This weekend we were fortunate enough to enjoy a national wrestling tournament in our own backyard. The Puyallup wrestling team hosted the Predator World Wrestling Tournament at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Chili, Giuseppe, and Mason each participated in the event. Chili wrestled at the weight of 109lbs in the 15 years and under division. Giuseppe wrestled at the weight of 77lbs in the 10 years and under division. Last but not least, Mason wrestled at the weight of 62lbs in the 8 years and under division.
Chili won his first match by pinning his opponent in the second round, followed by a loss by pin in his second match, to the 15 year old boy who would eventually win this division, and a loss, again by pin, in his third and final match of the day. Chili gave it all he had and did very well for his age, because he turns 13 before Jan. 1st eventhough he is still 12 he has to wrestle in a much harder age group.
Giuseppe lost his first match then made his way to his second match only to find that his opponent forfeited giving Giuseppe the win. In his third match he wrestled very well and with a good strong heart and pinned his opponent. In Giuseppe's fourth match he was pinned after he was ahead in points. His coach, Marty, gave him a talk about how "in wrestling nice guys finish last!" There is nothing worse than losing a match by pin when you were ahead in points.
Mason had a good draw in the first round and recieved a bye in the first round which automatically advances you to the second round where he won his first match by pin, his second match was close and went into overtime where he fought hard and won. Mason's Third match was more difficult and he lost by points. Mason had little time to recover from the loss, his first of the season, when he went into his fourth match where the score was tied up in the 3rd round and then he pinned his opponent.
With almost no time between rounds Mason was up again for his fifth match of the day where if he won he would be atleast 3rd place and if he lost 4th. Now for this match we got to the 3rd and final round with a score of 4-5 with Mason losing and 30 or so seconds left on the clock with Mason in control. The coaches, medical staff(who we are friends with), fans, his brothers, basically almost everyperson left in the arena at that point were yelling 3 simple words- "CUT HIM LOOSE" the way the match was at that moment the only way for Mason to score either turn him to his back and pin him, which wasn't likely at this point, or to let him go and give him 1 point and making it possible for either boy to score 2 more with a takedown. If Mason got the takedown he would tie and it would go into overtime. If the other boy scored it would be over. Now as we are all literally screaming and making the hand signal which resembles some sort of "scat" motion you would do to get rid of a foreign animal from your porch or something and Mason is seemingly oblivious to the fact that we are all talking to him!! With about 10 or so seconds left and after screaming for what felt like an eternity he finally gets it and lets the boy go giving him 1 point in hopes that he can get the takedown go into overtime. He seems to take his sweet time and then finally takes his shot and takes the boy down and we all look at the clock because they went out of bounds in the process of the take down so he gets the points with .8 seconds left on the clock! They restart in the middle and Mason holds on and keeps him from scoring. They go into overtime where Mason not only scores the takedown for the win but almost pins the boy in the process!!
Mason was now guaranteed 3rd place. Mason had one more match where if he won he goes home 2nd and if he lost 3rd. With about 8 minutes since the last match he was up again and he gave it all he had and simply lost. I think he was just tired at that point. We had been at the venue for about 12 hours and the last 4 of Mason's matches were within about an hour and half at the very end of the tournament.
We were very pleased to walk away from the tournament with all of our boys holding their heads up high. Chili and Giuseppe were very supportive of Mason until the very end eventhough they finished up their day several hours prior. Jeremy had to leave for about 2 hours in the middle of the tournament and both Chili and Beppe did all they could to make sure that Mason was ready both mentally and physically for his matches. Chili was so excited during one of the matches that he was spitting food everywhere while he cheered!! Giuseppe was excited to record the matches so that I could cheer him on too! I am thankful for their bond and the support they show eachother in their various activities.
