Georgia Games.

I have been helping Team Georgia by taking on the role of Acting Director of Officials. I have been trying to recruit new officials, get them trained, and getting more training myself. I love freestyle and greco, so it is well worth the effort. A few more years of officiating, and some favorable evaluations, and I could actually meet the qualification for the position. Because of this position, I officiate every weekend(want to), give short rules clinics (practice stand up comedy), and very often run weigh-ins, and skin checks (not so fun).
Georgia Games was plenty of fun this weekend. I was impressed with some of the open group guys. There was a dad that cut 20 pounds to wrestle in front of his son. The youth coach who cut 35 pounds to weigh-in at 285, wrestled a division three AA, and threw him to his back and had him stuck. The Ryan and Colby rematch(Colby got revenge). The guy who was a year older than me who competed admirably against the 20 somethings.All of the guys worked hard on the mat, and showed exceptional sportsmanship.
There was talk of pushing to make the open division bigger next year.  
I pulled a hamstring showing an armspin on a hwt at practice on Tuesday. It is much better today, but was still a little bothersome on Saturday. Because of it, I did not take to the mats a lot on Saturday, just kind of acted as the head official. Sunday I split time with Ryan Cecil, and helped train him as a Freestyle, and Greco official. Ryan is doing a great job.
Rod Gatti brought several tough kids from Alabama. He is an outstanding coach, and often has a high percentage of AAs coming out of Fargo. He had a tough kid wrestling Chad Hawkins from Team Georgia. At the beginning of the first period Chad caught the Alabama kid with a headlock He did not get the exposure til after they hit the mat so it only scored two points, and latter scored another point for three. Close to the end of the period, Chad got another headlock, but this one went feet to back, It scored three, and I remembered wrong thinking the first headlock was a three pointer also. I blew the whistle to call the tech fall, and in the mean time the Alabama kid had rolled through and put Chad on his back. I shouldn't have stopped the match. Gatti was not happy, and I was quick to admit the mistake. I was going to start the kids on their feet, but he insisted that they were supposed to start in pare tare. I told him that I was sure that they had to start neutral, but Coach Porter agreed to let them start from pare tare, so I agreed. The Alabama kid rolled Chad several times, and won the period. Second period Chad hit another headlock, and pinned the Alabama kid. Latter Rod came up and told me that he had checked, and i was right about starting them out on their feet.
I got to call some big threes, and a couple of fives. That is not so hard to do when you have a National champion, and his twin brother wrestling on your mat.
Next week we will be at Lambert. I hope to see you there.

Harrison

I left the house a little after 5:00am to make sure I arrived in time to help with weigh-ins if needed. To my surprise Josh Porter was there to help, and had on a Harrison shirt. I am sure coach Porter will be missed at Kennesaw.
There were some technical difficulties with the brackets but we pressed on without much hesitation. We trained some new officials today including Shedd, and Cecil from Woodlands, as well as Mr. Parker. We had the return of Brooks, and Lee to the ranks of Athlete/officials helping earn their way on national trips. Wolfgang was also in the house.  Because we had so many new officials working in, I did not spend quite as much time calling matches, and more time helping train. The good part is when I was on the mat, Stacey was evaluating my calls to help get me ready for SER, and Schoolboy Duels. For me it was a train or be trained day.
I gave brief clinics before each style, and did my best to be available to answer questions. There were great matches all over the gym today with state champs taking on state placers in every age group. The number of youth wrestlers involved seems to be up slightly, and there are some talented kids showing up. There were 5 point throws on the k-2, 6-8, Cadet, and Jr. mats. As a person who has attended these tournaments for the past seven years, I would have to say that the wrestlers are picking up some great technique at younger ages.
Next week we will have the Georgia Games, and as always there are some older competitors signed up. It is always fun to watch the older guys go at it.

Boy my thumbs are tired.

 I just got through with the first Greco/Freestyle tournament of the year. It had that great low key feel of Spring wrestling, with kids getting plenty of matches and working out the kinks of adjusting to FS/G techniques, and strategies.
A big thanks to Curtis, Stacey, Krissa, Ron, and Buck for coming out to officiate. I have been working on recruiting new officials and this select group shows up every weekend to take care of business. Some of the newer officials are supposed to start later, and I hope they do.
I got to call 2 big 5 point throws. One was from little Will Moss who hit a double overhook belly to belly throw with a huge back arch. Honestly the way he hit it is not legal for his age group, but I waived a big five because he deserved it. Latter, Chad Starnes was in on a double and his opponent was trying to lock in the crotch for a throw. Starnes knee pounded forward, stood up, and threw his opponent over his shoulders, and he landed in danger.
I had a good conversation with a 209 pounder from East Paulding who just started wrestling this year. He regretted the fact that he did not start before, and i look forward to watching him wrestle all Summer. I hope he tries to work onto our dual teams, or Fargo.
We completed a full Greco, and Freestyle tournament, and had a folkstyle takedown tournament for those that stayed. I think it was a little strung out, and lasted longer than this type of event should. For the 100 plus that showed up there was plenty of wrestling, but I think they would have liked it better if we were done by 2:00.
I am looking forward to the tournament next week at Harrison. I have 5 soccer games, two practices, and about 2700 fundraiser candy bars to sell before then.

Free clinic

I am in one of my busiest times of year. My JV girls Soccer team is wrapping up their season with only four games to go. The Varsity girls are deep into the season with playoff implications in every game. I have to complete annual IEP's for all of my caseload students, and have 4 meetings to go. Next week alone I will have 4 meetings, 4 practices, 4 games, and the Alexander tournament to kick off the FS/G season. The point is I am a little spread thin.
I have been trying to put together a preseason clinic for the new officials for about a month. I have had trouble getting commitments from our senior officials so I went ahead and booked a site for the clinic. With only one week left, and a busy week ahead, Saturday was my only choice. One of the officials that could have run the clinic was going out of town, and another senior official was performing in a professional wrestling show. It was shaping up to be my clinic.
Dustin Kawa was kind enough to allow us to use Takedown sportswear to put on the clinic, so I put the word out ASAP and began preparing notes. Having a lesson plan prepared would help insure that the clinic did not run over time, and keep me on track so that I could hit all of the more difficult points thoroughly.
There were three officials, and about three coaches in attendance. The funny part is if I had charged $20.00/head I probably would have had a full house. Since there was more coaches than officials, I adjusted the clinic a little so that it was more appropriate for the coaches. There were some great questions from one of the officials, and one of the coaches, which shows me that they were prepared, and walked away from the clinic with some useful tips.
I am a teacher by trade, so putting on a clinic was no big stretch. I had several emails about doing it again, or in a different location, and as the spring wears on, I will try to arrange more, but if you see me on the weekend, feel free to ask questions. If I do not have the answer for you, I will get it.
I am really looking forward to slinging some thumbs next weekend. Hopefully the shiner I have under my right eye will be healed by next week. It is kind of awkward explaining that a 15 year old girl gave it to you. Nice head block Zoe.