Wrestling ruining baseball for my "biddy" wrestler?

• jmog

  I'll start off by saying I'm a big baseball/football guy. I played both in HS, played on a state title winning football team and 2 final 4 baseball teams.
  
  I played baseball in college until I blew out my arm.
  
  I wrestled for all of 2 years (8th and 9th grade) until i quit because I got tired of lifting weights all year long to get bigger for football and then be asked to drop weight for wrestling.
  
  Anyway, I've always been a fan of the sport of wrestling and after doing it for two years always told the "football" guys that thought football practice was so hard that they hadn't seen anything, wrestling was 10x harder than football.
  
  Anyway, long story short my middle son, who is 6 is in his 2nd year of wrestling (just about finished) and he absolutely loves it, he can't get enough of it.
  
  He's above average, he won every "team" or "all star" match this year and did well at most tournaments (won some, placed in most). He won his OAC district and could have placed probably 7th or 8th at OAC states but he got hurt in his 3rd match.
  
  So, there are definitely kids out there better than him, but he's pretty good. He loves it and even though his team (Mogadore) has been done since March, he still goes to open mats once or twice a week and every Saturday asks what tournaments are around.
  
  Now, baseball (coach pitch) has started, I go to his practices hoping to see the same VERY instense kid I see on the mat (that's how he wins most of his matches at 6 yrs old, he is MUCH more aggressive than the other kids). Instead I see a kid that is bored to tears with baseball practice, he's playing in the dirt, playing in the grass, picking dandelions, etc.
  
  I really think the intensity and pace of wrestling has made him bored with baseball. He won't admit it and keeps saying he really likes baseball and wants to play, but I can tell he's bored.
  
  Right after baseball practice is over, we'll be on our way home and he'll ask me when's the next wrestling tournament...
  
  I don't have the heart to tell him there's only 2 more in our area (Garrettsville on May 1 and Lake's "Friday Night Lights" later in May).
  
  Maybe football will clear his "boredom" as he turns 7 in July so he can play tackle football this year...
• jmog

  Oh, and funny story...
  
  My wife was 100% against him wrestling last year at 5 in Kindergarten. Matter of fact because of her opposition he missed the first week or 2 of practice.
  
  Finally I convinced her he would be fine as he would only wrestle kids his own age and weight. He wouldn't be wrestling some 5th grade 100 lb kid.
  
  Now, my wife is the biggest "wrestling mom" out there. I think she loves watching him wrestle even more than I do...lol.
• ksig489

  He is 6...relax.
• jmog

  I put this up as a funny story, I am "relaxed".
  
  It was just a funny "hey, my kid loves wrestling more than baseball", it wasn't like I was worried about something.
• Fab1b

  

  What he will get from wrestling IMO is far greater than what he will get from baseball or football, and I played all but wrestling took over and after 7th grade it was wrestling from there on out from me. Just go with it, encourage him but don't force the baseball issue, if he wants it he will take it!
• jmog

  I don't force anything with him.
  
  I actually wanted wrestling to be over after OAC state tournament.
  
  He, on the other hand, on the way home from the tournament (his elbow still hurting) asked when the next wrestling tournament was.
  
  So far, this is the kid that wants to play every sport possible.
  
  When he was 4 he was upset that his older brother got to play sports and he didn't, so we signed him up for the YMCA preschool soccer "class".
  
  Then he started in baseball, next year wrestling, now he keeps talking about playing football this year.
  
  He wanted to play both basketball and wrestling this past year but we told him he had to choose just one (it didn't take him long to choose wrestling...like 2 seconds).
  
  If at the end of this season he says he never wants to play baseball again, he'll never play baseball again.
  
  
  He's the exact opposite of my older son in this area. My older son is kind of lazy, he tried basketball one year and that was it. He tried wrestling one year, and that was it. He seems to like baseball, this is his 4th year, but has even hinted at this being his last year of baseball, which would be ok with me if he doesn't want to play.
  
  The middle son would play every sport offered if he could.
• Fab1b

  

  Glad to hear that jmog!! Remember wrestling season can never end if you want him to keep going. There are clubs/practices year round at most schools as well as tournaments to be had every weekend of the year.
• jmog

  He wants to still go to open mats throughout the summer and possibly a camp or two.
  
  However, maybe there are other good websites out there other than ohiowrestler.com that shows youth tournaments?
  
  It appears their list stops here in a few weeks.
• Fab1b

  

  Anyone out there have another Ohio link that provides a list of youth tournaments for jmog??
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Fab1b wrote: Anyone out there have another Ohio link that provides a list of youth tournaments for jmog??

  www.jjhuddle.com
• jmog

  THE4RINGZ wrote:

  Fab1b wrote: Anyone out there have another Ohio link that provides a list of youth tournaments for jmog??

  www.jjhuddle.com

  lol, I don't plan on paying to read those forums any time soon.
• cruiser_96

  

  I think the differences in the two sports is interesting. Wrestling offers intensity, high levels of technique in all areas and at all times, contantly engaging, and amzingly physical and greuling. The change to baseball has to be like culture shock!
• jmog

  cruiser_96 wrote: I think the differences in the two sports is interesting. Wrestling offers intensity, high levels of technique in all areas and at all times, contantly engaging, and amzingly physical and greuling. The change to baseball has to be like culture shock!

  That's what I think it is for him and what I was trying to get across in my first post.
  
  He says he really likes baseball and of course his favorite part is hitting, but when he's in the field its like he's bored to tears after having wrestling since October.
• Fab1b

  

  Another link other than GayGay please
• cruiser_96

  

  Fab1b wrote: Another link other than GayGay please

  Yeah, really! If you DO go over there, tell him I want my $10 back for the lifetime membership... which is odd, because now it's no good!? Just whose lifetime were we talking here!?
• firestonefan

  

  http://www.ohiowrestlingsite.com/forum2/index.html
• antonysharples

  My son is 8 and the same way. He loves baseball, but is bored as hell in the field. It's the way little kids are. Baseball is a boring sport. You have 3 seconds to hold a kids attention, and baseball is WAY to slow for little kids. I can't wait for the season to end.
• knightflyer150

  I think Lacrosse is a better spring sport for the young, wandering mind.
• jmog

  lol, yeah, lacross...in a small district like Mogadore we are lucky to still have wrestling .
• girevik

  http://www.pywrestling.com/
  
  http://www.wvmat.com/
• mr.madry

  At that age it's all about the hit and the catch, they don't care about the subtle intricacies and nuances that come with such a timeless sport (someone else's words used to describe baseball by the way). You might have been able to get away with saving your money and just playing catch with him or going to the batting cage with him every now and then lol.
• jmog

  Well, there is only one tournament left this year that we can "find" for him, and I'm sure he'll be disappointed.
  
  We'll be going to the "Friday Night Lights" at Uniontown Lake High School on May 21st.
  
  Matter of fact, I don't see that that tournament advertised on here, I should find their website and post a "plug".