lows

Wrestling’s highs, lows

I came across an interesting Facebook post from Marathon wrestling parent Cal Vesely responding to people who ask he and his wife, Paula Vesely, how they can handle being wrestling parents.

He admitted that sometimes it’s not easy, for example their son Derek Vesely placed fourth at Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 individual sectional in Edgar to just miss an opportunity to compete in the individual state tournament that occurs this Thursday, Feb. 23, through Saturday, Feb., 25, at the Kohl Center in Madison. Thankfully, Derek Vesely is a junior this season so he has one more shot next season to qualify for the state individual tournament for the first time in his high school wrestling career.

Cal Vesely said the following in his post: “The emotions of this sport are incredible with extreme highs and lows. There is nervousness felt watching your kid step on the mat hoping he gets off it without an injury, impatience for the long waits between matches, frustration over a bad call from the referee, anger from a dirty move by another wrestler and sadness (and sometimes tears) while you watch them come to terms with a loss.”

“None of these comes close in comparison to feeling the thrill of a hard earned victory. There is joy and pride from watching your wrestler give everything they have and leave it all on the mat, win or lose. There is exhilaration from hearing the crowd get excited during a great matchup and even relief when your wrestler makes weight from one week to the next.”

Cal Vesely further said although his son is disappointed he fell short of making it to the individual state wrestling tournament, he has much to celebrate because he improved tremendously as a wrestler this season.

I witnessed firsthand wrestling’s highs and lows on Saturday at the Edgar sectional. Not every wrestler who works his or her butt off earns a trip to the individual state tournament. Some of them will never have another opportunity to compete for a chance to wrestle in the state tournament, because they were seniors this season. Nonetheless, they will be in attendance at this weekend’s individual state wrestling tournament, cheering for their teammates who are competing at state.

Winter Storm Olive forced me to drive to Madison earlier than I expected so I could watch our area’s wrestlers compete in the WIAA individual state tournament. I’ll continue to witness the sport’s highs and lows. There will be triumphs and tears shed by wrestlers following their matches at the Kohl Center in Madison, but this is what makes competing in sports so great. We all love the competitive nature of sports.

A Side of K raut