Brent Harrill

Post State/ HS wrestling season thoughts: This year was a challenging year. From injuries to mental struggles to keyboard warriors I have to applaud my kids on how they conduct themselves because well it’s better than most adults including myself. Some thoughts I want to share : * Pick what’s best for your kid. If you spent as much time focusing on your kids as what others are doing I can guarantee your life will be much happier. When Hayden begged us( yes for 6 mo. Straight) to hold him back we set no several times before we said yes. It was the best thing we could have done for him and eventually his brother later on. Not only physically letting them mature, but emotionally and socially as well. As parents we got another year at home with our kid- I can’t be more thankful for that. It’s something that’s constantly in the comments - or his age. What’s not talked about enough is his work ethic. That year does nothing if the work he puts in doesn’t happen. * I hope you want to be held accountable for your actions as much as you want to hold kids accountable for their losses. I never get on the internet and think wow I can’t wait for that 14-15-16 year old kid’s loss to be posted, but I’ve seen the comments and messages asking for them. I hope those who ask for those things also don’t mind others asking for their failure to be put on full display 24/7. * I hope you judge everyone in how harshly on judge a kid 10-15 sec following a match or for that matter any 10-15 sec of their life. You don’t know what happened previous to the match, how emotionally charged the match was, what they battled internally or externally to get to that point. We are expecting 14-18 year olds to Have their emotions in check when we as adults are screaming in the stands, turning around to kids behind us cursing, getting removed from events, degrading refs ect. * People of all ages will cheer for you/ family until what you’re doing stands in the way of what they or their kid may want. This was a hard one for me this year as multiple times I read comments of “friends” or family members of friends about our own kids or better yet just blatantly shown how much crap they talk about you while saying hello when they see you in public. Although hurtful I get it - your kid or family member is hurt by something the first thing that you want to do is not like the person or persons who hurt them. Im guilty of this and thankfully my husband speaks a lot of truth when he talks about worthy adversaries, how those opponents make us better and we’re grateful for them. In the end all these things above challenge us to be better. Wether it made me learn to focus on the controllables, not spend time in the comment section, turn off notifications or just appreciate even more the ones who are in our corner no matter what - all these things had a purpose.