Wrestling Day!

We took the bus over to the stadium bright and early this morning.  Will headed downstairs to weigh in and I headed to the arena to wait.  I was so early, the arena was dark and empty.  I decided to head over to McDonald's for some free wifi and a snack while I waited for Will.  We met back at the now lighted stadium and settled in waiting for the wrestling to start.  Will was excited!

Will was called up for his first match around 9 am.  Will's first match was against a guy from Japan.  Will is in the red singlet.  Will handled the match easily.  He won with technical superiority (when someone gets 10 points ahead of the other person).  It was a good warm-up match. 

I was just so relieved he won his first match!  It's hard to start the day with a loss.

Will's second match was against a guy from Hungary. 

I only took a short video of his second match.  It was nervewracking.  The guy from Hungary was kind of a brute.  He figured out that Will had a sore shoulder and kept on wrenching Will's arm across his body to hurt his shoulder more.  Finally, Will yelled out grabbing the shoulder.  I was freaked out, I didn't want him to be injured.  Will said he was fine and the wrestling continued.  The Hungarian kept working the shoulder but Will was a better wrestler.  At one point they butted heads and Will got a cut over his right eye.  They had to stop again to tape up his eye.  In the end, Will won the match!  He was sitting confidently at two wins for the day! 

Will's third match was against another guy from Japan.  This guy has won the weight class and division at worlds for the last two years.  Will knew it was going to be a hard match.  Unfortunately, the match ended in Will getting pinned pretty quickly and taking his first loss for the day.  He was mad and disappointed.  Will felt like he didn't even get a chance to wrestle.  Will made a mistake and the other guy took advantage, ending the match so quickly!  It was disappointing.

Will was in contention for the bronze medal.  We had a little break before the finals.  We walked over to Subway to eat and relax.  I slipped over to McDonald's for some ice cream.  I left my phone with Will and that ended up freaking him out.  I was gone too long and he thought the worst...nope...I was at McDonald's. 

We headed back over to the arena for the finals!  Will was up against a guy from Ukraine.  This was an exciting match!  The opponents were well matched and both wrestled hard.  Will was in the blue singlet. 

AND HE WON!  Third place and a bronze medal!  Some day he will get on here and type up his side of the story.  For now, you have to read my lackluster description.  Still, I was over the moon with excitement for Will.  He was so proud and felt great about the accomplishment.  Gold and Bronze are the two medals you earn with a win.  Silver and fourth (no medal) you get on a loss.  He was happy to earn a medal with a win. 

Seeing Will up on the medal podium was so cool.  Will's brothers, Alan and Dave, stayed up too late/early watching the matches at home in California.  They were happy and proud too.  It was a great day for wrestling in the Anderson family.

We met a couple who live in Georgia right now.  He is American and his wife Columbian.  They were living in Georgia while they waited for her visa to go through.  They were very nice and he let me use his wifi hotspot so I could text and maco polo family during the matches.  It was great!   After Will won we went to dinner with this couple and got to know them a little better.  They also picked a traditional Georgian restaurant and ordered all the food for us.  We had a great time!  I thought I had a picture of us sitting together but can't find it now.  Their names were Jason and Patricia.