Wrestling in Bamberg

Last weekend, Bop and Log boarded their wrestling team's bus and traveled to Bamberg, a town in Bavaria.  J and I followed with Matty and Littlest in tow to watch the kiddos' first wrestling match.  

Options for Winter sports were few, and Log immediately settled on wrestling.  I was a bit surprised that Bop expressed an interest in wrestling but decided not to oppose her; after all, as a female, wrestling could prove to be a useful skill.  I long ago abandoned the notion that I could mould Bop into a delicate girl; she's much more athletically inclined.  

Other teams present at the match represented American posts throughout Europe.  Each child would wrestle three times within his/her weight class.  The match began around 1030 and continued until 2000.  

I learned that I am not a mother well-equipped to watch my children participate in contact sports.  I watched as children, boys and girls alike, twisted their bodies into unnatural positions, contorted their limbs in an effort to gain a position of dominance, fell to the mats like sacks of potatoes, struggled, red-faced time and again to roll and escape locks, and used their foreheads and crowns to bridge to escape pinning. Several children cried exiting the mats though whether it be due to injury or sting of defeat I cannot say.  Wrestlers received directives in the form of loud commands from austere coaches and were greeted with hugs and words of encouragement leaving the mat, win or lose.  Wrestlers crumpled off the mat, their bodies exhausted after one or more rounds of all consuming physical exertion.  

Log was the first of our kiddos to wrestle.  His first opponent, a stocky straw-haired boy, jumped from one foot to the other and punched the air as if he was a boxer while waiting to be called onto the mat.  Though the other boy was in Log's weight class, he looked to be sturdier and larger than Log.  Log was visibly anxious as he was called to the mat, and I felt my stomach rise into my throat.  It's truly not in Log's nature to be aggressive and he struggled a bit his first match losing during the second round.    

Log gained a bit of confidence that first match and went on to win his next two cheered on by his teammates, family and family members of his teammates.  

Bop surprised us all by transforming into a raging bull on the mat.  Though she wrestled boys who had one year or more of wrestling under their belts, she scored points for multiple transfers and was a force with which to be reckoned.  I believe that Bop will actually be quite good once she perfects the more intricate techniques.  

Daddy pre-match with our babies.  Log's singlet hung loosely about his body instead of clinging to it as it should have.  Bop accessorized her singlet with a pink shirt.  In fact, I smiled when I noticed how many of the girls had pink fingernails and ruffled socks peeking out from their wrestling shoes.  The boys were quite the sore losers when losing to a girl which they often did.

Log's second match.  J and I sat at the mat's edge shouting things like, 'Grab his legs,' and 'Push, push!'  The child Log is wrestling in the photo below was blonde, cherub-faced, and such a beautiful child.  There were several times that the other child looked in my and J's direction with a most pitiful expression that seemed to plead, 'Please don't tell him how to beat me.'  I felt awful!

Tousled hair and exhausted post-match.

Littlest entertained herself by completing her Seek and Find puzzles.

Bop's first match.  J and I were quite nervous for her sake but soon found we had no reason to be:  when the whistle blew, her opponent jumped backward to escape her charge.

Setting up for round two.

Playing with the DS during down time.

More to come in the following weeks!