2015 Worthington Kilbourne Open Wrestling Tournament

We went wrestling this weekend and the boys earned their victories.  Luke went 4-1 for a 2nd place finish while Kurt went 3-2 for a 3rd place finish.

Luke wrestled a bunch of head locker's and is realizing he doesn't like it.  You can see defense against this position improve as his matches progress through the day.

Kurt is closing the gap against wrestlers he lost to in the past.

2015 OAC Fall Classic Wrestling Tournament

2015 Wrestling season got under way this weekend.  Olentangy hosted the OAC Fall Classic.  

Kurt went 1-1 and was competitive in both matches.  He has a shiner today after taking a head butt and small cut under his right eye but finished strong.  Kurt did not make an offensive attempt at a takedown today. 

Luke went 4-0.  He did both double and outside single leg takedowns, and managed an immediate escape after getting out of position on top.

Kurt's report card

Neutral Position

Things he did well.

1. Attempting to spin for a go behind. 

2. Takedown defense was okay in some instances, but in other instances, shoe laces were not down allowing opponent to improve their position.

3. Defending a lead and took a stalling call.  Not my style, but he is smarting than the average bear.

Were he needs to improve

1. When spinning for go behind, change directions, whizzer, drag, and 3/4 nelson. 

2. When sprawling, keep shoelaces down.

3. He needs to learn some takedowns to use on heavier and taller opponents.

Bottom Position

Things he did well.

1. Defending legs.  He got out twice on a leg rider!

2. Great bottom position with shoulder/knee alignment and hand fighting, followed by a hip flip for an escape.

3. Fighting off his back in multiple situations where he did not give up.

Luke's report card

Neutral Position

1. Like the fact that he used both double and single leg attacks.  

Where he needs to improve

1. When shooting, keep elbows in.

2. Ensure you are shooting at correct leg of you opponent.  At one point, he shot at the leg that was farthest away from him.

Top Position

1. Great job of changing tactics with half nelson and legs.

2. Great job of staying on his toes, so opponent has to carry his weight.

Where he needs to improve.

1. Careful not to use full nelson when in crab ride, instead, learn cross face. 

2. Use spiral ride

3. Curl wrists when riding on top, and learn some tilts.

201510-18 Flag Football Finale at Olentangy Orange High School

Today was the last flag football for the 2015 season.  Both Kurt and Luke played on the Olentangy Orange high school football field.

Luke's team played for 3rd and 4th place with a 1:15pm start time.  Head and assistant coach were not available, so myself and another parent stepped in to coach the team.  The kids did a great job, had a lot of fun, but fell short on the scoreboard by two points. 

Kurt's game was a re-match from the previous week where the result was lopsided and not in our favor.  This week was a very different story with another lopsided score, but in favor of Kurt's team.  The coaching staff changed defensive schemes and the kids executed on offense.

It's been a great season and is one the kids will remember for a long time.  Hopefully these posts and videos will bring back good memories in the years to come.  

2015-10-11 Flag Football - Week #8

Sometimes you win; sometimes you learn.  Today was a learning day for both teams.  Luke opponent blitzed most plays making it difficult to move the ball on offense.  Kurt's team had a difficult time pulling flags.

Next week is the final game of the season for each team.  Kurt's team will rematch this team next week.  We are not sure who Luke's opponent will be next week.

Luke's game video

Kurt's game video

2015-10-04 Flag Football - Week #7

This week, Luke's team played to a draw at 12-12; Kurt's team won 29-0.

Luke had 8 flag pulls.

Luke's team

Kurt's team

2015-09-27 Flag Football - Week #6

Videos for this week's game are here.  This week, Luke had his first pick six.  Both teams are operating as a good team with a variety of players scoring and pulling flags. 

Luke's game video 

Kurt's game video

2015-09-20 Flag Football - Week 5

Luke was the only one that had a game today; Kurt's team had a bye week.  Final score was 35-7 with Luke's team scoring the most points.  Luke had several flag pulls and one carry for a touchdown.  You will see Luke escorting his teammates into the end zone helping his team mates get in the end zone.

2015-09-13 Flag Football Week #4

The boys are midway through 2015 flag football season and both are excelling.  They enjoy putting in extra practice time in the back yard.  Both are listening to what needs done and doing their part for their respective teams.  They are understanding that football is a team sport, each position has a role, and for the team to be successful they must complete the job of the position they are playing.  Both are just as happy blocking for a teammate as they are carrying the ball or catching a pass.  

