12 Days - Day 6: Carley Wrestles!

I sort of cheated on this post. I had the post mostly put together but not quite finished so I never scheduled a time for it to post. Then I got busy with other things. Now it's Friday morning and I'm posting it as if I did it Thursday night. Still. Now I'm officially halfway through the 12 days! 

Carley is in middle school and gets to choose one elective for the whole year. Just like Josh, she chose one called "Exploration" where she is in art class for one semester and performance class for one semester. Unlike Josh, she loves the art teacher who is also the wrestling coach. The first day of school Carley came home and said she wanted to join the wrestling team. Walt and I agreed that she could but I honestly thought as time went on that she would change her mind. She stayed steadfast in her decision.

Wrestling started in mid-October with occasionally practices. Starting in November, practices were four days a week. December 13th was her first wrestling meet.

Carley is one of two or three girls on the wrestling team so yes, she does wrestle boys in her weight class. I've never actually been to a wrestling meet before, or watched wrestling for that matter, so the first tournament was a learning experience for both, me and Carley. (Walt was with Josh at his water polo tournament the same day.)

Carley got noticably better and smarter in her matches as the day went on. The first match, she was pinned fairly quickly in the first period. She was pinned in the second period during her second match. In her third match, she wasn't pinned at all! She did lose the third match by points, though.

Does this make any sense to you? It didn't to me at first either but I learned as the day went on.
Here is a quick run down on the structure of wrestling matches, if you are interested:

Structure of a Wrestling Match

• One wrestler will be given the green ankle bracelet (Home Team) and the other will be give the red ankle bracelet (Away Team). This will determine the line they stand on when starting in the center of the mat as well as which score is theirs on the scoreboard
• There are 3 periods
• First Period (2 min): Both wrestlers start in the "neutral" position, meaning both wrestlers start in the center of the circle on their feet. 
• Second Period (2 min): The Ref will flip a red/green coin. Whichever wrestler wins the toss gets to choose Neutral (on their feet), Top position, bottom position, or to defer 
• Third Period (2 min): Same as the second period, only the second wrestler gets to choose top, down, or neutral.

Wrestlers earn points by getting a take-down or getting away from the opponent.

Anyway, Carley did fantastic for it being her first wrestling meet and being up against only boys. I am so very proud of her, especially for sticking with something that isn't very popular with girls.

She was pretty sore the next day!

Below is video of her second match or watch it here on YouTube.

JV Water Polo

Josh is playing water polo this year for the first time and is goalie on the JV boys team. He does really well, especially for being pretty new to the sport. His only experience before going out for the team was 4-hour per week clinic over summer. 

He was super nervous starting out at high school but has enjoyed playing on his team and getting to know the girls and guys of water polo. Boys JV team is so small that there is only one substitute on the bench. Josh plays the full game but doesn't get as exhausted as the other boys who are swimming back and forth the length of the pool. In the shallow end, goalies are allowed to stand and the rest of the players are not. 

We, as a family, knew nothing about water polo at the beginning of the season. Walt and I are starting to pick up on the plays and calls after watching so many games. Josh is planning on playing again next year and will hopefully be in more clinics during off season. 

What Happened in May? A Lot of Things!

Carley took five days of spring swim lessons. She ended up taking eight more days in June, as well, to strengthen her strokes. She wants to try out for swim team next year.

Carley played in her very last elementary band concert. She starts middle school in August and did not choose band as her elective. She'll be taking art and performance in school, which is still falls in "visual and performing arts" so not too bad. She is looking forward to expanding her experiences.

Mother's Day was in May. Carley made me breakfast in bed.

Josh went to his 8th grade dance. I cannot believe he's finished with middle school! He's in the back row.

My Girls on the Run team ran their 5k! I started co-coaching a Girls on the Run team at Carley's school back in February.  It's a really great program for 3rd-5th grade girls that not only incorporates exercise and goal setting but the lessons also cover important topics such as self-esteem and celebrating individual
qualities. The team met after school twice a week. All teams in the area ran the Girls on the Run 5k in May. I was so incredibly proud of Carley and all the other girls on our team for accomplishing their goal.

The girls needed an adult "running buddy" to run the 5K with them. Since I was a coach and needed to be at the finish line, my friend, Christy, ran with Carley. Thanks Christy!

 Carley received an award from her teacher for improving her reading over the course of the year. Carley really did work hard and through individual tutoring and help at school, she brought up her reading a couple of grade levels.

What Happened in May? A Track Meet

Our school district puts on an open invitational elementary track and field meet each year for 4th-6th graders. Each year, including when Josh was younger, I would only hear about the track meet after it happened. This year, because of my involvement in PTA, I heard about it ahead of time! 

Carley participated in each event: long jump, shot put, 70 meter hurdles, 370 meter run and 70 meter run. 

Students could only participate one time in each event. Each flight included nine students and each child received a ribbon for their place. The highest Carley received was 5th place but she went out there, gave it her all and had a great time. 

long-jump

shot-put

5th place in long-jump and shot-put

70 meter hurdles

370 meter

70 meter

The meet was a fun event and Carley enjoyed participating with her school friends.