Mansel on the Mat

Mansel likes wrestling. This photo is for his Grandpa and Grandma -- who don't get to see him wrestle often. He's wrestling at 80 pounds this year. Can you believe it?  That weight often puts him against 7th and 8th graders, so his record as a 4th grader isn't as good as you would like it to be.  But -- this year he is getting a lot of good wrestling time.  Districts will be March 13th. 

GO MANSEL GO!!

Wrestling Season in Iowa

If you aren't from Iowa -- you may not get this... but it's Wrestling State Tournament this week.  Amazing stories are surfacing -- and I'd like to share one of them with you.


 

Knoxville Wrestling Club Tournament

Mansel wrestled today.

First match was over before I could get my camera ready.  Mansel sure is good at getting pinned fast.

2nd match -- Mansel was pinned again. This time he cried.  I told him to "turn up his man dial".  LOL  Then later I found out he got beat by an 80 pound 8th grader.  WHAT? Manse is only a 4th grader... that other guy was a runt... that's not fair.  LOL  So -- anyway.  It was fair... probably not fair of me to scold Mansel for crying. 

Match #3.  MANSEL WON!!!  (the other team forfeited that weight).  Well -- a win is a win!!

Match #4!!!  MANSEL WON FOR REAL!!  Here is the proof.

Mansel at Knoxville Tourney from Jennifer J. on Vimeo.

Long day -- but worth it after that one.  I'm a horrible video person.  I'd starve before I could make any money taking video.  LOL  Oh well -- we enjoyed watching Mansel wrestle today.  Thanks to the Knoxville Wrestling Club for giving him the chance to wrestle.

Knoxville Wrestling Club Fund Raiser

Milo and Mansel are participating in a fundraiser for the Knoxville Wrestling Club.

They will be selling Baker Jo's cookie dough.  The funds are used to purchase uniforms, mat upgrades, and year end prizes for state participants, and entries to team events.

APPARENTLY this cookie dough is really good. °Ü° They skipped this fund raiser last year and the coaches got calls asking when they would be around selling cookies.  The customers looked forward to it every year.  Just... so ya know.  LOL  Each tub sells for $10 and makes 96 cookies. 

Will you let me know if it's OK to bring the boys over... you wouldn't have to buy from both... we'll take turns taking orders.  (Yikes... hazard of having several kids close in age.)

In the past this fundraiser has purchased a new mat, state wrestling clothing, assisted in travel, supplied medical supplies for the club, purchased uniforms and warm ups.  Who cares... but I always like to know what the money is used for. 

Thank You,

~*~ Jennifer ~*~

641.943.2350

flavors:  chocolate chunk, white chocolate macadamia, sugar, snickerdoodle, peanut butter with chocolate chunks, M&M candies, peanut butter, heath english toffee, oatmeal raisen, triple chocolate, and last but not least, monster.

Wrestling Video

One of Mansel's better matches.

My commentary gets annoying... sorry about that.

Wrestling is over now and we are into baseball and softball. Whew... what a schedule. I thought wrestling was crazy. Wowza!! Little did I know. But I really am enjoying this baseball/softball thing. THIS is something I can do with the kiddos. LOL Wrestling.... ehhh... not so much.

2008 AAU Super Pee Wee Tourney, Match 1

Dan Didn't Get His Fill

He's going back. °Ü°

He and Mansel are headed to the arena to watch the K-1st graders wrestle. I'm pool side with the other 4, while they are swimming.

We have a late check out today from the motel. Did you know you could do that? You don't necessarily HAVE to leave by 11:00. That makes it nice. So the kiddos will swim until they are sick of it (I may be here a while), Wayne just came to report in. "so fun." Then we will pack up and we'll call Dan on the cell phone and he'll come get us. We are going to watch some of the boys that Mansel and Milo trained with this season. This small town community is fun for wrestling. Our family traveled to Chariton and Carlisle to wrestle with them after the Twin Cedar's season ended. Mansel was able to train with a 2nd grader that ended up getting 1st in his division yesterday. That was fun!

TekFall.com has some photos from the tournament yesterday. We don't think we saw Mansel... although if you see a kiddos with the #56 on his hand, that was where Mansel wrestled. That was the size of the kids, location, etc.

We'll stay at the tournament today until Dan gets his fill, then head home...

ONLY TO WATCH MORE WRESTLING!! LOL

It's a disease -- I swear.

