A Champion

Champions don’t show up to get everything they want, they show up to give everything they have.

Dominic is a champion by that definition and so much more (if you ask his momma, and that’s me)!

This going to be a tribute to my wrestler, an update on this last few weeks and a snippet of what happened this weekend. These are things I can’t let go unsaid as he wrestled his last high school match on Friday night and my heart is both shattered and swollen with pride all together.

Five weeks ago, during the Bulldog’s first dual match at the Elmwood Duals, Dominic was chosen to wrestle one really great wrestler at his same weight class- 175lbs. However, during the first minute of this match, Dom badly hurt his right knee. He decided to continue with the match and won! He GAVE everything he had. We (as his parents) both know that Dom knows his body very well and that we can trust him and his judgement. He’s taught us that about himself through the years. He sat out the rest of that tournament. Iced and elevated that knee after seeing their trainer. Concerned and a little bit reeling because of how close we were getting to Post Season wrestling time, we finished out the day wondering what was next and the best plan of action.

What seemed like the longest weekend ever, turned into the longest week full of unknowns and waiting. I do NOT wait well. An emergency trip to visit our favorite DHS Athletic trainer turned into an emergency Orthopedic Surgeon visit by early Monday morning. X-rays, a CT scan, Physical Therapy schedule, rest, crutches, knee brace, ice, meds and more rest. The LCL was then confirmed torn and we were down to two weeks time until Sectionals.

SIDE NOTE— He won that match in Elmwood with a torn LCL guys. Won. The. Match. The guy he wrestled (and beat) is headed to State next week.

The (most amazing) Orthopedic Doctor literally said to Dom, “here are the facts, my opinion and the possibilities, you’re welcome to prove me wrong” and Dom looked at him and said “okay thank you!”

He had to sit out wrestling WBL’s this year, this being his senior season, did I mention yet that he’s a Senior in High School? Anyway, he would have been seeded first in the bracket that day and if he was healthy, he would have won first place too. Instead, he showed up that day, not able to wrestle, but to give everything he could. What he had to give was support for his team and to rest his knee. There were bigger goals to be reached that he set before himself. I cried rivers of tears in a random back entry doorway during the 175lb match for first place that day. It’s not fair. Of course I’m reminded repeatedly that “life isn’t fair” and I know that personally, but sometimes I just get tired of learning so many life lessons. What will Sectionals look like? Can his knee handle it? It’s so hard to watch your kids’ hearts be crushed. Guys, let me say this too… it is not about first place, it’s about all Dominic has given.

The hardest thing for an elite wrestler to hear is to tell them not to compete, to not practice, to not train. But by not doing those things, he actually was doing something… resting and working for his goals, he just had to choose to see it that way. His entire life, we’ve taught him and the other kids about setting goals, reaching goals and doing the most important work to reach them. It’s part of who we are, who he is. It’s hard not give everything you can when that’s part of who you’ve become.

And in two weeks time, he was ready to get back on the mats for Sectionals. Many would have given up at Elmwood, myself included. Proving the Doctor (only slightly) wrong, he stepped back on the mat, winning both of his next two matches back in action. Wrestling for 1st place that day, his knee was stretched badly once again and instantly Dom was in intolerable amounts of pain, he got 2nd place… not what he worked for or wanted, but he gave everything he had.

I’ve watch this man, standing now before me, grow from a young boy. We’ve watched him get the wins, the pins, the losses, the tosses. All the hard work. Adam and I have witnessed the literal blood, sweat and tears through all the years. Just a boy when he entered the mat for the first time in 7th grade. A boy with strong desire, determination, commitment, goals, and the most grit I’ve ever seen. He has trained, hustled, executed and whole-heartedly committed. ALL IN and all on the mat.

We were there when his freshman year literally chewed him up and spit him out more times than we could count. Filling a varsity spot and walking out on the mat with his best every single time. He finished that year with a loosing record, but not at life. So many life lessons for a young man. Losses aren’t for nothing if you’re a champion.

Sophomore year, we were there when he came back to the mat a completely different wrestler with more confidence and mental toughness from everything he’d given to the sport and vice versa the year before. Losses aren’t for nothing if you’re a champion. We were there when he wasn’t able to wrestle Districts that year because of a supposed skin spot which was actually nothing. It hurt deeply, still does. He didn’t give up. He worked harder. He gave more.

His Junior year, we watched him cut weight and control every aspect of that with his own will and control more so than he had in years prior. We’ve never had to tell him what he could and couldn’t eat or what to drink or not to. We’ve never had fights about any of that. I can’t even think of a time where he didn’t make weight. He made it to Districts again that year! Day two ended in a bulging shoulder injury and he was made to stop. Heartache along with piercing shoulder pain.

Here we are now, it’s Sunday. The day after the District tournament of his Senior year. Looking back to Friday night, once again I watched as Dominic gave his all. I also watched as this knee injury robbed him of at least three of his goals. He worked to rest again this week and did all the things he could. Dominic was ranked 10th in the state in his weight class in D2. Had my boy’s knee been completely healthy, we’d be having a different week ahead. He’d be headed to State, one of his goals. Here we sit, very literally crushed. It’s not fair. Life’s not fair. I’ve cried rivers of tears for my champion. We’ve watched the brackets these last three days. We’ve cheered on his teammates whom we love dearly as well as cheered for a few of his once opponents. We keep watching brackets of all three Divisions and taking note of which wrestlers are punching their ticket to State. It’s extra hard to read the names of so many that Dom has beaten.

For our Sectional this year, in Dom’s weight class, there were SIX State ranked wrestlers, only the top four could move on. Our sectional at 175lb is stacked with talent. At Districts, there were EIGHT state ranked wrestlers and only four could head to state, with #1 and #2 in the State included at our District. Stacked with talent, champions… and my son is one of them. He has 95 wins in his career, only 5 away from his 100 wins celebration and he would’ve reached that without this injury as well. Another side note- those 95 wins are all his in basically three years because his freshman year was so tough… more proof that losses aren’t for nothing if you’re a champion.

This isn’t how we dreamed his senior season would end. Our photos of the end of the season aren’t filled with joy when you first look at them. They aren’t the same as the photos taken at the beginning and the middle of the season. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch his last match that I have video for on my phone. But, I do have a handful of photos that are, at first, very hard to look at. But with knowing all that he has given, even the photo of my son being held up by my husband who is no stranger to the losses of this sport we somehow deeply love, I see my champion. I see a champion in that photo, my champion with ice on his knee. Because I know what he gave. I can still hear the applause from the spectators when he sort of got up off the mat from being checked over by the trainer, as the opposing coaches helped him as well. That applause came out of respect and thankfulness from the crowd (it’s what we do at sporting events when an athlete is hurt) but as I hear the applause in my mind even now as I type, I want to choose to hear that as applause for my champion.

We gained a wrestling family. We gained a champion. We have a son who continues to show up to give all he has. A character trait that will follow him all the days of his life. This is our Senior. Our son. Our wrestler. A champion.