Wrestling Practice 10/28/2013

After getting a little taste of his wrestling abilities last time, I decided that it would be great to see him in action again. This practice was marked the last practice for the Orange Crush program. So it was bit less drills and a bit more “live” action. They started off playing some practice game called “dead ant” where you have to pull your opposing team members out of this giant circle. That seemed fun for Jayden as he felt free to express himself by screaming at the top of his lungs as his opponents dragged him across the mats.

After that, he was able to show off his wrestling skills in groups of five. This is one-on-one matches and then the winner would take on the next opponent. Generally, these wrestlers were different shapes and sizes and had different wrestling styles. Jayden was not only the biggest in size, but also the most experienced and possibly the oldest in this group of five, so it was nice to see how he addressed each challenger. Once he stepped onto the mat he minimal trouble pinning each of his opponents three to four times. This is credited a larger part to his strength and attributes, but I’d also like to point out his technique. I’m not a wrestler and probably know nothing about it, but I did like his approach. He took more of a passive/defensive approach and allowed his opponents to make the first move for him to then counter properly and dominate. He kept his focus on the opponents’ hips and watched which direction they were moving. He didn’t utilize any leg tactics in his matches, but that was merely due to lack of necessity.

To conclude the practice, the coach sat the athletes down and provided an inspirational speech and advising them to continue to practice and focus on not only wrestling but the other important things in life.

His first tournament or set of matches is on 11/18/2013, so I might be able to attend that and see him in action.

No smoothies this time around.

Wrestling Practice 10/14/2013

We were going to hang out on Sunday and watch football, but since Jayden was spending time with his dad at a football party, we decided that Monday would be better. I arrived at his apartment at around 6pm and we caught up on that Friday’s WWE Smackdown for a bit. Then we ventured off to Oakland Mills High School so I could watch him at his wrestling practice.

This was an interesting session because the class consists of about forty boys at different age and weight levels. They would tussle for a bit then the coaches and trainers would show some more moves for them to practice. This went on for the almost the full hour of practice. During this time, Jayden was partnered with a kid that was three years younger than him. He decided to assist him and coach him. While this was an admirable quality, it wasn’t so productive for him because he wasn’t focusing on sharpening his skills so much as assisting someone that lacks a lot of skills (due to inexperience).

The practice ended with a brief “Live” session which is where the kids can freestyle and wrestle. It was at this time where Jayden was able to flaunt his abilities and run his mouth a bit. He even shoved a kid to the ground. I was impressed to see that he was using a bit of legs in his sparring which helped put his opponent to the ground.

While there, Jayden introduced me to his Aunt Tyra. She was nice and she was there picking up his cousin, who I didn’t meet. After the practice we went out to get some smoothies as a post-game snack. He really enjoyed the smoothie he got (the Hulk minus the weight gain additive).