 75% of our team were guys on the football team. By the end of the season, we could pretty much out run anybody on the cross country team and track teams.

We had a girl tryout my senior year. The first week... hell week... was especially brutal. She didnt make it to the end of the week.

 

[Detroitgator]

Bonus trivia: Vision Quest was my first date with wife to be... good soundtrack.

 

[bradgator2]

Bonus trivia: Vision Quest was my first date with wife to be... good soundtrack.

Ha. I forgot all about that movie.

 

[AuggieDosta]

Bonus trivia: Vision Quest was my first date with wife to be... good soundtrack.

I had to look it up and you're right:
Journey - Only the Young
John Waite - Change
The Style Council - Shout to the Top
Madonna - Gambler
Don Henley - She's on the Zoom
DIO - Hungry for Heaven
Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe
Sammy Hagar - I'll Fall in Love Again
Foreigner - Hot Blooded
Madonna - Crazy for You

 

[Bait'n Gator]

Wrestling wasn't very popular when I was in high school, a couple of the football players competed just to stay in shape for football. I believe the wrestling coach was the track coach as well. But by the time my little brother came through, he was 6 years younger than me it was big time. The wrestling coach was probably the second highest paid coach (behind the football coach of course.)

Anyways my brother was pretty good, I believe he was the first kid in our schools history to make it to the state tournament all 4 years. He never won but placed in the top 5 or 6 a couple times. But there was a kid from one of the schools in North Ga who wrestled the same weight class as my brother (around 145). They must have been around the same age because they meet at state 2 or 3 years in a row. But the kid didn't have any legs, he just had nubs. He kicked my brothers ass every time they meet . I used to make him almost cry for giving him so much shyt for getting whipped by someone with no legs. Never really thought about it but maybe that kid had an advantage, he probably had the torso of a 180 lb man but only weighed around 145 lbs.

 

[bradgator2]

Wrestling wasn't very popular when I was in high school, a couple of the football players competed just to stay in shape for football. I believe the wrestling coach was the track coach as well. But by the time my little brother came through, he was 6 years younger than me it was big time. The wrestling coach was probably the second highest paid coach (behind the football coach of course.)

Anyways my brother was pretty good, I believe he was the first kid in our schools history to make it to the state tournament all 4 years. He never won but placed in the top 5 or 6 a couple times. But there was a kid from one of the schools in North Ga who wrestled the same weight class as my brother (around 145). They must have been around the same age because they meet at state 2 or 3 years in a row. But the kid didn't have any legs, he just had nubs. He kicked my brothers ass every time they meet . I used to make him almost cry for giving him so much shyt for getting whipped by someone with no legs. Never really thought about it but maybe that kid had an advantage, he probably had the torso of a 180 lb man but only weighed around 145 lbs.

The pics freak me out:

The unbelievable story of a wrestler with no legs

 

[bradgator2]

UF had a wrestling program when I was in school. Then gave up around 1977 or78. They always got a good football player because of it. Many FLa high schools have wrestling. Brandon used to be the standard in fla high schools. I love HS wrestling. It is a real sport for individuals. When I WAS at UF in the college of Phys Ed. I had to wrestle the gator QB, and then the wrestling coach made you wrestle him. GREAT Wkout........

So I was reading up on some of my past. Turns out, my coach in HS Tim Worsowicz, was on UF's 1st SEC championship wrestling team in 1975. Crazy.

kinda fun just to flip through an alligator from 44 years ago:
The Independent Florida alligator