Wrestling in the Offseason

I just finished up my season officiating high school and college football. I still may end up getting a college playoff game next week.

I had planned on going to a wrestling meeting tonight but my wife really wanted me to come home tonight since we have a pretty busy week ahead of us and she wanted somewhat of a family night. I happily oblige. I still have a lot of dates to get my meetings in.

Now that it is almost officially wrestling season I thought I would talk about the off season a little bit.

Season's Over

When the '07-'08 wrestling season ended I immediately started officiating in the Arena Football 2 league. I consistently kept up with wrestling though. I like to stay in tune to what's going on as far as the rules and wrestlers. All of you that love the sport know how special it is.

In the summer I reffed a wrestling tournament at Mason High School and got some good work. It had been a couple of years since I officiated college guys and there were some good ones going at it. They were displaying some very slick defense. Fun time!

I watched every bit of Olympic wrestling that I could and I kid you not that my favorite moment unbiasly was watching Cejudo celebrate winning the Olympic Gold. Don't get me wrong, I loved watching Michael Phelps do his thing. But Cejudo had an awesome geniune celebration moment too. I have a nice picture of Cejudo with my good buddy Scott Goodpaster and Dustin Carter from this past weekend that I'm going to write about on later post.

David's Workout @ CFF

Speaking of Scott, September my wife, our son, and I went to his facility at Cincinnati Functional Fitness (CFF) as he invited us down to watch him workout David Taylor.

My wife has been a wrestling fan since we started dating almost 3 years ago and she got to watch David wrestle last year when I officiated him against Moeller. So she was kind of pumped to go watch him especially since she used to be a personal trainer. The previous year we went to CFF to watch Scott workout Dustin Carter and that was quite a treat as well.

Dustin and David are both awesome kids! It makes you proud to see good kids that have their heads on straight. I'm not even talk about their dedication to wrestling. Just good human beings!

David remembered that I officiated him the previous year so we talked a little bit in the beginning about the match. I told him at one point in the match I almost nailed him for stalling for playing around in the match. The key word is almost. We then talked a little about Iowa State and he talked about how great of a person Cael Sanderson is. He's really looking forward to going there.

Now this workout that Scott has him going through is no joke. David is working really really hard. The kid is absolutely amazing. Giving everything he's got. My wife couldn't stop talking about how he just has that extra level. She could see and pick up on it right away.

David is about finish but still has to pull the tires. He's taking a very quick short break and my son is getting exciting because he's only 1 but I wrestle around with him all the time. At one point I say to him, "Kael, come here." David alertly hears me and asks, "What's his name?" I stated, "You heard it right, with a K." My son Kael doesn't warm up to a lot of people but he likes Scott and David.

So now we go outside as David goes to town on dragging the tires. Ah man I was getting tired for him. My wife was too. She was very impressed. David just worked it out hardcore over an hour and it looked like he used every bit of ounce of energy he had. But yet he still looked like he could go at it for 6 minutes on the mat anyway. Unreal!

So before he leaves Scott decides to have my son Kael, David and myself take a couple of pictures. Hence the picture in this post. David has a long drive home but feels it's worth it for the workout. I don't know if I would drive that far for someone to bust my tail working out. But that's why I'm not David Taylor. Referee or not, I know Greatness when I see it.

I tell David that when I see him at the Moeller Duals ask his coach to not yell at me to much and don't get mad if I call him for stalling. We share a laugh, wish him a safe trip home, and he's off. Coach Jordan actually was pretty cool to me at last years dual. He questioned me on a couple of things which is expected. Fighting for his kids.

Before we head out, Scott shares with us something special that he is working on. It's the Dustin Carter documentary that is about to be released 'No Arms, No Legs, All Heart'

WOW!

Just when you think it can't get any better for the sport, it does!