From Coach Bartram

The following was written by Mrs. McKay, mother of Jake McKay, 2010 NCHSAA State Champion from West Forsyth High School.

The mother of a wrestler is not an easy thing to be
It takes a special woman to deal with all you see
Wrestling is the TOUGHEST sport it’s not for everyone
But you’ve just got to “suck it up” when it’s chosen by your son

He wants to be state champion he works hard every day
You have to keep your emotions from getting in his way
The season is long and arduous some setbacks may arise
But through it all he manages to keep his eye on the prize

You have to be supportive and try to understand
All the crazy things that this hateful sport demands
Like cutting weight by skipping meals and spitting in a bottle
You just smile and look the other way though his coach you’d like to throttle

He works out in three sets of sweats he spends time in the sauna
You shake your head in disbelief why on earth would he wanna
When he comes home his clothes are drenched and smell like something died
You do yet another load of laundry in his commitment you take pride

When he returns from practice with all his energy drained
You wonder if it’s worth it all to keep his weight maintained
But still you grill the chicken and hide the sweets away
And cross your fingers and hope he won’t be over weight today

You show up to his matches with Gatorade in hand
And hope your taunting of the ref won’t cause you to get banned
You climb to find your favorite spot to sit up in the bleachers
And try not to embarrass yourself in front of all his teachers

When he was still a little boy you taught him to be kind
And now you’re cheering for him to kick someone’s behind
You try to help by screaming out advice for him to follow
For in your heart you know for him defeat is hard to swallow

And then he’s on his belly his head pressed to the mat
From where you sit it seems like he’s engaged in mortal combat
You yell for him to try to get up to his base
But what you’re really thinking is please don’t scar his face

It goes from bad to worse his arm’s twisted behind his back
You stop and think a second did you remember the ice pack
And when you hear that awful sound it makes when he gets slammed
You say a silent worried prayer that his neck just didn’t get jammed

Somehow he musters up some strength the ref just gave him two
There’s not a mama in the gym who is as proud as you
He runs the half and squeezes hard the match is almost done
You’re pleased and you’re so thankful that he’s the guy who won

Match after match you watch him encouraging all the while
Each loss tugs at your heartstrings each victory brings a smile
The season passes slowly the tournaments abound
The slapping of the referees hand becomes your favorite sound

When the regular season is over the added stress begins
Will he get a decent seed it’s all based on his wins
He takes the conference title the regional comes next
And just like that you’re standing in the coliseum’s annex

He breezes through the quarters the semis they were tough
But he fought hard and managed to make the finals sure enough
From where you’re seated way up high his task it seems immense
But he’s focused and he’s ready to put his opponent on defense

He shoots right on the whistle he takes him down with ease
He’s got control the other guys on bottom on his knees
He does it again and then once more the clock it ticks so slow
But by the second period deep down inside you know

He’s standing in the center his hand raised in the air
You realize all he sacrificed was not too much to bear
You reminisce back to the day his wrestling career began
Now your babys a state champion and this sport made him a man.

It is an exciting time of year for high school wrestlers still in the hunt for a bid to the state championship. In less than 36 hours the NCHSAA Regional Tournaments will be underway. 24 hours after that, 784 North Carolina High School student athletes will be in their final week of practice prior to heading to Greensboro, golden ticket clutched firmly in their hands. Exciting times indeed...    

Excitement comes in different flavors for these student-athletes. For some it is the pending realization of a goal, the excitement that knowing all the sacrifice is about to rewarded, the excitement knowing that an undefeated record going into the show means nothing unless that record remains unblemished on 28 February 2010. For others it is the excitement of having qualified for the regional or state tournament for the first time; some are satisfied with that; while others, are excited because they know they will achieve more than anyone expects them to. That is a different kind of excitement; one that peeks out in an quirky smile or smirk; one that is held inside, contained, only to be released after upsetting the higher seed, the higher ranked wrestler and accomplishing what they alone knew would be accomplished. For seniors, there is an additional excitement, for the end of wrestling season is yet another mark of time, soon it will be June and June changes life forever for seniors.

There is other excitement too. Wrestlers' families live with their own flavors. It is a sibling watching their older or younger brother (or sister) with pride; believing in their hearts nobody can stop them but, publicly teasing as only siblings do. For parents the excitement often takes on a nervous quality. Some cannot wait to watch the matches, others dread them, knowing that they will be a mental wreck in the minutes preceding and during the match. Some parents know that they will not even be able to watch their child's match, the nervousness overcomes them and they have to wait in the hall until it is over. Excitement, indeed.

