Caleb met this kid during Consolation Cross Bracketing on the second day of the tournament. We had heard that he'd broken his hand during the first round the day before. Despite that, he'd gone on to wrestle in the second round quarterfinals, where he lost. I was wondering if he would even show up that next day. A dad from his team told us he already had hand surgery scheduled for the following week. As a mom, I would certainly support saying, "That's the breaks," and bow out of the tournament.
But not this wrestler. He came to the mat, hand bandaged to his wrist. Caleb got a takedown on him, and in an effort to pin him, grabbed his broken hand just as the first round ended. The kid got up, cradling his bandaged hand with his other and grimacing. Caleb started the next round in the "down" position. As the whistle blew, he stood up and got an escape. Unfortunately for his opponent, Caleb's flying elbow connected with his nose, and bloodied it (and possibly broke it. Caleb later showed me a red mark on his tricep. "I think it's from his tooth," he said.).
The kid doubled over, wiped his nose, sat on the mat, then lay back. The refs stopped the match as his coaches and a trainer gathered around him and as the blood cleanup crew stretched on their blue gloves and got to work. We were guessing that he'd taken some blood-thinning painkillers, judging from the free-flowing mess.
I thought, "OK, this is it. Throw in the towel. There is no way that this kid will continue."
But he came back like a senior wrestling in the last state championship of his high school career. Because he was, and it was. When Caleb took him down another time, he cried out from the pain of landing on his broken hand. As he did, the cotton that the trainers had stuffed in his nose blew out. So they stopped the match for another blood time out.
This time the kid was on bottom. As he tried to escape from Caleb, the cotton blew out again. From our seats halfway up the stands we could clearly see strings of snotty blood hanging from his nose. He swiped it with his good hand as the table workers quickly offered him the trash bucket.
Four workers were required to clean the blood spewed completely across that mat.
Caleb's coach cleaned some blood off Caleb's leg.
In the third period, as Caleb was working to roll him over for a pin, the refs called an injury time out because the kid was obviously in pain. He stood up, got his breath back, and was ready to go agaain.
Altogether, the match was stopped eight times for blood or injury. Each time, I was sure Caleb's opponent would say, "Enough." He never did. And although Caleb worked hard to pin him, he never quite got the job done. The kid lasted all three excruciating rounds. Caleb won the match 10-1.
He wasn't the only winner.
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