ACE's Wrestling Tournament at Daniel Boone

A Sunday tournament? You bet. There is no school tomorrow, so why not?

We got up bright and early and headed out the door to Daniel Boone High School.

Fifteen Mifflin wrestlers participated in this open tournament and it was crazy. The gymnasium was packed with wrestlers & their support staffs (parents, siblings, coaches, etc.).

Aidan had weighed in on Thursday night & he weighed 70.5 pounds, which means he had to wrestle in the 73 pound bracket.

It was kind of confusing with the way the brackets were set up. He needed to win his first match or he was done for the day. I told him this & he was not affected by it at all. He just said "Okay" and I left it at that.

His first match he won with a pin. Now on to match number two.

He lost this match by decision. Wrestlers have found it is very hard to pin Aidan. His shoulder joints are so loose & his pain tolerance is very high.

He was not upset by this loss. He wanted his customary snack after wrestling and then sat in the bleachers listening to his iPod & hanging out with the other wrestlers.
His third match he won by decision. At this point I realize we are in this for the long haul.
He was ready to take on his fourth competitor who he thought was a kid from Brandywine. Well, someone screwed up the brackets & he ended up wrestling the kid who beat him in the second round.


Jerry said you could tell he was defeated before he even wrestled the kid. The "look" in his eyes. One of our coaches even went over to the scoring table & said that this wasn't the kid that Aidan was supposed to be wrestling, but they said it was who they had on their papers.


Aidan lost to the boy & after the match was over, Jerry went to the head table to plead Aidan's case. Well, those guys from Daniel Boone didn't know who they were dealing with. They WERE wrong (and we found out later it wasn't the first time) and Aidan got fourth place. Another trophy for his collection.

He was pretty happy with it.


I do want to say a special thank you to our friend Steph Dotterer. When Aidan came off the mat after he lost that fourth match. he was upset. He was sitting behind Steph. She turned around & started talking to him. She said "Aidan, did you try your hardest?" to which he answered "Yes.". She said "Now look me in the eyes. If you went out on that mat and tried your hardest and didn't give up, then you have nothing to be upset about. You did your best and that's all that matters.". And just like that, the tears stopped & he was okay.


Jerry, Shamma, me - we have all tried this with him. But coming from Steph - he believed it. She said it not because she had to. Which is what he thinks about the rest of us. So thanks Steph for making my little boy feel better.