For another perspective on Track Wrestling, I have found this program to be a wonderful tool. I have been able to keep up with many tournaments that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to otherwise. Of the three tournaments my son has been in this year, only one has used the Track Wrestling format. I look forward to the day when all tournaments use this or a similar program so that people who are in my shoes have the ability to feel like they are following the events in real time.
My son is wrestling in his seventh year and my wife and I are very strong supporters of our son, his team, and youth wrestling. I have spent more time with him during this part of the year between practices and tournaments, both as a father and a coach, than any other time during the year. The four months of the Kids Federation season allows our family to spend a tremendous amount of quality time together. We have that common bond that so many of us in the sport of wrestling are fortunate to share.
Without making my comments into a paper back novel, let me get to my point. I have been deployed since mid summer and have seen my family once (the exception being internet video camera calls which I highly recommend to all families that don't see each other in person much during the year) since then. I knew that being away from them was going to be very difficult at best. I also knew that being gone during the wrestling season was going to be a hardship on my wife (we have four boys) and an additional challenge for my son that wrestles. And for me, let me put it this way, I spend the other eight months out of the year looking forward to this time of year.
The bottom line is, I would be overjoyed to be at a tournament with my family, watching my son wrestle, coaching and being around the other kids on our team, even if that meant waiting an additional hour or so for it to start. In the meantime, I have to take what I can get, and being able to watch tournaments unfold online in near real time from half way around the world, is a wonderful thing.
