…10 and unders in the Metro Youth Wrestling league up in Kersey CO yesterday morning.
Satch had a few epic matches, including one against a kid working his best Ben Askren tripod bottom series (this kid was very good, the son of a coach); and a second match in which I had to lie about Satch’s weight in order for the opposing team’s coaches to allow him to go up against their 61 pounder. Satch is 49 lbs, so he was giving away 12 pounds. I told the coaches on the opposing team he weighed in at 52 — then convinced them that their 61, who’d pinned one of our 57s earlier — wasn’t too much for Satchel, or that if he was, we were willing to risk it.
They shook their heads, smirked, and told us it was our call. Initially, they’d wanted to bring up an 8-year old girl at 53 pounds to wrestle Satchel. That was a slap in our faces. Maybe they didn’t remember him because his hair is shorter now, but Satchel had pinned her every time he faced her last year. Not that she isn’t a tough scrapper — she, too, does the tournament rounds — but Satch is way too quick and strong for her.
Anyway, Satch against the 61 pounder set up a kind of comical David vs Goliath match. The kid he faced was a full foot taller than Satch. Which is evident in the video.
So here is that match, “Satchel vs Goliath”. I was doing the matside coaching, with Leister Bowling, the wrestling trainer for a number of UFC top contenders, sitting alongside us. Leister is coaching many of our metro and Elite kids this year. He stayed relatively quiet. Whereas my wife? You can hear her loudest:
The match ended early in a 16-0 tech fall.
And here’s the match against the Ben Askren mini-clone, who used an unorthodox tripod position escape from bottom that causes top position wrestlers to slide down and nearly off, taking them off balance and setting them up for quick reversals or other offensive counters like cradles. This was my favorite match of the day:
Satch pinned his first opponent in 26 seconds, with the take down — a quick double leg — happening so quickly off the whistle that my wife, who was walking down to film the match, couldn’t get the camera on in time:
All in all a very good day as he readies himself for the tournament season.
Your kid has tremendous upper body strength.
I am picturing Goliath’s coach looking like Chick Hicks’s pit crew in Cars.
Seemed to me like Satch put a passivity force-field on the tall kid: “Your innards will lie still and take this, or else.”
Very cool to watch. Congratulations to Satch.
Nice.
I look forward to seeing Satch in the Olympics one day.
So cute to hear Tanner cheering him on.
Satch is one cool, talented young man!
I’m with Leigh … I’m looking forward to him at the Olympics.
Way to go, Master Satchel.
Satchel has an excellent takedown technique and a terrific bridge. The best thing imho is his aggressiveness, he is constantly attacking and working for a pin. I imagine he has a great work ethic too.
Congratulations to Satchel and his parents.
An example of a comparative percentage difference in body weight between 49 pounds and 61 pounds is 145 pounds to something like 180 pounds (180.5). Another is 160 pounds to 200 (199.2).
BTW Jeff, has anyone ever mentioned that, were you of the mind to do so, you could probably pull off a wicked Ray Romano impersonation?
Not that it seems like a particularly lucrative career path or anything, but hey, options!
Good stuff. Youth sports: fundamental foundations of great Americans.
That was a joy to watch, Jeff. Thanks.
To pre-disqualify my opinion: I know bupkis about wrestling. I know a bit about general grappling, but have zero training in wrestling. But it’s clear to me, watching those videos, that not only does your son know what to do, but he has practiced it enough times that it looks practically automatic.
I think you have a champion in the making, there.
See if you can teach him debate. I have a sense he’d have some good moves there, too.
the toughest think to ever teach a young wrestler is how to properly shoot in for a takedown. most hesitate, or clumsily lurch and lose their center of gravity.
i don’t see the awkwardness, or hesitation that most kids go through. rather, he knew his shot was off and recovered very well.