Here we go, my name is attached to my post, and for most folks at the Derby tournament this last weekend you should know who the coach / dad is. He is one of the head coaches for the club and a great guy. Here is what I know, yesterday I saw the young man come out of the surgery room, I went with most of the club last night to visit him and deliver cards and gifts. This young man is a fine young man who I have yet heard complain about pain or the match even though the surgery was major and the recovery will be difficult, and in some ways long term or possibly even life long due to the inevitable scaring that will occur on the joint itself. It was not an arm, it was an elbow joint. I also watched a video of the match for the first time last night. Whoever said that the blow was not illegal did not see the same video I saw. I don't know the kids from AC Heat nor the club. I do know that when you cock a fist up above your head and are watching the whole time that fist coming down as hard as you can on the outside of the elbow joint with all of the force you can that is a dirty and uncalled for technique.
For everyone who knows me you know that I expect my son to wrestle hard, and tough, but within the rules. I know the father and coach of this young man and unfortunately we were talking about this very thing prior to the start of our tournament, we even spoke about the need to watch out for what we had heard about this club, again prior to the tournament. What happened to this young wrestler with our club I believe should be reviewed by a committee of Kansas wrestling to see about disciplinary action for this club and this wrestler if this is the technique that the club commonly uses or teaches. In my years of wrestling it is the dirtiest cheap shot I have ever seen. Now if you have issues with that, many will know who I am and I encourage you to come talk to me about it at a tournament. I hope the dad provides me a mpeg file that I can post on my web site so other clubs, coaches and officials can see for themselves this "questionable" or according to som "legal"
blow. People have talked for some time about being able to catch something like this on video, well we now have it, including the praise of the club after the blow. So much for sportsmanship! One thing I learned about bullies a long time ago, it is time the rest of us let them know we aren�t putting up with it anymore. If the authorities that govern Kansas wrestling allow this type of behavior to continue, it is time we establish and find new authorities.
