Youth Wrestling

[M Richardson]

I can't believe how sophisticated your wrestling is becoming. You are way, way ahead of most of the middle and high school kids I coach. It makes me want to work even harder with them.
I am also really happy to hear that your sister is wrestling, too. I got back into wrestling because my daughter joined her middle-school team. She doesn't wrestle any more, but I am really grateful she got me involved again.
I hope there is some way your coach will see what you said about him. "Those people at Heidelburg must be some very good people to deserve my coach." I can't think of anything that would make a teacher happier or prouder than to have a student say that.

How is your summer going? Doing any wrestling? Let us know how you do.

[Mavrick]

Well I started wrestling again last Saturday at Augsburg Wrestling Academy. I was practicing during the summer but then I stopped. Now I get to go to Augsburg Wrestling Academy on Tuesday Wednesday and Saturday. Tuesday is Augsburg cradle day. We practice the Augsburg cradle for part of every Tuesday practice. My Dad says he has never seen a youth wrestler use that technique. I am excited to start learning it. My friend Justin was at Augsburg Wrestling Academy last Fall season and now he is back this year. He won 1st place at State championships last year. I like to wrestle with him. He is bigger than me but younger. He is a really good wrestler and funny too. His Dad and Mom are very nice. I've been practicing the double leg takedown a lot this summer. My Dad says you have to have a good double leg takedown to be a good wrestler. I also started doing tilts this summer. I do the cross wrist tilt and the pump handle tilt. I always practice pinning after every move. I think I am getting better at the half nelson. I saw some of my old videos my Dad made and I noticed I was doing the half nelson wrong. Now I can do it better.

Maverick

[Mavrick]

Last Saturday we started preseason training. There are more High School wrestlers at Augsburg Wrestling Academy now. The first five weeks of Fall season we concentrated on learning new techniques. We did the Augsburg cradle, butcher, cross face cradle, inside cradle, half nelson, ball and chain tilt, double, single, High c. and fireman's carry takedown. I can't remember the rest. Oh yeah, leg turk, arm turk and something else our coach told us to keep a secret. It is a tilt but if you do it wrong it is illegal so you must be careful and do it right. My sister is in Augsburg Wrestling Academy this year. She is a good wrestler but I can pin her even though she is older than me. She can pin the other kids though. She likes to use her legs more than I do. She has long legs and can stretch them far. My Dad says my double leg takedown is much better this year. I want to go to more tournaments now.

[Snackem]

Last Saturday we started preseason training. There are more High School wrestlers at Augsburg Wrestling Academy now. The first five weeks of Fall season we concentrated on learning new techniques. We did the Augsburg cradle, butcher, cross face cradle, inside cradle, half nelson, ball and chain tilt, double, single, High c. and fireman's carry takedown. I can't remember the rest. Oh yeah, leg turk, arm turk and something else our coach told us to keep a secret. It is a tilt but if you do it wrong it is illegal so you must be careful and do it right. My sister is in Augsburg Wrestling Academy this year. She is a good wrestler but I can pin her even though she is older than me. She can pin the other kids though. She likes to use her legs more than I do. She has long legs and can stretch them far. My Dad says my double leg takedown is much better this year. I want to go to more tournaments now.

Keep up the good work, getting in more tournaments (matches) will help a lot. Don't forget though that the key isn't in learning a ton of new technique, rather you want to PERFECT two or three techniques from every position. Learn a bunch of setups, and finishes for one or two techniques.

Keep us posted on how your season goes.

[Mavrick]

Hi Snackem I like your name. It makes me think of snacks. I think my favorite snack is a ding dong. Do you like ding dongs? My Dad says I shouldn't eat too many of them because too many are not good for you. Today he said I could have one but I said no because my stomach was not feeling well. My mom made me eat macaroni and cheese earlier. She said it is all in my head but my head feels fine and my stomach does not feel fine. Did your mom make you eat macaroni and cheese when you were little? My Dad says he ate a lot of macaroni and cheese when he was little so now I have to because it is like a family tradition already. I like your cartoon. It makes me laugh. My Dad is laughing now. I thought he was laughing at your cartoon but he said he is laughing at me because I am so funny. He says I should become a comedian some day. I don't know what that is.

I do the double leg takedown most of the time and the single leg sometimes. I almost always pin with the half nelson but I know how to do arm bars too. This Fall season I have been working on the cradle from the cradle ride. I think I know 7 finishes from the cradle ride. If I break them down flat I do the cross face cradle or the butcher. If they put their leg up I put in the Augsburg cradle. If they put their leg out to the side I push their head to their knee and cradle them. My sister throws her leg in and does the banana split when they do that but I like the cradle better. Her legs are longer than mine.

My Dad says I need to work on escapes. I think he is right. I know the stand up sit out switch grandby peterson and inside elevator but I don't practice them enough. My Dad told me to focus on stand up sit out and switch but I like the grandby peterson and inside elevator better. He said you are right. I think I will do the switch because I am better at that already. Thank you for saying nice things to me. I like you. Are you really a world champ? That means you are the best in the whole wide world! Wow. That is big. Could you please share your youth wrestling stories with me?

