Kathy,

That 20 seconds or less is pretty impressive.  I had that happen to me a
couple of times in wrestling tournaments which I was about 14 or 15 as I
recall.  The first one was a total surprise.  I'm positive the kid just fell
backwards and I landed on top of him.  I was as surprised as he was when the
ref smacked the mat for a pen.  The next time, I didn't dance around so much
and the same thing happened.  It sure was rewarding.  Unfortunately, those
two times, none of my family were there.  I wrestled in a statewide
tournament once and had six matches in one day.  I won all but the last one
and lost by, I think it was one point, so got the second place trophy.  Of
course I still have it.  It is sitting up on the bookshelves right behind
me.  After those six matches, I ached all over my body for an entire week.
I hurt right now just thinking about that all day Saturday tournoment.  The
last guy I wrestled sat next to me on the back row of chairs.  There were
four rows.  Each time guys went out to wrestle, we moved up.  He even walked
me out on to the mat.  When the names for the trophies were being called, he
came over and walked me up to the woman handing out the rewards.  He said,
"Phil, this is my mother handing out the trophies," so that was an
interesting way of ending the day.  Most kids were scared spitless to
wrestle the blind guys.  One kid one day said, "What's this?" to the ref.
The ref said, "He's blind.  Hook up because I'm going to blow the whistle.
The kid protested, I focused on where his voice was, jumped for him just as
the ref blew the whistle and I was on him in a split second like ugly on an
ape.  He had no idea, until he was down, and I was wrapping him up like an
Egyptian mummy, before he knew what was happening.  That'll teach you to
question "What's this?"  The least he could have said was "Whose this?"
Another time, one of the best wrestlers on our team, and his opponent, broke
contact.  The ref is supposed to blow his whistle, or in some way,
immediately yell break so the blind guy doesn't get dropped without knowing
where the other man is.  This guy on our team, who had won several first
place state chapionships, stopped for a moment because the ref never stopped
the match.  Our team mate jumped for the first sound he heard, slammed the
guy down on the mat and fell on him, and the slam broke his opponent's arm.
It was the ref.  No fooling.  I cracked my head really hard one night in a
match with a guy from Iowa.  I was ahead of him by about four points.  To
this day, I don't know how it happened but we went down together and my left
temple slapped the mat so hard, bells rang, stars burst into brillian white,
and I went as loopy as a drunken goose.  I had no idea where I was or what I
was doing for a few seconds and when my thinking came back just a tad, I
yelled for the ref about three times before he heard me and he was right in
front of me down on the mat watching us.  I don't know what he was doing
that he couldn't hear me.  He finally stopped the match, I collapsed the
coach and a couple of other guys dragged me to the end of the mat and the
coach wrapped a towel around my head and kept talking to me.  I tried
answering him the best I could.  I don't know how long I lay on my back,
probably a good two or three minutes, and sweat rolled off of me like I had
fallen into a swimming pool.  I told the coach to wipe off my arms and he
said, "No.  He'll have a harder time holding on to you."  I felt like I
floated above the mat back into the center again where the ref and the other
guy waited and we had probably a minute left.  Somehow, and I'll never know
how, I was able to keep a two point lead on the guy and won.  I seemed ok
the next day but that was the first and only time I was injured in three and
a half years.  I enjoyed wrestling but not all that much.  I actually threw
one match.  Yep, deliberately lost.  We were at the districts all day.  I
think I wrestled four or five times.  It finally came down to my last match,
that is, I would have been in fourth place.  If I won, I would go to the
state tournaments.  If I lost, I'd go back to school and get to go home for
the weekend.  I in no way wanted to go to the state matches.  I had talked
to the really good wrestlers on the team several times about what it was
like going to state.  I wrestled those guys all the time and always got
pounded into the ground by them.  Some of the guys were just tough farm boys
and one guy was almost like a dancer.  He had never come home from state
without being first every single year.  When I practiced with him one day,
he felt like he was floating.  He was not, I don't believe, even as strong
as I was so I figured I'd do pretty well.  In seconds, it was over.  I
couldn't believe it.  Later, when none of the team was around, I asked the
coach about this kid and told him what I experienced and that he felt as
light as a feather.  I asked the coach how he beat me, and everybody else,
when many of us were stronger.  The coach said, "You need to work with him
because he wins by simply out smarting his opponent.  I did learn from him
but I also practiced on the weekends with a sighted college guy who went the
the Bible college my mom worked at.  He won state in Iowa four years
straight.  I learned a ton from that guy and learn that fast and smart was
way better than strong.  He also taught me that when something went wrong
and the guy got the upper hand, immediately do the reversal move and you'll
surprise him.  He said you learn to do it by practicing and knowing the
moves and feeling the bodily movements of the other guy and learn to
anticipate what he might be starting to do on you.  When I went back to
school after learning some of these things, the only thing I became known
for was those immediate and instant reversals.  Guys bigger and stronger I
began beating and they couldn't figure out why.  It is a great athletic
sport where, since you are generally only wrestling guys your size and wait,
although just about everybody was taller than me, you could still win.
Except, of course, that match I threw because I was a chicken about going to
state.  I also, now that I remember, threw one other match.  We were in a
triad with two other schools.  I beat the first guy.  Normally, in triads or
any other tournaments, if a guy is over weight or disqualified for any
reason, you never have to wrestle him.  This time they asked if the guy
could wrestle just for the experience.  I knew something was up with that
and I wasn't too happy with my coach when he said yes it would be fine.
Normally the coach would say no because the guy was disqualified.  Besides,
I would still have first place in the triad even if this guy beat me, so I
let him.  I never even tried.  The guy was definitely tough and much
stronger.  I wouldn't let him pen me but I literally made no moves against
him and let him win.  In fact, I'm still mad my coach let that guy wrestle
during a tournament, haw.  Maybe I best pray about throwing these two
matches.  Well, you never know.  Anyhow, tell Caleb he done did good and to
keep it up.  My 7 year old grandson went to his first Karate tournament a
couple of weeks ago and in the grappling match, he competed against a girl.
Anthony is a good grappler, that was one of my good strong points, too,
because again, you don't have to be stronger or bigger.  Anyhow, Tony got
his first place trophy.  Girl opponents in Karate are not all that uncommon.
My other grandson, Everett, who is 11 now, has fought, not grappled, but
literally fought hand to hand with several girls.  One young girl I led to
the Lord a year or so ago who came to our church, had her third degree black
belt at age 13 and she fights in lots of tournaments and gets first place
many times and most of her opponents are boys.

Phil.