End of the Championship Match....ELI WINS!

AND you better believe I am shouting as loud as I can!   We are so immensely proud of Eli…. there was a lot of pressure on him to do well this season (mostly from himself but so many others believed he could be a champ, too), and he was strong physically, mentally, and emotionally!  Eli won the Pine Tree Wrestling League State Championships, 138-lb. weight class today with an undefeated season! Eli is the first kid since 2003 (when Eli was in kindergarten) to win a State title from the Camden-Rockport Middle School (Oliver Bradeen in 2003 was the last–he went on to be a three-time runner up to State Champion in high school, too).

Here is a YouTube video of Eli’s Championship match.  Camden-Rockport coaches Paul and True are just to the right of the screen, the Bath team coaches are just to the left of the screen.  Eli is in red, the Bath boy is Justin Johnson, in blue.  (If you want to see it full screen click in the lower right of the embedded video to enlarge; press Escape to return to exit full screen mode).  FYI…at about 5 minutes in, you’ll see a break in the action.  The Bath kid tried a move, but Eli held him tight; when the Bath boy went down, he got squeezed and it hurt, so they took a medical time out.  Fortunately, he was OK.  Then after they resume wrestling you’ll hear me say “come on that was 7 seconds”–the scoring table forgot to re-start the clock!  The refs realized they had been wrestling enough time, so moved the clock forward to 2 seconds left, the match re-started, then  Eli  got the win officially, score 9-1, which is considered a “Major Decision” (i.e. by a big margin).

With forfeits and exhibition matches (4 of those, two with 145-lb kids, two with 131), Eli finishes his season at 34-0!  WOW!   I am totally impressed, and especially at the comments of the other adults.  After his first match, the REFEREE complimented him on his takedown.  During the course of the day and after Eli won, other coaches congratulated Paul (dad and Asst. Coach) and True (coach) on how good a wrestler he is, and how nice a kid he is, too!   Can you tell I am absolutely popping with pride?

This may be my favorite photo I've ever taken of Eli wrestling...it really captures the speed of the action, the strength and determination of the athletes!

MAJOR THANKS to Paul for the incredible amount of time he has given to CRMS over the past seven seasons, first with Joshua and now with Eli, and the time and devotion to honing Eli’s physical abilities and mental outlook, to True Bragg (coach) for what he has given not just to Eli but to the team over the years he  has been coach, and to Eli’s practice partners and the other coaches from the area who have helped Eli.   We are so blessed to live in a wrestling hotbed that, more than anything, is a welcoming (to us folks from away!), warm, caring community that takes care of and celebrates its own.

Here are some photos of the championship match:

The opening whistle sounds!

Eli dominated the match from start to finish, with one brief (scary for mom except it was over so fast) blip in the third period

As Eli said -- it's hard to do anything is someone grabs your ankle, hence using the move!

Look at the stretch on both boys! They need strength, flexibility, speed, mental agility, mental toughness...

End of the Championship Match....ELI WINS!--it's worth repeating again here GRIN!

Two happy and now-relaxed coaches!

Photo is a tad blurry, but I like it anyway...Eli (L), Paul (back), True (R)

Eli adds another bracket sheet to his room... Bath kid is next, and 3rd place with white ribbon. Congrats to all!

Paul looks at Eli's first place medal--the middle spins around

I cajoled the kids who went into a photo when we stopped at McD's on the way home. Far left is Elvis B. who also made it into the States, Coach True, teammate E., Eli, Paul behind Teammate H., and jovial chatterbox teammate T.

Thanks to the teammates who were able to attend today.  We’ll see everyone we hope at the end-of-season potluck on Wednesday at the school.   WOOOHOOOOOHOOOOOO!

CONGRATULATIONS ELI!

OK…so this is the Winter-That-Wasn’t for much of the eastern half of the United States.  We had a blizzard in late October, a “January cold” cold spell before Christmas, and a blizzard in early February.  That’s IT.  Then we had a couple days of summer about 2 weeks ago.  Then yesterday, this:

On the way home from exercise class at the Y in Camden, March 29th....

Approaching Hope Crossing (i.e. downtown Hope, Maine)

The willow hedge on the lower part of the driveway

The willow tree near the "corner" of the driveway. I love how the branches first flush yellow-green in spring, then the buds begin to swell and, here, catch the snow

home, looking uphill from the lower part of the driveway. One of these years we will paint and get rid of the awful dark brown on the house, but it doesn't need painting yet. But how did we get so lucky to live somewhere so beautiful, again?!!!!

At least it truly is beautiful.  And it will melt.  SOON.  We actually have a crocus that bloomed a month early in the garden, and the iris greens are already coming up!  I’m ready for this to be the last of the white stuff until next fall!

Tomorrow/Saturday the 31st:  State Wrestling tournament…send “good wrestling, good referee-ing” thoughts for Eli!

Last year it looked like this on April 1st (no, not a joke, that’s when the blizzard hit):

April 2011

This is what it looked like today:

Today, 21 March 2012

And, drum roll, the weather station said today:

Yep, that is EIGHTY degrees.  In March.  In Maine!   The weather guy said he could not find ANY records this warm this early in the year as long as he could find in the records…. INSANE!  Of course, as Eli said, he loves low humidity 80 degree summer days…oops…it’s the start of Spring!

Or, Mama gets to brag on her kid!  (You are thereby forewarned LOL!)

