Will post more later, but today could be one of those grieving days.

On a more upbeat note, congrats to Satchel, who over the weekend became the Colorado Youth All-State Champion, 10 and under 50 lb division, then turned around and took second up in Brush Colorado, where he lost an excellent and very tough match to a kid who’d come down from Nebraska.  Satch lost two scrambles after being the aggressor and taking the only two shots of the match.  Those were the only points of the contest.  Satch rode the kid, who chose bottom, in the second quarter while down 2-0 and didn’t give up an escape. The final 2 points in the 4-0 loss came on a last ditch effort to tie the score with a shot while the Nebraska kid played keep away.  The scramble could have gone either way.  Still, a coachable moment, because Satchel’s become so quick with his double legs and ducks that he thinks he can shoot from a bit too far out and without a really good fake or set up.

Against a skilled defensive wrestler, that may or may not work, but to make sure it does, he has to be able to peek or duck or sucker drag right out from under a sprawl.  Or better yet, work better set ups.  So we’ll be drilling peeks, shortside firemans, and drags — along with setups — so that it becomes second nature and happens instantly.  The tough part is getting kids to shoot without fear.  Satch doesn’t have that problem: he’s one of the better shooters on our club.  Now he has to learn that even if his shot is stuffed he can still finish it and get the take down — even if doing so involves chaining a series of moves together.

He’s fine at that against less skilled wrestlers.  Against kids with a lot of experience, any hesitation can cost him in a close scramble — a lesson he learned by taking a tough loss.