Rain, Practice, Buckets, Boys First Wrestling Practice - Thursday
Yesterday morning we woke to it dumping rain. Over night we got a half inch of rain and then during the morning we got another quarter inch. All of that on top of the masses of snow covering the farm. It reduced the snow a good amount but despite the volume of rain the creek isn't really flowing much more.
I like the new Alfred complete mandolin method book I got and am working through it steadily. The layout is conducive to making me learn to read the notes instead of just the tab. I ended up spending a while on the Cumberland Gap tune trying to read the correct notes. I am getting it ingrained now and can see the scale for each string in my head a little more clearly. My fingers are not the same kind of sore they were and now it is just a dull ache on the calluses so I am able to practice a lot longer.
I waited until the rain stopped then went out in search of empty icing buckets and lids that I could clean up. I found 4 that were manageable and took them to the bathtub to wash up.
The lids got hung in the kitchen to dry while the buckets laid out on the stove top for a while as they dried.
I got dinner ready early so I could make sure the boys ate before their practice. As much as they are always hungry I knew they would need the energy for the evening.
We drove north to the high school and after parking followed the line of other people into the wrestling room. It is just an old basketball court turned to wrestling room. The mats are always out and there is very little room for anyone around the outside. This being the first practice I wanted to stay for sure. They have 2 a week with one an hour and half and the other an hour.
The 5 to 8 year old group is substantial at about 50 kids. The first practice was a dive right in and get them moving and working on their wrestling stance and then the basics of the double leg. I sat watching and a ton of memories came flooding back to me from childhood wrestling and the moves and holds that are so key and basic.
R is one of the smallest kids in the group for sure, him in the black on the left.
J stood out in his blue top and shorts. They did a bunch of cross mat drills and ended at the wall in stance. They will get pushups if not back at stance or if they are making too much noise and not listening. Fortunately there are a number of parents helping as it is a bit like herding cats.
It was cool seeing the bigger kids helping R to learn the stance and they were working with him a good amount over the practice.
The kids paired off a couple of times. The first was to start the hand sparring and figuring out close movement. The next pair off they worked on the basics of the double leg. J was working with one of his classmates from school for this one. R was with a kid closer to his size but he wasn't quite grasping it fully. A bit overwhelming all the people and stuff going on, I could see it by the end in his eyes.
While they were on the wall going through the practice moves J happened to be in front of the coach who saw him do a good double movement and called him out with a , "that was awesome! what's your name?" and J answered him to which he said, "that was the best one you did all night, good job!". I saw J's eyes light from across the room at the tiny bit of recognition and hope to keep that fire burning.
Once home from practice @stryeyz was soaking and I had her add some chlorine so we could all go soak. I gave the boys the option of showering or going and soaking in the tub in the chlorinated water. After rolling on the mats it is imperative that they get any of the ick off their skins and chlorine is a good way of killing a bunch of the crap. We watched an episode of R&M before they went to bed.
Today I am going to fill the buckets that I cleaned yesterday with various items in the pantry, then I have a bunch of gallon sized buckets that I need to wash up for storage. I am getting an hour of practice throughout the day on my mandolin and the rhythm app on my phone is really helping right now. Tonight it looks like Azure will be delivering a good bit later than normal due to a flat tire on his semi.
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