Wrestle Mania!

Wrestling has been a foreign sport to our family, but we are quickly learning more and more about it. Cameron has chosen to be a wrestler. This is our first son that has wrestled and its been fun watching him and having him be so excited about it. He is in a tough spot this year, as he is wrestling at 170 but he hasn't really hit puberty yet. So he isn't as big and bulky as most of the other boys that he is wrestling against. He is also a freshman wrestling against boys that are Jr's and Sr's. He has a really good attitude and said that he realizes that its going to be a tough year and one that he will learn alot from. (Wow, what an attitude!) A couple of weeks ago he was wrestling against a boy from North Summit. Cameron was doing pretty good and then all of a sudden he was laying on the mat, still and in pain. The coaches came running over and quickly asked if there was an EMT in the crowd. Deron (poor guy) was the only EMT and so he ran down there to check Cameron out and see what had happened. Whenever its a neck injury they don't mess around with it. It becomes very serious, very quick. The boy that Cameron was wrestling had done an illegal move on Cameron's neck. He said that he heard a crackle and a snap and then had intense pain. (I was sure it was broke) I was up in the crowd deciding then and there that this was the LAST wrestling experience that he was going to have and that he was done forever, no matter what!!!! (Mom's do that you know) Deron, the coaches and a few others, were down on the mat accessing his injuries and all I could do was watch. It was pretty intense and scary for a bit. But about the time I was ready to go down and let that boy have it, Cameron said that he would be okay and was going to finish his match (Not what I would have chosen for him, but hey, I'm just the mom). He got up and proceeded to finish his match. I could tell that he was hurting but I admired his strength and courage to go on. Luckily it wasn't anything serious and he iced it good and it was just sore for a few days, but none the less wrestling scares me. Cameron loves it (how could you love being beat up and twisted into a pretzel...boys are weird) and assures me that with any sport there is a chance for injuries. Its been fun seeing him excel at something that he loves. I just have to think....it's not going to be too many more years and we will be empty nester's and then we will really miss this kind of stuff.