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will be out of town for two or three days.... |
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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Posted: 23 March 2012 at 11:05 |
hey, everyone - i'm off to billings, at the bottom of the state, again - this time for two reasons.
the official reason is to take my final exam tomorrow morning, in order to be fully licensed, certified etc. for insurance in montana. easy stuff, and i passed the first two tests with no troubles; i should have done this years ago, but with the kids and the fact that we'd moved around so much in the past, i didn't count on being here as long as i have been. late is better than never, though, so no worries.
the other, more important (to me) reason is for a little bit of family time. my wife and i will be going down with our youngest son to attend the montana open invitational wrestling tournament, which is a huge event in this state, bringing kids from all over montana, the surrounding states and even canada. as i recall, there were kids from three or four other countries last year, as well. he should do fairly well, because he has outstanding, focused coaches who have produced serious champions here in montana, teaching him some serious, advanced tactics - but he's still a relative beginner (this is his 3rd year and he is 9, wrestling against kids who have been doing this since they were 3 or 4), so things will probably balance out in the middle somewhere. as long as he puts his all into it and doesn't let a win go to his head or a loss go to his heart, i'm proud.
anyway, hold down the fort, folks, and if you need anything, i should be able to check my email and probably will be able to drop in for a post or update. those of you who are with me on facebook might get an update or two from there, as well.
have a great weekend!
ron
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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Have a great weekend my friend!
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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So, now that you're back, did we win?
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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good morning guys, and thanks!
i'll tell the shorter story first: i aced the test, no troubles at all ~
now, as above, on to more improtant things ~
this wrestling meet was a challenge, but some good thigns came from it. when we got tehre and wentthrough the usual registration/wheigh-in rigamarole, we saw that the organizers of the event classified the participants into groups based on age (two years per group) and in a fairly-wide range of weights. this results in a much-wider pool within each bracket than is normal. so, my son (roger) who is actually 9 years old and weighing 102 pounds, was put in the 10-year-old group at 113 pounds. because of this, he was, in general, wrestling against kids who are older, heavier and more experienced, rather than wrestling against kids that are closer to his age, weight and experience level.
luckily, roger has a very good attitude toward wrestling, which is, always do your best and never quit - if you're smaller and lighter, you need to be faster and smarter. if you win, fine - if you lose, then you'd better be able to tell yourself you did everything you could do, and learn anything you can from the experience.
his first match was against a kid slightly bigger than him, but he applied the ideas above and won. a path to 1st place was clear: 4 wins total would do it. a great beginning!
his second match was against a kid who was a older and little heavier than him, but with much more experience. he pretty much dominated roger, who tried everything he could but couldn't close the deal, so roger lost that one. even with this loss, he still had a shot at a thrid-place finish, and even a second place finish (if the winner of second place was somone he hadn't wrestled before, then they would face off in a "true second place" challenge).
his third match was, to me, the most significant of the three. the kid was visibly older and much heavier, certainly at the top of the range (113) over roger, who was at the bottom (102), but i think they were about even where skills and excperience were concerned. the match began, and i thought roger was going to get creamed, but he fought like a tiger and actuallynearly pinned his opponent. but in the last 12 seconds of the bout, the other kid managed to turn it around and, after a real struggle, pinned roger, wch resulted in 2 losses and roger's elimination from the tournament.
normally, when roger loses, he takes it in stride, knowing that he did his best. but this time, i could immediatly see, even before he left the mat, that he was disheartened. sure enough, when he got back to the stands, he told me that he could have won the bout, but je made one small mistake that allowed his opponent an advantage. it was a mistake that he knew he could have prevented, and he felt pretty bad at about it - one thing's for sure, he won't be making that mistake ever again!
so, in strict wins or losses, he didn't do great, but he didn't lose out completely, either. as far as effort, he did incredibly well, considering his age/weight/experience disadvantages. as far as experience gained and lessons learned, i think this was a very valuable experience. we record each on of his matches, and he reviews them, looking for ways to not only improve for next time, but also to learn wheat hsi opponents are doing and how to counter their moves. i'm pretty confident that, even though he suffered some defeat, he definitely came out ahead and will be a better wrestler for it.
i enver wrestled as a child, but i do find it to be a very valuable sport in that it is an individual sport where you are the one who controls your destiny. he is invovled in some team sports as well, and i think that the two concepts go well together, but the the individual aspect of wrestling, in my opinion, really gives him some growth. since this tournament pretty much marks the end of his wrestling season, we'll see how things go for him next year.
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Marissa
Cook Joined: 28 February 2012 Location: Austin TX Status: Offline Points: 160 |
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Sounds like a great experience for Roger! You certainly can learn a lot from losing to a more experienced person...or losing because of making a mistake! Those things tend to stick in your mind. Glad you are back!
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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thanks!
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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if anyone's interested in the places we went to for dining, click here:
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Margi Cintrano
Master Chef Joined: 03 February 2012 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 6357 |
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Tas,
Have a lovely few days away ... Billings looks like the Capital, Yes ?
ENJOY... Your little one is quite cute too ...
Margi.
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Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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hi, margi - sorry, i forgot to reply to this post!
billings is not the capital of montana, but it is the largest city in the state. probably a "big town" by most standards, but most towns in montana are quite small, so even if it just barely breaks 100k in population, we call it the big city.
anyway, if you picture the state of montana in your head:
my small |
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Margi Cintrano
Master Chef Joined: 03 February 2012 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 6357 |
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Tas,
Hoping one day to travel through your home land ... and we could plan a Lobster Dinner over in Billings ! Thanks for all the details on Montana and Chinook.
I have been to Jacksonhole,Wyoming and a quite a number of " small towns" and Yellowstone ... It was in the early 90s. I was doing a feature article on MUSTANGS in WY.
All my best.
Margi.
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Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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