wanna wrestle?

Wrestling is a favorite Kempe past time. When I married Beau I was also privelaged to be on the recieving end of all the wrestling memories. I might as well have been there. I am painted a beautifully clear and vivid picture of each and every match about once a week by my husband, and I also get to experience them once a month or so from my mother in law, lol. As much as I enjoy the stories, pictures , videos etc (not to mention I am the world's biggest fan of Beau in a singlet) it is soo much more fun getting to do it myself.

Not technically myself, as I have yet to participate in a match :) but I am there on the sidelines taking pictures and gritting my teeth. I knew our kids would wrestle before they were born. that was clear, but what I never knew was how fun it would be to become a wrestling mom!!!

Parker has wrestled for a couple of years now and is truly loving the sport. He has trouble with team sports sometimes, there is a tendency to blame someone else when things dont go your way, but he has learned to depend on himself while wrestling. It is so exciting to watch him grow.

Paxton is starting for the first time this year. He was apprehensive at first. There was the fear he would have to wrestle his brother and all the bigger boys he'd been watching the past few years but after quite a few long talks he has grasped the concept of weight classes, so dont be alarmed if he immediately requests your weight upon introduction. He prefers only to converse with 50lbers these days. haaaaaa After this he got really excited and spent weeks practising before the first tournament. When tournament day came, sometime around 5am Paxton discovered the singlet. "Heck no im not wearing Parker's old swimming suit". How could we have forgotten to mention the singlet to him? How did he not notice it in years past? well somehow the singlet has slipped through the cracks. He truly believed parker swam in this outfit last summer and we expected him to wear it in front of all his wrestling friends lol. After a tantrum that ended in me saying "put it on or you will not go" we were on our way. It only took 5 seconds of him seeing other boys in singlets for him to get over this and he hasnt mentioned it since. He loves wrestling. Still isnt quite sure why we dont want him to lay on his back but he allways comes off the matt with a smile so we are proud :)

We are so blessed with a great coach and a couple of great team moms. I rarely have a clue what is going on but they allways make sure things go smoothly and everyone is where they need to be, and I love them for it!!!

I am lucky to catch all the matches with a nursling on my front, a toddler hanging onto my leg and a princess and all her little petshops in tow, but the last 2 tournaments I brought Grammie along for assistants. She had fun reliving the days when Beau was the one on the matt and loved watching the grandkids follow in dads footsteps.

For anyone considering a sport for their kiddos, dont leave wrestling out! We have had such a wonderful experience and loved every minute. I hope we find such a great group in Colorado. Wrestling is one of the few sports where boys of all shapes and sizes can succeed without disadvantage. Self confidence and sportsmanship are grown on those matts. I watch boys work so hard to beat each other, who have never met or been rivals for years, yet shake hands and even hug when the match is over. There are no losers because there is allways a lesson learned and a little esteem earned. What a fabulous sport!!!! And the best part is that unlike basketball or football, you can wrestle in the living room. All of my boys (esp pearce) are very good at wrestling people who are unsuspecting or unwilling. They wrestle their father daily, and poor poor piper. Basically , dont ever sit on the floor of our living room or you are fair game. We are trying to teach pearce he must ask before he wrestles someone, but we are so far unsuccessful :)