The Flip Side

I walked as quickly as I could from my art class, on the far side of Salem, to my English class on the second floor of Canton. I made this walk every school day. Around me was a herd of students doing some variation of the same thing. They were a cloud of smoke and denim and flannel. When I walked with Art or Eric, like I did earlier in the day, I talked, but these people were just fellow travelers.

I watched them, so I could navigate, but I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was headed to English, but I wasn't really thinking about Enlish either. After English, I had wrestling practice and we were practicing with our rival, but school on the same campus, Salem. Yes, the same Salem I had art at. If you go or have gone there, you would understand, if not I'm not going t be able to describe it here.

I joined wresting because a friend of mine, Tim, was in wrestling and encouraged others to join. I wasn't as gungho as I showed to him, but I wasn't going to wimp out. We had a complex and often strained relationship in those days. I'm glad to simply call him my friend today, he is a Godly and compassionate man. In those days, though, he recognized my jerkiness, had the fortitude to call me on it and he didn't bend to my whims, like many others did. This distance he kept drove me to want to prove myself to him and wrestling was a place I thought I could do that.

English flashed by and I was in the locker room suiting up. The older and stronger kids were giving some other kid a pink belly, but I kept to myself and escaped the hazing. In the room, covered in red and white with a Chief on the wall, I spotted Tim, so I went to warm up and stretch out with him. He was strong and I was fast, so working out together was smart. He helped me gain strength and I helped him gain speed.

It was long before Salem arrived.

I recognized a couple of the kids, but I really only knew one of them, Ryan. He went to my elementary school, he was one of Louis's friends. Even though he was small, I equated him with my schoolyard defeat. Unfortunately, I was small too. We were both in the 125 weight class. I would need to lose both my legs and probably an arm to be in that class today, but I was a scrawny kids.

I was polite to him. It had been a long time since elementary school and he didn't seem to hold any animosity. We actually talked for a minute. His coach, was not as forgiving. He wanted Ryan to be angry, wanted him to attack, wanted him to win at all costs. While he barked orders at Ryan, he lazily plopped on the floor beside the white circle on the floor. In just the few seconds I had listened to this guy, I already didn't like him.

One of the few places in life where my minimal Judo training has had useful application was n wrestling. There is something about those throws and moves your body doesn't forget. Additionally, they are very different moves than are used in wrestling, but mostly legal and always surprising to someone who only expects a wrestling move. As a result, even though I was a complete rookie, I had moments of great success.

So, the coach was barking and I'm getting ready t start a new match with Ryan. Every bad feeling I had about him I now felt about his coach. He seemed a loud, bullying man. He was so close to us. The match started and we grappled each other. We grabbed arms and legs, but stayed on our feet. The coach directed Ryan move for move, eventually getting him to take a position behind me. This didn't bother me, this was a mistake. From this position, a normal wrestler usually starts working the legs, so when I dropped down a little, Ryan moved his legs away from me. I wasn't working the legs. I shifted his arm over my shoulder.

I knew exactly what needed to be done. I pivoted just slighty, pulled Ryan's arm and rolled quickly forward. His feet arched over my head and the coach watched with his mouth agape. Ryan landed half on the mat and half on his coach. Blundering, the coach backed away, complaining about me throwing Ryan on him. He was angry, but I was euphoric. He stood up and left us alone. I won the match, but that didn't matter. In that moment, I beat the red faced bully who was barking orders, who was trying to make me just a practicing dummy. In that moment, I was very happy to be me.