Today, Luke scored two touchdowns and ran interference for a team mate that scored while Kurt had a catch and run for a two point conversion and an impressive pick six.

See the highlights below. 

Luke's game

Kurt's game

2015-09-06 Flag Football Week 3

Flag Football Week 3

The third week of flag football is complete.  Both Luke and Kurt do a good job of running the ball on offense.  When they decide to go upfield, they are full speed.  On defense, Luke is a very good at pulling flags and fast enough to recover mistakes.  Checkout the play where Luke tracks down a break away runner with a diving attempt for the flag at the goal line.  Pure effort and hustle!!!  Making Mom and Dad proud.  Kurt is excellent at catching the ball.  Coaches are always complementing him on his ability to catch the ball.  He catches passes from both his and the opponents quarterbacks.  See his interception earlier in this week's game.

Luke's game

Kurt's game

2015-08-30 Flag Football

Proud parents here; both Kurt and Luke scored a rushing touchdown today.  Kurt had a reception and Luke had multiple flag pulls from his defensive end position on defense.  We worked with Luke on playing more outside leverage and forcing the runner to turn back inside.  Both Kurt and Luke are wearing jersey number #30 on their respective teams. 

This is Luke's second, and Kurt's first game of the year.

Luke's highlights 

Kurt's highlights

  

Crazy Legs' First Flag Football Game

Luke played in his first flag football game today.  His team won 3 touchdowns to one touchdown. 

Crazy Legs got loose for a long touchdown run, and pulled two flags.

2015 Flag Football Season

The 2015 flag football season is here.  Kurt and Luke are both participating and have friends on their team.  The only downside is their practices are overlapping and we don't get the opportunity to see both of them practice.  Emily is normally with Luke and Rick with Kurt.  Emily video taped some of Luke's practice so we could get the pre-season scouting report.  

It looks Luke is pretty fast when he gets those "crazy legs" going.  On defense, we will work on flagging and squaring up in front of the runner to slow him down.

Luke has 8 games with the first one this weekend on 8/23/2015 at 1:30pm at .  Kurt has 6 games and starts next week.  Luke's team has 12 players while Kurt's has 9.   The rules are 

- 6 on 6
- fumbles are dead ball
- 4 downs to cross mid-field and earn another 4 downs
- must have center qb exchange, but otherwise, no limitation on alignment

Luke's coach has implemented an interesting strategy for offense where each player wear's a colored band.  Then, when he has a colored drawing of plays indicating what each color is supposed to do.  First indication in practice is the kids are confident about what they are supposed to be doing.

Here is the video, and, for reference he is #30.

Luke's first game is 
Date: Sunday August 23rd
Time: 1:30pm
Location: 2680 E Orange Rd Lewis Center OH, 43035

2015 Baseball Season

Luke has been playing baseball and I am just catching up on posting some video.  His team is Orioles, and he is enjoying playing with his team mates.  He recently told mom that he "just enjoys the game".  Below are links to game 1 and 2.  Luke has been playing third base a lot because he can make the throw to first base, and he is often hitting to back of the infield.  Practice in the backyard has been paying off, and both boys know that if you want to be good at something you have to work for it.

Here is game #1. 

Here is game #2. 

2015 Westerville Central Open Wrestling Tournament

This week the boys wrestled at the 2015 Westerville Central open.

Here is Luke's bracket.

Match 5 was a re-match against the only wrestler to give him a loss this weekend.  He put a lot of effort into this match, did not score any points, but won in sudden victory on locked hands call.  Really proud of his effort.  When asked why he did not switch up his attacks from neutral, he said he planned to practice his double leg takedowns.  He is heard-headed, but we like his tenacity.

2015 Westerville Luke Match 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=954rY_x_t0Y
2015 Westerville Luke Match 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pJZ31N7j20
2015 Westerville Luke Match 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nTxlSyBcXg

Here is Kurt's bracket.

He has one other good match, but this is the only one we recorded.  This is also a wrestler he has faced a couple of times.   The best part of this match is that Kurt captured the attention of fans in the stands with his innocent chuckle that he was caught in the same move by the same wrestler last year.  He knows he did not learn from his mistake of putting his head down.  The bystanders complimented Kurt on his attitude and said they wished more wrestlers shared his demeanor.

