The Grind

I had volunteered to help the ATA set up brackets for the state tournament, but Bud asked me to go work the Georgia grind instead. Cheryl asked if I would come help set up and help with weigh-ins on Saturday since the High School action was canceled, and I told her I would be glad to help. I ended up meeting some of the faces behind the names with USA Nationals that I had never met. Set up and taped 6 mats with a nice guy from Utah, and then proceeded to weigh-ins.
We had some professionals doing skin checks, and they caught two cases of staff, and a ringworm.We did weigh-ins off of weigh-in cards like they do at Fargo, and SER. It was extremely efficient. As a weigh-master, you did not have to spend any time looking up a name, you just checked the weight, wrote it on the card, and wrote it on their arm. We zipped through weigh-ins pretty rapidly.
Sunday came, and it was tournament time. We had ten mats, and ten officials. I take pride in having quick transitions, and there were no breaks. I kept my mat moving and was one of the first mats done. I was consistent on my calls, and only had one conference at the table about a call. In an overtime match in which both wrestlers had been warned for stalling, wrestler A had wrestler B in a front head lock. Wrestler B pulled wrestler A straight backwards off the mat to break the hold. I awarded A 1 point for B stalling, and that ended the match.
I had the large middle school weight classes on my mat all day long. We had a few slick technicians, and a lot of crushing bruisers. It was a good mix of matches, and I enjoyed it.
After I finished the last extra match on the middle school side, I got paid, and was packing up to leave. I got called out to one of the last mats working to call some matches. Some of them were finals, and some of them were challenge for second matches. The wrestlers in the younger age groups showed the most unsportsmanlike behavior from all the matches  called. I even had to ask a Dad/coach to watch his language. Wrestling is a highly charged emotional experience for some of the parents, and I do my best to ignore them, but when I am hearing swearing about a little boys performance, I am going to say something. I am about to go out on a date with my wife. It is valentines day after all.