Quality competition.

I was at the Northview qualifier today. I got to officiate about 100 quality matches. I went in early as a Team Georgia Representative to help out with morning weigh-ins. I know there were at least thre kids who missed weight, and there were some boarderline skin conditions that only got by after being approved by a Doctor on site. Jeff Hormell was taking care of business, and the tournament ran very smooth. There were solid tableworkers who kept the tournament moving. The wrestling was very clean. There were several aggressive matches, but they were far from dirty. No hard crossfaces, no slams, and only incidental ilegal holds. I was impressed with the way the kids wrestled. The coaches were not bad either.
We managed to complete the morning sesion with time to spare before the afternoon sesion started. There were 5 mats, and 6 officials. That gave us all a ten minute break every once in a while, pluss we got a break between rounds. We rotated mats to stay fresh. That gave us a chance to see other wrestlers and coaches, as well as a chance for them to get a break from us.
After we completed the tournament, we had to wait around for a little while for the tournament staff to count bout sheets, and figure out exactly what they owed us. I enjoyed talking with a few kids who were excited about Team Georgia practices, some coaches who just seem like old friends, and the other five officials that worked the tournament. After everything was said and done, i made enough money to fill the tank of my smart car twice, pluss the first monthly payment.
Quote of the day came from a kid in the morning sesion. he was having a hard time getting his offensive starting sequence correct. I told him to go belly button before he touched the elbow. He put his belly button on the deffensive wrestler, touched the elbow, then the belly button. I stopped him, and explained that he had to put his hand on his opponents belly button. He said "I can't find it".