All Good Things Must Come To An End

My time with the Mount Miguel Matadors has come to an end. Since making the decision of leaving for Ohio, I knew I was going to give up a lot of things I enjoy. Coaching at Mt. Miguel probably tops the list.
For those who have seen me these last couple of days, especially Saturday night after Masters, know how bummed out I am about this.
We hoped to possibly qualify four kids to the state meet but came up short. Our 126 kid really took 5th but was DQed on a bad call which resulted in a 6th place finish. Our 220 kid just missed the medal rounds. Our HW took 4th, just missing out on 3rd and state.
What stood out to me this weekend was our 138 wrestler, a senior and the coach's son. He underachieved all season. It didn't help that he didn't wrestle last year but everyone had high hopes for him. In my opinion, he loves the sport of wrestling, but he lacked that fire for it. However, he always worked hard in the room and was a great team captain. He did it right all year long. And when people see him wrestle they are always in awe of his ability.
While wrestling to stay alive in Masters (had he been on the other side of the bracket he would have more than likely made it to the finals), he was dominating a kid and made one mistake that lead to him getting pinned - which happened to him all season - thus ending his wrestling career. He laid on the mat for a few seconds realizing it was over for him, got up, shook the kids hands, shook the opposing coach's hand and made his way toward Vic and I. Vic told him to keep his head up and that we were going to go outside to the back. On the way there, a ref in charge of keeping the middle of the mats clear walked up beside him and gave him a hug, letting him know he had a great season. Once outside, his emotions got the better of him as he sat in a corner letting it all out.
I could tell Vic was upset and disappointed, but especially sad that his son had to lose the way he did and that he wouldn't get to see him wrestle anymore. I was very sad for him. I hate hate hate seeing our kids lose.
I love sports. But individual sports like wrestling, boxing or MMA have a different feel to them, whether you're in it, coaching or a spectator. There is nothing like it. For anyone who's witnessed any live know the emotions are unlike any other. The highs are great but the lows hurt....a lot.
When he lost, despite still having other guys in the tourney, it hit me that my time with the Matadors was coming to an end. The emotion he showed let me know that his time as a Matador wrestler was over, and I definitely related to it.
My friends told me I should look into coaching out in Ohio. I plan on that but the attachment I have to this program is going to be tough to match. I highly doubt I'll ever have a wrestling lineup of Mexicans, Blacks, Samoans and one and a half white guys out in Ohio (yay for diversity!). I was fortunate enough to help Vic start this program from scratch and see our kids take tremendous steps in just two seasons.
I'm going to miss my team, my fellow coaching staff, refs (not all of them.....some don't have a clue what they're doing out there), coaches and wrestlers from other schools, the whole routine of wrestling season.
It had me exhausted every weekend but it was worth it.