Actually the NCAA finals are on tonight. Iowa is doing well!

What a week for wrestling around here.

Anyone smell chlorine? Yuck... I'm ready to leave...

Hey Kiddos... done swimming yet?

Yeah?? Nope -- I didn't think so. ;)

6th Place

The first place wrestler gets to take home the bracket. This shows how many boys were in the bracket. We think Mansel wrestled 6 times today. Some of the boys wrestled less... some more. The boys Mansel wrestled were key -- he pinned one boy -- who helped him get placed higher than a boy who actually beat him.

Here is our guy on the podium, on the left step. YEAH!




zoomed in... Mansel showing his wrestler's face. Crazy kid. Who ever said wrestlers shouldn't smile is CRAZY! It sure wasn't a mother.

Here he is icing his injury. I was thinking it was a sympathy injury -- nursing his wounded pride rather then his wound... but he really does have a bruise there at the nap of his neck... in his hair line. Poor baby. I'd rather it be a bruise then a *snap*.

I saw one dislocated shoulder... oh boy... that little boy was flopping.. I knew immediately he was really hurt. Good grief. Makes me want to quit being a mat-side mom. His dad was so calm... well -- what I saw of him anyway. I had my eyes covered and kept telling the kids... "don't look". 1 boy out of 250 wrestlers getting injuried...that's not too bad.

So -- now it's time for bed. We'll have to wait until I get home to show you some video. This free wireless isn't letting me load video tonight.

Tori keeps threatening to shut the lights off on me. I'd better get the other kids to bed.

Thanks so much for praying -- if you did. We had fun. It sure make the day go fast when you are winning. Last year when we came, and Mansel got pinned 3 times in a row, it druuuuug out and it was CROWDED. LOL

I didn't seem to mind the crowds today.
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Congratulations Mansel -- We are Proud Of You!!

**!!We are Celebrating!!**

Oh friends -- Mansel did a GREAT job today.

I'm going to load photos and movies to the computer and I'll get back to you -- just want you to know that alls well that ends well.
°Ü°

Can I be a proud mother?

I think I'm most proud that at the end he thought he was getting beat badly, but he didn't give up. He only started crying when he got hurt -- and he's got bruises to prove it. Oh his neck no less... eekk!!

What a guy. What a awesome little guy. Oh me... this mat-side-mom just might cry.
I'd better go. But I'll be back.

Weighed In

Mansel has weighed in at 56.8 pounds. So he'll wrestle in the 56# class.

He and Dan got out of bed at 6:30 a.m. Good for them. I got to snooze with the rest of the non-wrestlers.

We got to take our time and then eat breakfast at the motel. Aren't you glad they started doing that? I think that is AWESOME. No bundling up and hopping into the van for breakfast. Or skipping it... or bringing junk in a cooler. I had sausage and biscuits. Yumm... and yogurt.

This year they, the ones in charge, are doing it a bit differently. All the K-2nd graders wrestled at the same time in 2007... and it was CROWDED!!! Crowded, crowded, crowded. If you got up -- you lost your seat last year. So I camped out. It was very thrilling.

This year -- same location -- but it's only the 2nd graders today. Tomorrow it's the K-1st graders wrestling. I'm praying it won't be so crowded.

Dan said during weigh in -- he walked right in and got Mansel weighed. No line. Last year -- we waited in line for a long, long, long time. I think I mentioned it was crowded. So -- no line this year... that's a good sign.

We are camping out here in the motel. We did our swimming yesterday. 2yo Wayne said, "Oh Mom... I'm having so fun." Ü

Now we've got PBS going and Milo is playing a new hand held game Dan got the kids yesterday. He thinks it will be good entertainment for them while we are waiting today. You do a lot of waiting at wrestling tournaments. But for now -- Milo and Dani are watching Anderson Cooper in a garbage can. Hmmm... He's saying Gastroenteritis. He's talking to Dan Rather Not. Ha ha haaa...

So -- what are we doing now? Dan is headed to Wal-Mart to buy me some hairspray, and I'm about to change a stinky diaper. I know -- it's so exciting, I can hardly contain myself. We are playing the waiting game until the wrestling starts at noon. They've got to get all those wrestlers who weigh in, put into brackets. Dan is praying (but not fasting) that Mansel gets a few easy ones at first.

I'm blogging with free wireless. That's so cool! ;) I'm praying Mansel doesn't have to wrestle a girl, but I'm not fasting either.

