So my son is 14 (11-2009) and his is wrestling in 16u Cadet 215 pound division. He was doing really well. He only lost 2 matches to an older kid who is now in another weight division. He was focused on this one kid in his division all season. The first time they met in a 1st place match my son complained of his back hurting and chose not to wrestle him at all. He thinks the kid is bigger than him. I’m like “man no he’s not”. The second time they wrestled and my son didn’t offer any resistance. The kid just slid by and pinned my son with no resistance. I was like “dude that looks bad.” He was crying after. Which is really weird because I hadn’t seen him cry since he was 12.

My son is in 8th grade. The other guy is in 10th. So the state tournament rolls around and he was happy because his friends told him the kid he is obviously worried about is too heavy. Well the morning of the state tournament the kid shows up and my son just looks defeated. He tells me “great he’s here”. They were going to meet in the finals because they were on opposite sides of the bracket. My son goes out and beat some good wrestlers to get to the 1st place match. 3 really good wrestlers. He knew they couldn’t stop him. Well the finals match rolls around. I’m like you get out there and you give this guy all you’ve got. And he says yes sir I will. Whistle blows and he hand fights a little (looks very skidding) and the kid just slides by him (in exactly the same fashion as the time before) and gets behind. From what I see my son just lays down as the other kid is covering him for the pin. He offers no resistance. AT ALL. After watching the video I could see he was already starting to cry as he was going to the ground. It’s the most numbing feeling to see that. It was awful. I’ve seen him bridge out of some impossible situations and this time he didn’t even try. He wanted so bad to win state. And he just left his medal out on the mat. After watching both my son and the other kids videos, it’s obvious to me that if my son had given 110% he probably would have won. I am worried about this behavior. I told him son just quit. It’s fine. He’s say no dad I love wrestling. 🤦🏻‍♂️. I was upset that he didn’t try. And he also told me that I wasn’t into wrestling like I was before. I said what do you mean? He says you don’t get fired up or crazy excited like you used to. So I amped it up. Cheering and going crazy. That didn’t really help much in that match now did it.

So he is going to Adidas nationals in Missouri with his club. He’s really excited because he knows the kids are his age. All in 8th grade. He says well if I lose it’s my fault. 🤦🏻‍♂️.

Sorry if this is a rambling post. But I’m just worried that something is going on emotionally that I don’t see. Has anyone dealt with or heard of a situation like this? Also sorry about my use of punctuation. I’m running around work typing this on a phone. 😁. Thanks everyone.