Yesterday was the last regular meet of the Middle School Wrestling Season for the Pine Tree Wrestling League (PTWL — which covers about 75-80 percent of Maine).  Next Saturday will be Eastern Regionals, held here in Camden at the High School (16 teams…eeeek!), and the following Saturday will be States in Bath.  To say that Eli has done well in his 8th grade year is an understatement of epic proportions:  he has just finished an UNDEFEATED regular season (and you better believe Mama and Papa are shouting!).

Eli pacing before a match. He sometimes strides purposefully opposite the kid he's about to wrestle as a psych-out maneuver. Wrestling is at least as much a head-game as one of physical strength and skill.

The way it works is the kids (boys and girls) are divided into weight classes that are about 8 pounds apart.  Eli is wrestling 138,meaning he can’t go over 138.  Fortunately, he has had a couple of pounds leeway every week.  The good thing is that the league recognizes that kids grow, so every 2 weeks the weight limit goes up a pound…this coming Saturday if you weigh (for example) 140 or less, you can still wrestle in the 138 pound weight class.  This year in his weight class there has not been a lot of competition…not every school has a wrestler for each of the many weight classes…in fact MOST schools don’t fill all the slots.  But of the 23 scheduled pairings, Eli has wrestled about 13 matches.  The ones he didn’t wrestle he gets a “win by forfeit.”  So that means he “won” those 10 or so.  The ones he DID wrestle he won EVERY SINGLE ONE–two by points, all the others by pinning his opponent, most often in the first period! (There are three periods of two minutes, one minute and one minute.)  AND he had four exhibition matches…ones that don’t count toward the rankings for Regionals.  Two he wrestled a kid from the 131 weight class, two from the 145 weight class.  He won all four!  Amazing…

The two boys shake hands, crouch and wait for the ref to blow the whistle. Here she is signaling to the scoring table that she is about to begin.

As soon as the whistle blows the two start trying to gain an advantage

Eli begins to take the other boy down to the mat.

Eli is in red, on top. True Bragg, our coach, and DH Paul, Assistant Coach, are in red with their backs to the camera. The Ellsworth coaches are on the opposite side of the mat behind the ref.

Sat. March 17, 2012 at Ellsworth. It took Eli less than one minute to pin his first match on Saturday, against Ellsworth. Here the ref is checking to see that the Ellsworth boy's shoulders are on the mat for one second before calling Pinned!

Then…drum roll…

For once I got it on "film"..Arm raised for the win! I took the big heavy camera and set it on "burst" mode. It took about 12 shots but at least one of the was "hand up" for the win!

After the match, the boys shake hands, the ref raises the hand of the winner, then Eli goes to the opposing coaches to shake hands, the other boy comes to shake hands with our coaches, and the next match begins.

This picture of True (left) and Paul (seated) will make every Camden-Rockport parent chuckle... it is SO typical!

Eli also had an exhibition match…as it turns out, against a boy whom he knows from track and with whom he was chatting and having fun.  That kid wrestled at 131 and pretty much knew he was going to get whomped, but he tried gamely anyway.

Eli in the process of rolling his opponent (from Belfast) over by turning him with his arm/shoulder.

At one point, his buddy told Eli in a joking voice “gee you stink” …after the match he told Eli he was trying to make Eli laugh and lose his concentration.  Eli said his buddy *almost* succeeded but Eli didn’t give in and kept his concentration, as you can see in the next photo.

Pinned! Notice the blur to the right of the ref?

That blur to the right of the ref is his hand, as he slaps the mat to indicate that Eli has pinned his opponent.

Next:  Regionals.  As long as Eli stays on his game, which we expect, he has a VERY good chance at repeating as Eastern Regional PTWL Champion.  The most interesting thing that weekend will be to see who wins at 138 in the Western Region.  Eli has three times beat the kid from Bath who is in that region, and that boy’s coach said the only matches he has lost have been to Eli.  IF that boy wins Western Regionals…….. so we are eagerly, nervously, looking forward to the next two Saturdays!   Eli lost States in the last 20 seconds last year, so we’ll see what he can do this year.  No matter the outcome, he has done an outstanding job this year and we are proud!

One more warning:  You may here wild shouting if/when he wins next weekend…stay tuned for more Proud Parent photos….

There are several sure signs of spring in Maine.  Besides the ubiquitous robins, for me the return of the woodpeckers hammering away in the woods near our homes (first in Camden and now in Hope) means spring is truly here:  the bugs are awake, moving, and ready to be turned into supper.  Another is the return of the buzzards, whom I came to love in Camden.  They roosted in trees at the end of our driveway and across the street; they are gregarious, family-oriented, raucous and huge.  I learned after moving to Maine that they too are a sure sign of spring:  they only appear when the rising air currents are warm enough to lift the scent of carrion!

Sap buckets on the maple trees....On route 131 in Searsmont (or thereabouts)

On the more delectable side of things, in late winter you know the hardware store is getting ready for spring with maple syrup taps  (…like a spigot/tube that you hammer into the maple tree…)  that are in a bucket on the counter next to the cash register.  A few weeks later you can be driving along the back roads that criss-cross the state (we have only one highway, I- 95 up and down the center, so everything is a backroad byway to get to anywhere) and see trees sprouting maple sap buckets to catch the dripping rising sap.  Did you know that it takes FORTY (yes, 40) gallons of sap to make ONE gallon of syrup?  And the sap is clear…looks and tastes like sugar water!  One more photo to share:

Join me in the chorus: I LOVE living in Maine! I am finally where I was meant to be!

And tomorrow I’ll do a proud Mama post and share Eli’s wrestling progress…..WOOT!