Milo Wrestling in Carlisle

We took the boys to Carlisle to wrestle. Milo doesn't wrestle at every tournament. We take him to smaller ones -- just to get his toes wet. He is only in Kindergarten -- he's got several more wrestling years ahead of him. He is improveing. This photo is of him getting a single leg take down. YEAH!!! Great job Milo.

He got to chose which position he wanted to be in.


I'm sure he wasn't thinking it would end up in THIS position -- getting his head stuffed. Yes... that is a move. The "coach" gets to go along side the mat and give directions. Well -- as you can see from the photos -- there are several coaches... plus the fans in the stands all screaming... so in order for the wrestler to hear you -- you really have to hollar the directions. Dan loses his voice pretty quickly - so the boys can't hear him very well. That is why I sit along side him and just repeat every thing he says -- only LOUDLY. Funny...This week-end I was screaming at Mansel -- "Stuff his head... stuff his head." He did and he got then scooted his hips on around, and apparently that's a good thing. When his match was over his dad said, "Way to stuff his head." Ü I was thinking -- "What in the wide world are we teaching our boys?" LOL

But what ever works.

Here is Milo -- proudly sporting his 4th place medal. (Oh yes -- there are only 4 places). But never mind that... he LOVES that medal!!

Wrestling in Oskaloosa

Mansel wrestled in Oskaloosa.

This tournament was the first time he's wrestled this season. I was a little discouraged after the first match.

See - I'm a mom. Not a reader of The Predicament. Just a mat-side-mom. So -- when I was seeing my kiddo get flopped all around by another 2nd grader, I got discouraged.

What did his dad say when he was done? "Did you see that? Mansel did NOT get pinned by that kid." Ü Good thing Dan's the coach and not me. That kid came in 6th at the State Pee Wee Wrestling tournament last year. Ohh... makes more sense. Hooray for not getting pinned!!

Then his next matches -- Mansel went on to deftly handle the next 2 opponents. Pinning one himself! YEAH!! That makes a mommy proud.

Look it here... Mansel's already working on his "I'm not going to smile for the camera even though I'm so excited to be standing here on the 2nd place stand next to the guy who DIDN'T pin me" face. He's getting good -- very good. He didn't even smile even though his mom was screeching across the room... SMILE MANSEL!! SMILE FOR MOMMY!

Wrestling in Waukee

We got to go to a Pee Wee Wrestling Tournament in Waukee, IA, on Saturday. It was a tournament for beginners only. That is a neat idea. If you had wrestled in more than 10 matches, or 3 tournaments, you were not eligible. Milo is a beginner. Yep he is.... still is. LOL In fact -- he may just not be cut out to be a wrestler, but that is yet to be seen. He really likes to practice. He and his brother drag his dad out to practice twice a week. And to tournaments often on the week-ends.

This week-end Mansel got to be his warm up partner. Mansel loves wrestling. He is already asking about his first tournament. When can he wrestle? Huh? Huh? Huh??

Tori really enjoys wrestling tournaments. This is when she gets caught up on her free reading pile. A horse book of course.

Milo is a bundle of nerves here. I'm so glad he didn't wet himself. Those singlets just don't hide much... it would have been sort of obvious. He did fine. He came in 4th place (out of 4)... but he did FINE! Ü

Here is Wayne -- ever his supportive self. Actually -- he really was helping... helping me enjoy myself. He got cranky for just a bit, then fell asleep in my arms. Ahhh... slobbered a little on my arm, so I decided to lay him down on our coats. Isn't he a doll?? It may have been a result of us waking up at 5:30 a.m. It was nap time!!



I asked Milo what his favorite part of the day was... He replied, "You know Mom... the medal." Oh he is funny!! They don't care that they came in last place... oops... I mean 4th place. He gets a MEDAL!!! Cool. Ü Plus we made new friends this week-end. I'm going to send a mom a DVD of her son pinning my son. HA HA!! No really -- I am. It's all fun. Plus -- it was a beginners tournament... it was his FIRST EVER pin! Gotta have a memory of that!! Maybe some day another mom will do me a favor like that. When that happens... you bet I'll blog about it!!

You know what's fun about pee wee wrestling? In 10 or 11 years... we'll be seeing these kids at the Iowa High school State Wrestling Tournament. Now that will be FUN!
Here is an example