Maverick

[Mavrick]

Today I went to the Blaine takedown tournament and won first place. It was a small tournament so I was only able to wrestle twice. I won by one point in the first match and tied the second match. I had the most takedowns so I was awarded 1st place. I need to work on my hand fighting skills. Next week I go to another takedown tournament. The next one will be bigger and have better wrestlers. I did the double leg and the single leg takedowns during this tournament. I saw my friends Will, Lorenzo and Micah from South Saint Paul at this tournament. They did good too. Will got third place. I also saw my friend Decary from Augsburg Wrestling Academy at the tournament. I think he got 2nd place. He is a good wrestler. He had 17 takedowns in one match. Decary is in 5th grade and weighs 62lbs. I'm in 2nd grade and weigh 63 lbs. Decary is a good wrestling partner for me. My sister wrestled too and she got 4th place. She only had 2 takedowns but they were cool. She does the single leg with an inside trip finish. My Dad says she need to be more aggressive. She doesn't want to hurt anyone so she doesn't sprawl hard or finish her takedowns hard enough. She is still a good wrestler though and she has fun. I am glad she goes to tournaments with me now. This was only her second tournament ever.

[Mavrick]

We just finished 10 weeks of 3 practices per week at Augsburg Wrestling Academy last week. This weekend I went to Apple Valley on Saturday and the Augsburg kids classic open tournament on Sunday. I got second place both days. I was very frustrated when I lost. My Dad noticed that last year when I lost I cried but this year when I lost I got angry. He said neither of those are good for me and I should let him do the crying and the getting angry and I should concentrate on the good and just get more determined. I pinned 2 of 3 at Apple Valley and 1 of 3 at Augsburg. I used the Augsburg Cradle for the pin at Augsburg.

Augsburg College had a college tournament on Saturday and hosted the youth tournament on Sunday. I wanted to see the college tournament but I was at the youth tournament at Apple Valley. I pretended to be on the same team as the Augsburg College wrestlers and we were just competing at different age brackets and different locations.

On Sunday the Augsburg college wrestlers were running the tournament and because I practice in the same wrestling room after their practice I know them. It was great to see all of them and I was happy they watched me wrestle. I just wish I could have won 1st place so they could have seen me win first place at their tournament for them. I saw my friends from Woodbury and South Saint Paul there. I got an Augsburg College Wrestling Poster and went around to all the mats and had the Augsburg College Wrestlers sign it for me. My friend Quinn from South Saint Paul did too.

This year I wrestle at Simley in Inver Grove Heights on Tuesday and Thursday and South Saint Paul on Monday Wednesday and Friday. South Saint Paul and Simley have a rivalry with each other. I'm not from Inver Grove Heights or South Saint Paul so I like them both. Augsburg Wrestling Academy starts their next season on January 8th. That will be in 2012 because January is the first month of the next year. My Mom accidentally deleted 1000 pictures from her digital camera and she was sad. My little brother told her not to worry because it's not the end of the world, it's only November. He is funny.


Maverick

[Mavrick]

Today I'm going to visit North Saint Paul youth wrestling club. I'm looking forward to it. I hope I find some good wrestlers to practice with. I've been practicing bridging and arching my back over the Summer and Fall. Today my Dad taught me the lateral drop. He said he had me doing neck exercises and arching exercises for so long so he could teach that move to me when I was ready. I can't wait to try it.

[Mavrick]

I went to North Saint Paul and and it was great. My sister had a great time. There was another girl there for he to wrestle and she had a lot of fun. The other girl had a sister who wrestles in middle school and she was there to coach youth wrestling. She said nice things to my sister and my sister was trying hard to wrestle her best. A lot of people wanted to wrestle her. We played king of the ring and my sister got a takedown on me and won. I got 2 takedowns before I had to wrestle her. I wrestled their best wrestlers and I did very well. The coaches said nice things to me and told my Dad that we were good wrestlers and have good technique. My little brother was there too. He is 5 years old. He still needs to learn how to wrestle. He said he had a lot of fun.

On Tuesday we went to Simley and my sister and I wrestled. Every time my sister had a new partner everyone would tease the boy she wrestled with. She did very well and got a lot of takedowns and some pins. One of the boys was wearing red pants and the red started coming off and turning everyone pink. It was funny and we all laughed and had fun. At Simley some people call you by your last name only. Today we went to Tartan High School in Oakdale and wrestled. They just started their season so they are still learning basic stuff. I met my cousin and Uncle who I never met before. We didn't know they would be there but my Dad recognized my uncle. My little cousin is 5 and he is already a great wrestler. My Dad said he is a natural. My partner at Oakdale was new to wrestling so I had to take it easy on him. He is very strong so I think he will be good when he learns more. Tomorrow we go back to Simley and Friday we go to South Saint Paul. Saturday we go to a tournament in Apple Valley at EastRidge High School. Sunday we are going to a tournament in Hastings. Hastings was the 1st tournament I ever went to. I got pinned in all my matches that time. This year I hope I pin all my opponents instead. This season is really fun so far.