November 15, 2001:

This was third practice. All the kids were there. Me and Seth were the only little kids. Seth is Coach Carr’s other son. But I wrestled a bigger kid than me. We practiced take downs. I got hurt because he slammed into me. I hurt my ribs. We had another new assistant coach. His name is Coach Geffrey. He screams a lot.

November 14, 2001:

This is my second practice. This practice I worked on take downs. My coach was Coach Jeremy. My partner was Nick. He is Coach Carr’s son. We practiced the drag step. Then we practiced somebody getting on top of each other. We had to chop the arm down, bring it to your belly button, then put your leg into both of the other wrestler's legs and then put a half nelson on, then pin him.

We then played sumo tournament. You had to push somebody out of the circle. Then we raced against each other in the hallway. My team won once and their team won once. When you lost, you had to do push-ups.

Coach Jeremy

November 13, 2001: This was my first practice. We practiced sit outs. There were new kids there too. We got split into 2 groups. One group was with our head coach, Coach Carr. The other group was with our new Assistant Coach Jeremy. I was with Coach Jeremy and my Dad. The newer kids were with Coach Carr. I practiced sit outs and since we did well with that, we got to wrestle each other.

November 10, 2001 (Journal Entry #1):

Tyler at his first match on December 9, 2000.

This was my first [pre-season] tournament. I haven’t had a practice with my team yet. I practiced with my dad at home. I went to my coach’s house and practiced at his house. At the tournament I wrestled a boy from Aliquippa. He was good. The match was hard. The score was 2-7, then it was 5-7. I had 5. The Aliquippa boy had 7. That was my first match. I had a tremendous comeback in the third period. I was angry because I was losing. I almost pinned him in the third period. I started taking control of the match because he was getting tired. I felt very good even though I lost the match. I wanted to beat this kid.

This time I am going to wrestle a boy from Hopewell. If I beat this kid I will wrestle for third or fourth place. The match was very hard. I was trying to take him down, but he was just taking me down. When I was on the bottom I escaped then he took me down again. The score was 1-6. He beat me. He ended up going to wrestle for third and fourth place. He wrestled a kid from his own school. He placed third. There were 9 kids in my bracket. I had the most people [of all the brackets] in the tournament. My weight class was 7 and 8, 55 pounds.

Now I am looking forward to starting practice on Tuesday. My next tournament will be December 8th.

Introduction from Tyler (November 2001):

My name is Tyler Manion. I am a 7 year old student at South Fayette Elementary School and in second grade. During my first year wrestling my record was 12 wins and 13 losses. I had 6 pins. In tournaments I won a 4th place medal and trophy and a 3rd place trophy.

I wrestled in the 6 and under, 50 pound class. This year I’m going to wrestle in the 7 and 8, 55 pound class. I am going to wrestle 7 and 8 year olds. They might have more experience than me. I feel good because I might beat kids that have more experience than me. If I lose I will feel mad, because I want to win.

I went to Zeke Jones Wrestling Camp in the summer. I have a new head coach this year, his name is Coach Carr. I feel good, because he’s good at wrestling. I’m excited for the new season.

Tyler with Coach Carr at a practice in December 2001.