2015 Westerville Kurt Match 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY8kXD8ZPSs

Johnstown Open Wrestling Tournament

On Sunday March 15th, Kurt and Luke wrestled in the Johnstown Open wrestling tournament.  Luke and Kurt wrestled in the morning and afternoon sessions, respectively.  Luke went 3-0 with his last match being an overtime match with an opponent from Whetstone.  Although we have been practicing twice a week, this is Kurt's first match since early February.  One match was so quick, mom missed it. lol.

My good friend, college teammate and roommate Dave Wellmeier and his family were also at this tournament with their son Noah.  It is good to see the next generation of wrestlers learning the toughest sport.

Luke Match 1

Luke Match 2

Luke Match 3

Kurt Match 1

Kurt Match 2

2015 Russ Hellickson League Championship

This year, the Russ Hellickson Youth Wrestling League Championship only had one representative from the Mokros family.  Kurt got really sick the night before and day of the event, so he had to sit this one out.  Luke said he wanted to win this for both of the brothers.  Emily stayed home with Kurt, so we are short on video, but Luke won all three matches.   The match below is the championship match.  Kurt was really proud of his brother, and Emily are proud of the brothers camaraderie.  Thanks to all the Little Braves that sent good wishes to Kurt.

http://youtu.be/RfZ96as5W50

Snowboarding and GoPro

With momma bear out of town, we went snowboarding at nearby Alum Creek.  Today, we took the GoPro for its maiden voyage and it worked out nicely.  Thanks Luke for taking most of the video.

You can view the video here - http://youtu.be/ZPJk-n_IeW0, or using the window below.

2015 Russ Hellickson League Meet #4

Yesterday's league meet was a make-up for the previous week when we cancelled due to weather conditions.

This league meet was hosted at Marysville.

Wrestler 2015 League Meet 4 Luke Match 1 - 

This match did not get recorded, but Luke got a couple of hard earned take downs against an opponent from Upper Arlington.  Extended his lead with near fall, and escape from bottom before pinning in the third period for the win.

Wrestling 2015 League Meet 4 Luke Match 2 - http://youtu.be/acci9DiTHK8

Wrestling 2015 League Meet 4 Luke Match 3 - http://youtu.be/2Q0ZZgfNps0

Wrestling 2015 League Meet 4 Kurt Match 1 - http://youtu.be/DkdCZEoUOAo

Wrestling 2015 League Meet 4 Kurt Match 2 - http://youtu.be/j7lKbf10Twg

Wrestling 2015 League Meet 4 Kurt Match 3 - http://youtu.be/pd3fzL2DXSs

Worthington Kilbourne open wrestling tournament

Luke wrestled in the 5 and 6 year old division and 42 lb weight class.  In this tournament, the goal we set for this practice was to get a takedown while shooting to his right.  See if you can see where he shoots right.

Luke Match 1 

Luke Match 2 

Luke Match 3 

Luke Match 4 

Kurt said his funnest matches today were the first and last.  In the last match, he was proud of the fact that he spent so much time on his back, but did not get pinned.

Kurt Match 1

Kurt Match 2

Kurt Match 3

2015 League Meet #2

Kurt Match 1 - http://youtu.be/3lVxc4jwqSg

Luke Match 1 - http://youtu.be/koTVfJmxi7o

Luke Match 2 - http://youtu.be/o_LFhjvHYvg

Kurt Match 2 - http://youtu.be/lnebPU-bDZU

Luke Match 3 - http://youtu.be/WlxsDEMTR1I

Kurt Match 3 - http://youtu.be/89UBFqMIed4

2015 Wresting League Meet #1

We started the 2015 league events associated with our wrestling team this past week at Central Crossing High School.  Kurt went 4-0 with a couple of hard fought battles, and Luke went 3-0 with 2 TF's and one pin.

Below is video from each of their matches.

Luke
Match 1- http://youtu.be/jsu5yEQ9AuI
Match 2- http://youtu.be/2NHzEGeNEKE
Match 3 - http://youtu.be/2XUPUw0xedk

Kurt
Match 1 - http://youtu.be/lZw2_xjgBfA
Match 2 - http://youtu.be/_9a69e0phtE
Match 3 - http://youtu.be/0bZyDqZFNno
Match 4- http://youtu.be/kTkYs28uDx0