Thanks Coach K and P-Dog. You both are absolutely right. What I forgot is that the match was a much more powerful lesson on concentration than anything I could say. I sometimes underestimate the impact of these hard lessons thinking I have to reinforce them. What I found out in talking to him is that it's not necessary any longer. He's 17 not 10! An upset would certainly have vaulted him into the knowns around these parts. He was undefeated going into the match. I immediately looked at it as a missed opportunity. Bad on me. It was a great opportunity for him to learn a valuable lesson and be better for it.
I didn't explain what he did by the way in my earlier post. His opponent was really trying to rough him up and intimidate him the entire match. Overly hard crossfaces and continuations out of bounds, etc. When my son thought he had it in the bag, he thought he'd embarrass him with a feigned nonchalance, basically saying I've rendered you irrelevant. WRONG. The guy was very relevant and reversed him and pfffft, opportunity gone for no good reason.
Same kinda thing happened in baseball this past year. He is 5-1 with a 1.20 era as a soph on a state qualifier in arguably one of the top 2 or 3 conferences in this state and he's pitching against a team of all his old buddies. Long story short, he forgets what he's there for, gives up 7 earned runs and doesn't make it out of the first. The only time he gave up a single hit in the first 3 innings of any game all year...era goes from zip to 2.4 and pffft there goes a sophomore all-conference. These mistakes are not bad breaks. They are preventable and senseless.... See, I'm working my self up in a lather again...! Hokie, I'm going to smack him in the arm when he gets home.
