Tristin's first high school sport

Are you wondering whether I meant to say "high school?" Yes, I did. The 7th through 12 grades all are one team. Although the 7th and 8th graders have three of their own tournaments with the other middle schools in our conference, they also wrestle J.V., when there are openings available.

Tristin's first meet was Saturday. It consisted of three teams hosted by Waconia. Tristin got to wrestle one match for J.V. He was pinned in 25 seconds. In his defense, he was wrestling a 9th-grader who has probably been wrestling since kindergarten, and Tristin had only been wrestling for two weeks.

His second meet was on Monday. It was the first of the middle school tournaments. He wrestled four times, and lost all four times. However, he made it really close to the end of the first period each time, even scoring some points in the process, due to some escapes, before being pinned. I am really proud of him.

It was hard to watch him getting choked up at the end of each match. He went into this expecting to be behind everyone else, but it doesn't really help when you're being observed by a whole gym full of people. We have discovered that most athletes in this area actually start their sports when they start school. This has our kids at a severe disadvantage, as neither our financial situation nor our family's schedule would allow us to do that with them.

Financially, you either have to be poor or rich to be able to have your kids in activities around here. There are so many people who get their fees waived (which they get if they qualify for free or reduced lunches, or are on WIC), that everyone else has to make up for the difference, and that is really too much for our income level. But even if we could afford it, we would still be limited by our schedule; Monday night is FHE; Tuesday night Tristin has his percussion lesson and Aaron teaches piano lessons to three students; Wednesday Aaron and I have Greek class, the older boys have Scouts, and Aaron has to field appointments for the Bishop, and teaches a piano lesson after Scouts; Thursday Aaron teaches our own kids piano lessons, and I regularly have an Enrichment activity; Friday is date night; Saturday is our day to catch up and play; and Sunday we just don't do those things.

Tristin has three meets in a row now. Today after school is a Varsity/J.V. match in Annandale. Tomorrow is the second middle school match, held at Dassel/Cokato, again after school. Saturday is an invitational in Delano for Varsity/J.V. at 7am. It's sure to take all day. Our lives will be very busy for the next two months, the way the schedule is looking.

Aaron took some pictures at the first match, and I'll post them once I find the camera.