I am excited too, but, not just for my son and our high school team. I am excited for North Carolina. This year 784 wrestlers will get the opportunity to achieve something that few others receive. This opportunity is earned. Truth be told, some earn it more than others. But, each one earns it. Opportunity excites me because it brings with it challenges. The greatness of a challenge is not whether or not you beat the challenge but in how you take it on. This is the time of year when you cannot hide from the question, "Did I do everything I could to prepare and am I doing everything I can now?" 784 student athletes will get to face a challenge that, having faced it head on, will only make them better people. The lessons learned in the challenge can be painful and joyful. Some will find despair as they sit in the stands, face in their hands, inconsolable. Others will share their boundless joy with others. Painful and joyful lessons, true, but, lessons that prepare us to be strong in life.

I am excited for our North Carolina student athletes. Good luck to you all. Meet your challenges head on, prepared, and believe; believe in yourself, your coaches, your family, and your God. Have faith, move forward, take action, and take charge of your fate. Whether you finish as a State Champion, State Placer, or State Qualifier, know that it is the journey you take and how you meet the journey's challenges that make you who you are and who you will be, not the title at the end of the day. 784 wrestlers will begin the last stage of the journey and only 154 will finish their last match of the day with their hand raised. 154 wrestlers that finish as winners in the state tournament; 784 wrestlers that can be winners in life.

Good luck to you all. I am excited for North Carolina and I hope you are too.
~Coach B

Character counts. It counts at work, in school, in sports, at home, in life. I believe, more so than any other sport does, or at least most other sports do, that character counts. It has to. Why, because the wrestler steps out onto the mat alone and if life has taught me nothing else it is that character counts most when you are alone or unwatched. When you are asked to count money alone; do your chores unwatched; take an un-proctored closed book test; travel without your family; anytime you are depended upon to do the right thing, unwatched, unnoticed, and unsupervised; character counts most.

Many feel that character forms at an early age and shapes our actions and behaviors forever. Some religion’s doctrine states that at about 8 years old, children unequivocally know right from wrong and should own up to their failures, face repercussions head on, and learn from the lesson. Some might call this character building. Although I agree with character forming early and shaping our behaviors forever, I do not believe that those two things are intrinsically linked forever. That is, learned bad character early in life can be overcome by later teachings. The converse is also true. One thing never changes, we do know right from wrong; we choose to do the right or wrong thing, sometime inexplicably to ourselves and to those that watch.

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Thank you to everyone that helped out this weekend. Our event was an enormous success thanks to you all! I fear I would forget to mention someone so I will not name anyone specifically, but you all were tremendous! I have said several times this year that our group of parents this year has to be one of the most pleasurable and productive we have ever had.

Thanks to you all many of our and other young men and women were able to have an extremely pleasurable and memorable experience. Three quick highlights that I take away: Our rookie wrestlers getting their first real event experience, Fabian's first mat burn, and Rhinos like Mason Knudtson demonstrating such outstanding sportsmanship.Thanks to you all I will always have these memories and those memories always outlast the short lived memories of the occasional bitchy parent or coach. Thanks again!

Yesterday Andrew Wanovich pinned his way to the finals of the 7^th / 8^th Grade 83 pound Open State Championship finals in Winston Salem, North Carolina. The finals match started as all the others did for Andrew that day, a takedown by him followed by relentless pressure. Not yet out of bounds, Andrew responded to his coach’s direction to keep the opponent in bounds and returned his opponent in a legal manner to the mat in bounds. The opponent, though posting his forearm to the mat, could not adequately protect himself from the force of the return and his jaw bounced off the mat very hard. He cried out and the match was stopped for injury time. During the action the official had blown his whistle. In the official’s judgment, Andrew had continued through the whistle and was charged with unnecessary roughness. The injured wrestler was not able to continue after injury time expired and subsequently, because unnecessary roughness is an illegal action and not a technical violation, Andrew was disqualified.

I do not want to focus on the call made by the official or even the natural feeling of dejection that overcame the Andrew, his teammates, coach and Mother who were all mat side.

The fact of the matter is that while I may have disagreed with the judgment of the official; an official’s judgment is inarguable. It must be. To argue an official’s judgment is to fail to honor the game. In order to honor the game we must respect officials, ourselves, our opponents and our teammates.

I want to focus on the individual that honored the game during and after the match. Andrew Wanovich did not complain about the decision, did not complain about the result, did not fall into the trap of following the example set by some of the adults present, he merely did the right thing and honored the official, his self, his opponent, and his teammates.

Andrew’s behavior is reflective of the character we try to instill in the Herd. The Herd was on the mat Saturday, Sunday, and Monday this past weekend and for the first time in a very long time there was behavior on the mat over the weekend that I was not proud of. My disappointment was erased (but not forgotten) by Andrew’s behavior Monday afternoon.

So Andrew, thank you for honoring the game and thank you for being a Rhino and leading the herd.

As Andrew and I stood in the t-shirt line in an near empty gym waiting for his tournament shirt, I pointed out to him a graphic of a wrestler with his back turned to the viewer. Below the picture was written, “Champions have no reason to look back.”

Don’t look back, Andrew, you were a champion before you ever stepped on the mat Monday. See you at practice tonight.

~Coach B