Wrestling Championship!

The past two days we have spent with our jaws to the floor while we had the amazing opportunity to watch the kids from Number 9 Boarding School in Krivoy Rog participate in a provincial wrestling championship! Number 9 has an in-depth wrestling program that they put about a third of their kids through. Oddly enough, the majority of the kids put in their program are girls ranging from 8-16 years old. Recently boys were added to the program. There are about a dozen of them, all around 12 years old. The kids train 3 times each day (except weekends) with a professional Ukrainian national trainer who dedicates much of his time to these kids.

At the championship, not one boy ranked in the top three of any weight category, while the girls stole the show with at least one girl placing in almost every weight category!! As I sat and watched in particular the 10 year old kids fight, I was astonished at how they lost their "cute and cuddly" side and traded it in for a "lean, mean fighting machine" side! Any of these kids could own me on the mat. I am not joking!! :) It was really cool to see how serious these kids are about their hobby of wrestling, and how much effort they put into it. Over the past couple years our ministry has been blessed with the opportunity to donate funds to help out these kids with new wrestling mats and other equipment, and to fund travel costs for the kids to be able to travel to championships in other parts of the country. One girl named Tanya is the current champion of Ukraine. She also placed 2nd in Europe for her weight class. I attached a video of her fight at the championship. Tanya is the one in blue.




In the end there were many smiles of winners, and many tears of those who didn't make the mark, but the one thing that stood out to me most was that these kids have some pretty cool opportunities in their daily lives. They are fortunate to have people who care about seeing them succeed.

Vlada here placed first in her weight division. The day before, she told me that she wouldn't place at all. I told her, "Just try your best. You'll do just fine."