Breakdowns, Takedowns, Positions, and Pins

 Kanyon wrestled for one season when he was in 1st grade. Josh and I have often thought since then that wrestling would be a good sport for him because he's physically tough and mentally strong. He mentioned once in junior high that he was interested in doing the sport after watching some of his friends at West J compete at a home meet, but then he didn't mention it again. Josh and I kept talking to him about it each year, trying to convince him to be part of the wrestling team, but he wasn't interested. 

After several years of suggesting he do the sport, Josh and I decided we weren't even going to suggest it this past year. And then out of the blue, Kanyon announced last fall that he was once again interested in joining the wrestling team! We couldn't believe it...we asked him what made him change his mind about the sport. He said he'd had a conversation with Erik Oliverson (Jonah and Micah's friend) earlier in the fall, and Erik suggested he participate in the sport because he was physically strong and there'd been changes on the team, and it was a more positive environment now than it was a couple of years ago and the team could really use him. So he decided to give it a try! We were so grateful for Erik's influence on him! The local team has an annual father/son wrestling night as a fundraiser to kick off the season in November, and even though practices hadn't even started yet, Kanyon and Josh were on the line-up to wrestle each other without any official plans on how it was going to go! Josh was only one of two dads who dressed up all festive for the occasion. He started out the dual by "paying" the ref and doing the Karate Kid stance! It was a hilarious show, and was a fun way to start the season!

CLICK HERE to see Josh and Kanyon at the Father/Son Wrestling event

The team was fairly small, only about 10 youth total, and most were in the same grade as Kanyon: sophomores. It was nice that they were all about the same age. Several on the team were very experienced wrestlers, but there were a couple of new additions to the sport too, like Kanyon, which was good for him to not be the only beginner. He started practice every day after school in mid-November. There were three coaches (2 for the boys and 1 for the girls), and they were fairly experienced and kind to him as they taught him basic maneuvers and moves. 

The first tournament was a takedown style meet against Challis at the end of November. Kanyon competed for our team in the 170 lb. weight class. He got to wrestle two different kids, as their team was twice the size as ours. He scored against the first one, which we were so happy about! His second opponent had lots of facial hair and chest hair, and he was pumping himself up before the match just as Rocky did in the movies. He was actually in a higher weight class than Kanyon, but since we had nobody in that weight class, Kanyon wrestled him instead. I was afraid for Kanyon's life! He lost both matches after being pinned and the Rocky kid elbowed him in the nose, which caused him to bleed a lot as a result, but he didn't sustain any other permanent damage, thankfully. 

The next tournament was in American Falls on the first weekend of December. It was a 2-day, duals-style tournament. Josh and I were able to go watch him. We saw him wrestle 3 of 4 rounds on Friday, and watched him wrestle 6 times on Saturday! He'd gotten the flu the first week of wrestling, and dropped enough weight to make the 160 weight class for this tournament, which he maintained for the rest of the season. This was the first meet that he used the new knee pads that we'd purchased him over Thanksgiving, due to his constant knee pain at practice. The knee pads helped, but then he developed a new health problem: he got so many bloody noses during this tournament, which became a normal occurrence for him after that. In fact, in one match he sustained a double bloody nose! Anytime his nose would start bleeding, they'd have to pause the match to clean up the blood and stuff his nose with absorbent cloth pads. He was pinned in 5 of the matches on Saturday, but he steadily improved in each one, and in his final match of the day he pinned his opponent and won! It was such an exciting moment for us all! Amanda and Ryan also stopped by on their way home to Ogden from Salmon to watch him on Saturday, and saw him wrestle twice, including when he got his first win!

His next tournament was another 2-day meet in Marsh Valley, but due to the weather and our schedule, Josh and I were unable to go. He did fairly well at it, and he was glad to hang out with some of his West J friends in between his matches who were at that meet, too. We were glad someone was there to support him! Thankfully, we saw him at his next two meets in Montana. Josh drove the team bus to the mid-week tournament in Hamilton, and we both drove up and watched him compete in Corvallis on Saturday. Each time we saw him, he was improving--he even scored a few points against his opponents at these meets. He did a good job of listening to his coaches' input throughout the season and implementing the skills he was learning. 

After the tournaments in Montana, the team had a break for a few weeks in December due to the holidays. They still practiced, but their next meet wasn't until January 6 in Twin Falls, Idaho. This was another 2-day tournament on Friday and Saturday. Josh drove the team bus, and I joined them, too. We left super early on Friday morning, and encountered some bad weather through Craters, but we made it to Twin Falls safely and were still 2 hours early! This was a massive tournament, and there were so many teams from big schools there, so the gym was CRAZY as they all arrived and weighed in. There were 6 mats between the bottom level gym and the upstairs practice gym. Wrestling started at 3:00 on Friday and lasted until 8:00 that night. Kanyon had 3 matches on day 1. He pinned his opponent in the first match, put up a tough fight in the 2nd match, getting pinned in the 2nd period of play (there are 3 periods per match). The 3rd match was rough and he got pinned in the first period. His shoulder was hurting after the 2nd match and he'd had a hard time breathing in the 3rd match from his mask sliding down his neck. However, he continued to show growth and improvement during the day, which was awesome to see, but since it was a double-elimination tournament, and he'd lost twice, he didn't compete on Saturday. 

