Who's the man!?!
I have done a pretty poor job of highlighting moves and matches this season. Here is one from our high school wrestlers and proud Rhino.
Fake the inside trip; launch. Right click and select play.
We work very hard to make sure our sport and our athletes are recognized publicly for their efforts and local media work with us to achieve that.
Learning the difference between pain and injury is just one of the lessons, wrestlers learn. After being the recipient of a incidental head butt in his second match of the day, Cole found himself with one win and one loss. Fighting through a tremendous headache and some difficulty seeing, Cole had the option to sit on the sideline or to try and continue. Cole finished the day with 5 wins and 2 loss, placing 3rd in the Cougar's Den Wrestling Tournament. Great job Cole, Never Quit! Click the picture for a full size view.
In April 2008, The Narburgh Family and Jared Bartram (Freshman) flew to Davis, California to compete in the West Coast Brute Nationals. Jared competed in the 145 and 152 lb divisions. Jared’s left shoulder dislocated in the semi-finals at 145 lbs, Jared visited the trainer, made a quick call back to NC, iced his shoulder and decided to give it a go. Jared fought 
through his injury to finish third at 152 lbs. While wrestling back through the consolations at 145 lbs, Jared’s shoulder dislocated again, prompting an injury default and resulting in a 6th place finish. Extremely satisfied with his third place finish, Jared was shocked to be called to the podium to receive the high school division’s “All Tournament Most Valuable Wrestler” trophy. This trophy is awarded in part on the following criteria: Sportsmanship, does the wrestler cry when things do not go his way? Does he congratulate his opponent? Are the wrestlers grades good in his school? Is the wrestler known in his community as a person of good character? Do other wrestlers and coaches see the winning wrestler as a character role model?
We are very proud of both of these wrestlers! (Click the pic for a full size view)
Saturday, 10 January 2009 at Jack Britt High School’s Boneyard Bash IX, I witnessed an amazing performance that, to me, embodies the spirit of our sport and epitomizes why I coach youth wrestlers.
With 1:40 left in the third period of the 130 pound championship match, Darius Delgado received an unintentional injury to his lower right leg while being taken down. After being examined by the trainer and with injury time about to expire, Darius chose to continue the match. Darius was limping badly and was having difficulty supporting any weight on that leg. Darius stopped multiple attempts by his opponent to take him down with single leg attacks on his right leg. Darius continued his offensive attack, and took his opponent down and earned near fall points. The crowd counted down the final seconds loudly and Darius won the match 14-7. It was a very moving match, in fact I was moved to tears. To add to the drama of the situation, Darius’ mother has been physically unable to attend any of her son’s matches this season. Saturday, she was finally feeling well enough to attend and was able to watch with pride the young man that her son has turned into.
Sunday, 11 January, I was moved to tears again, when I learned that Darius Delgado had in fact suffered a season ending injury in his finals match. His right fibula was fractured during the match but Darius perservered living his high school team’s motto, “Never Quit, Ever!” Here is a link to the video of the final 1:40 of the match.
