First Day of Sectionals

Taken From
http://www.residenceinnbinghamton.com
/images/BROOM.jpg

Broome County Veterans Arena Binghamton

So today was the first day for our Southern Cayuga wrestlers at the Section Four Championship Tournament. For a few of them this tournament is a new experience, but little known to them this is a first for me as well. I have never been to a sectional tournament for section four, but from what I have seen it is run quite well. It is being held in Binghamton at a multipurpose arena. The awe of such a sight for these wrestlers I feel was first intimidating, and their confidence may have wain because of this feeling. I realized what was occurring and I immediately put a stop to it. I explained to them that when they go out to the mat that to picture there is just them and the other wrestler, that none of the crowd or lights are there, that they should wrestle how they want to wrestle. When I said this to them I could see in their eyes that they understood what I meant, and that they could use this tool I had given them.
The first round of the tournament had some positive matches, and some less positive matches. I chose not to say negative, because I believe every experience that is had is one that you can learn from. So these matches had some positives, but not as many as I would of liked to have seen. The second round though I felt was quite good. The lite-heavy weight athlete that I have talked about before wrestled quite well. He is extremely gifted athlete. I would say though he is in that "zone of proximal learning," where he has all the tools necessary to be successful, but does not yet know himself what he is capable of. He beat a much larger wrestler than himself today, and when he stepped off the mat he told me that he had no idea how he performed the moves he did. Once it develops kinesthetic awareness, and develops a more cognitive understanding of the sport he will be great. It is my goal to get him there.