a capital season finale

Last weekend was an epic moment for the baby bro.  He competed at the Indiana State wrestling competition.  224 of the states craziest/best wrestlers were competing to be the champions of 14 weight classes.  

We arrived at Bankers Fife Fieldhouse Friday evening and the place was packed.  Thousands of families, friends and fans ready to cheer on their wrestlers.  The first round was Friday evening.  This would eliminate half of all contestants.  

 Zachary (the tall guy standing in the middle) fist bumps a wrestler from Jimtown, the school a town over.  The guys were warming up together and it was such a cool thing to see because they were once opponents.  Now they were wrestling in separate weight classes.  

 Josiah and Lewis came from Purdue to cheer with us.

 The tournament began with all the the wrestlers being introduced by school in the Parade of Champions.  What a sight.

 We all rose to sing the National Anthem.

There were so many people from the community supporting Zachary through the whole season.  At the state competition were three of his teammates (their seasons had ended weeks prior but they practiced with my brother everyday), the family of one of his teammates, the high school principal and his son, Zachary's former couch and his sons, and the couching staff.  Back at home, Sara and her family were watching the livestream and invited friends to cheer him on with them.  Day after day, I would have people wishing him luck and adding words of encouragement for his achievement.  One day he came home with a stack of good luck notes written by elementary students.  How incredible.  

 The Parade of Champions.

 Finally it was time for Zachary's match.  He wrestled so well and used all those skills that every practice, every match and every opponent had engrained into him.  It was three rounds and a hard fought match and in the end he lost by two points.  The buzzer ticked off and Zachary shook hands with his opponent and quietly walked off the mat.  That was the end of his high school wrestling career.  

In the hallway afterward, there was quite a group waiting on our wrestler.  His coaches and their families all congratulated Zachary on a hard-fought match and expressed their pride in him.  We took bittersweet photos to commemorate the moment.  He had been so focused for the weeks prior - juggling a full class-load  practices, Saturday tournaments, his church and social life, as well as musical rehearsals.  We could tell around the house that his brain was intent and the Championship weighted heavy.  Now it was finished.  

Our family took a moment to circled round him, just as we had done before the match, and thanked God for all the ability he has given to Zachary and for his protection on the mat.  We thanked him for the amazing experience and asked for encouragement in the defeat.  

He had the choice of coming with us, ducking out of the rest of the tournament.  His choice was to stay and watch the rest of the evening's matches and then through to all the Championship rounds the next day.  That was his final time with the teammates.

Zachary is and will always be a champion.

Mom, Dad, Jason, Josiah, Lewis and myself headed out for dinner and made new plans for the next day.  It was also the weekend of the state Solo and Ensemble contest which was also being held in Indianapolis.  Our cousin, Quinton, was competing with a piano solo as well as a few vocal ensembles from his high school.  We decided to go cheer him on first.  

 His rendition of Clare de Lune scored him a gold rating!  He was fantastic.

There were also groups from NorthWood performing - including one put together by Zachary's Sara - and we got to cheer them on as well.  Sara is a fantastic pianist and accompanied a classmate's vocal performance.  It was fun afternoon of running around from performance to performance - they all received gold ratings and were fantastic.  It was so great to get to be there to support all the talented people I am quite lucky to know. 

Josiah had gone on to compete with his improvisation comedy group downtown and Lewis headed back to Purdue.  

There was one more stop to make while Jason, Dad, Mom and I were in our state's capital - a visit with the Miller family.  They are just about the coolest people we know.  There kiddos are no different.  At the Thai restaurant where we had dinner their favorite dishes were pad thai and firecracker shrimp.  Be still my heart.

 The oldest is quite a gifted artist.  I managed to convince him to give me the napkin he drew on - I can't wait to hang it up.  We discussed the frustration of the annoying constraints placed set up by the teacher when they finally got to draw monsters for art class.  I sympathized.

 The youngest two kept me in good conversation the whole meal.  We discussed the joys of elementary school, their big black dog, and taekwando.  

I also had a demonstration of ballet first position (she was wearing a tutu and sparkly ballet shoes so) and a goodbye hug.  Even with two hard-core big brothers she definitely sugar and spice.

What a fantastic weekend!