No More Band Concerts Or Doctor Appointments

The wrestling season is officially underway and for the next three months our nostrils will be overcome with the smell of sweat and our ears echo with grunts. I am guaranteed to be wincing for the entire three months as I watch the weekly display of brutal, yet surgical dissection of their limbs from their bodies.

Or at least it seems that way.

Our team is good this year, but they are always good. They boy is fully recovered from his sickness and corresponding hospital stay so he’s able to keep up with the practices thank goodness. He’s wrestling on the JV team which is bumming him out for some reason. Even the appointment of JV team captain didn’t see to make him feel better. I think he’s in a good position to not get hurt – that’s what I think – and I know as the season progresses, he can move up to Varsity once or twice. It’s a much bigger deal in his eyes than it  is in mine so I’m trying to not be too cavalier about it.

But last Thursday, the team had a loss that was unexpected, to a team that was supposedly not as strong as ours.

There were some boys missing for the meet, some for a band concert. One for a funeral.

The coach had told the boys that if they did well against that particular team, they won’t have Saturday practice. Which for some reason made them too cocky and they had a heart breaking loss by a point.

So the coaches were – ummm…shall I say – disappointed. The head coach was not in a jovial mood and announced that there will no longer be any more missed practices for band concerts, doctor appointments or deaths in the family.

The consensus of the boy and the boyfriend was this – they were going to get killed by the coach at practice the next day. And when I picked up the boy yesterday, I asked about it and he said, “It was worse.”

And now I’m patiently waiting for him to get home from his Saturday practice with a nice hot pot of cheesy noodles because I know he’s guaranteed to be somewhat tired and he’ll need his mamma.

On a photography note: I used my brand new 50mm 1.8 lens for these photos. I love the lens but I just couldn’t get close enough so for the next match, the long lens will be out so you can get the full impact of the blood, sweat, and tears by the moms.