The next weekend, we were back in southern Idaho again at the Wendell double-elimination tournament. This was a tough meet with a bunch of smaller schools with excellent wrestling programs. The West J team was there, too, so we got to cheer for wrestlers from both Salmon and West J which was fun, especially since some of our wrestlers had dropped from the team due to grades so we only had 7 now instead of 10. However, there wasn't a lot of room for spectators at this location, which was a challenge. We were packed into the upper stands pretty snugly! Kanyon had a bye in the first round on Friday, and then wrestled twice after that. He lost his first match by a pin. His 2nd match was very competitive: going into the final 2 minute period of it, he was tied with the other kid 2-2. About halfway through that final period, Kanyon got in a bad position and ended up getting pinned as a result. It was an exciting match to watch, though, and we were proud of him for making it to the 3rd period! As a result of his 2 losses, he didn't compete on Saturday. He rode home with the team on Saturday night and got super sick. He was puking for several hours after he got home, and we didn't know if he was sick or if he'd gotten food poisoning at the restaurant that they'd stopped to eat at on the way home. I took him to the e.r. around 2am after he kept puking up bile repeatedly, and they treated him for dehydration and nausea. That was a crazy ending to the long weekend!   

He had a mid-week tournament in the evening on January 19 in Challis. He'd been sick on and off since coming home from Wendell, so he'd lost a little more weight, weighing in at 153, but still wrestling in the 160-weight class. I wasn't able to go, but Josh and Grandma T went and watched him. Thankfully, since he'd dropped a weight class after his last meet there, he didn't have to wrestle the opponent that was in the larger weight class again (who he'd referred to as the "grown-a.. man" with his full beard and large stature) but he wrestled the 170 lb. wrestler, since they didn't have anyone at 160 pounds. He made it to the 3rd period against him before he lost the match, which was great! He also had a mid-week tournament the next week at North Fremont. Josh and I each had a doctor appointment that same day in Idaho Falls, and unbeknownst to us, the wrestling meet got changed to start one hour earlier, and when we arrived at the meet, we'd just barely missed watching him by about 5 minutes. He was the first wrestler to compete in that meet, and the only one we missed! We were sad to have missed it, especially after driving all the way to North Fremont to see him!

The last weekend of January, Kanyon's team travelled to Kooskia in northern Idaho for the Clearwater Duals tournament. Josh and I made the 5+ hour drive there to watch Kanyon and his team compete in Kooskia, but we stayed at a hotel in Orofino. It's a very small school, but they had two full size gyms, and the head-to-head battles were spread out in the 2 locations. This was a really great tournament: the concessions had great food, there was room to spread out, it was organized very well, and we competed against kids who we hadn't competed against all year, so there was a lot of new opponents for our wrestlers. Our small team was combined with the Lapwai school team for the duration of the tournament. They had 5 matches the first day, and 3 matches the second day. Their team won the last match of the first day, which was exciting, and almost won the last match of the 2nd day too (losing only by 3 points). Kanyon did so well! He battled hard and had 2 matches between the 2 days where he wasn't pinned and was able to last all 6 minutes. The last match was especially exciting, because he was winning for most of it. Although he didn't win any matches, he looked so strong on the mat!

There was a mid-week tournament against West Jefferson in Mud Lake on Wednesday, Feb. 1. He wrestled against Bentley, a kid he knew, and ultimately lost, but he put up a good fight. This was the last home tournament for West J, so they hosted a fun glow-in-the-dark alumni wrestling event after the tournament ended for Senior Night. It was so fun to see Kanyon hanging out with his West J friends and watching this funny event together!

Salmon hosted a head-to-head battle against Ririe on Thursday, Feb. 9. Kanyon had been sick all week, and wasn't really feeling well enough to wrestle, but he did it anyway to help out his small team. I was so proud of him for giving it his all even when he didn't feel well!

Salmon hosted the district wrestling tournament at the Lynch Center on Friday, Feb. 17. It was nice to finally have a full tournament on our home turf! However, districts were originally going to be held on Thursday, but due to blowing snow and cold temperatures in the Idaho Falls area they postponed the tournament in Salmon to Friday, in order to accommodate the out-of-town teams. It ended up being a super LONG day, because the band department already had their Swing Night fundraiser scheduled for that same night, so after Kanyon wrestled all day, he had to go play the tuba all night! We were so impressed by his ability to do both! Districts was a double-elimination tournament. Kanyon wrestled well in a tough weight class. He lost his first two matches but was able to wrestle again for 7th place and he WON that match against a North Fremont kid. It was great for him to end the season with a win, bringing his total matches won up to 4 for the season. He immediately showered and changed and went to the high school gym to play for Swing Night as some of his teammates wrestled in the Championship rounds. Brylee Ganske and TJ Smith won their weight classes, and Carter Caywood finished 5th after injuring his shoulder again. Our team finished the season with just 7 wrestlers, and we had 4 district champions (including the 2 girls) out of that, which was a pretty impressive statistic! 

L-R: Aiden, TJ, Carter, Brylee, Kanyon

All Sophomores! Kanyon, Carter, Aiden, TJ, Brylee, Raelynn, & Hildee

I liked this banner they hung in the gym for Districts. 

His first opponent was Bentley from West J

Their wrestling coach was also Kanyon's throwing coach in track!

Kanyon's 2nd opponent was the older Huntsman brother
from the Ririe team who he'd wrestled at Salmon's home meet.

His final opponent was from North Fremont.

It was a new experience for Josh and I to be "wrestling parents" but it was an experience that we learned to love. I learned a lot of new terms, learned more about the scoring, and learned what to shout out as I was spectating! Watching my son compete in a sport that's so competitive and physically challenging was stressful at times, but overall, I felt so proud of him for learning something new and seeing him improve each week. Additionally, it was a good opportunity for Josh and I to travel during the long, cold, depressing winter months in order to go watch his tournaments. It helped us feel not so alone and sad having the other boys all gone, and it gave us something to look forward to each week. We don't know if Kanyon will do the sport again (he said the practices were grueling, and it really hurt his body and knees), but we thought the experience overall was a rewarding one for both him and us!