A few weekends ago, Timmy had a major moment. I’m writing about it because HE STILL HASN’T CONTRIBUTED TO THIS BLOG AT ALL. But I’m not bitter or anything…

Timmy has been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a few months now and I’m super proud of him. He’s had a challenging time in Lake Mary by himself, and I’ve been pushing him as much as I can to strike out and meet people, gain a hobby, do something in order to get out of the house more. It’s hard, yes, making friends as an adult, but it beats sitting at home doing nothing. So he signed himself up at a local gym, and he’s been loving it.

What grown men get out of wrestling with other grown men, I’ll never understand, but hey, to each his/her own, right?

Obviously, as a former state champion-caliber wrestler, he’s definitely a little more advanced than novice. He claims that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but after watching him a few Saturdays ago, I can honestly say he’s a big fat liar. Or he just needs to work on his confidence. Because dude knows some moves.

The Copa Grappling Tournament started at 9 AM in, shudder, of all places, Lakeland. The place we don’t even stop for gas on the way to each other’s cities because we hate it so much. The town that is associated with so many bad relationship memories, we’d rather pretend like it didn’t exist. Yea, that place. So we both drove to meet in the middle for his inaugural tournament debut.

He was freaking out a little in the days prior because he’d only been doing this sport for about 2 months, and not even that consistently since he kept destroying his feet on the gym mats. If you’ve ever seen Timmy’s feet before, you know they’re already a little raunch-worthy, but man, after jiu jitsu, GAH-ROSS. So clearly, he was nervous, but since he’s an athlete at heart, I knew he would be incredible the day of.

If you’ve ever been an athlete, you know the mindset. The zone. The ability to focus in on the goal at hand and get it done. Timmy’s like that. Once he finds something he can lock onto, he’s unreal. The problem has always been finding that thing to lock onto in the first place. I’m hoping he goes far with this sport.

We were in a high school gym on a Saturday from 9 AM until 5 PM. Of course the bleachers destroyed my back, but good lord, that is a freaking long ass time to wait. I wasn’t bored, which was nice, since they had matches going non-stop. I’d never really gotten a chance to go to wrestling meets in high school because their season always coincided with basketball season. I got a little taste of what it must be like for parents whose children do this type of thing. Lots of waiting involved. Lots of it.

Side note: I’ve never seen so many bare feet in one location in my life. I was fighting my gag reflex pretty much the entire day. Feet, everywhere. UGH.

Copa Grappling Tournament

Anyways, so we waited until almost 4:30 pm for Timmy’s level (novice) and weight class to go up. He had two other guys in his level and class. One was an entire foot taller than him. That match he dominated 9-0.

LEGS UP

The second match, Timmy won by submitting the guy with a move he had no idea he was doing. I also had no idea what he was doing and I’m pretty sure I stopped breathing for both matches.

He won first place in his first ever grappling tournament. It was pretty damn sexy to watch.

He also COMPLETELY tore up his feet in the first match, so much so that he bled on the mat and had to wrap his feet up. Big gaping wounds. Be glad I’m not sharing any photos because BARF! I later had to apply liquid skin on him, the material from hell that I remember so well from my ballet days. THAT’S HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS MAN.

You can see the videos of his two matches here and here. I have no idea what he’s doing other than trying to win. I’m trying not to pass out.

It was awesome. Timmy, you’re my strong man for life.

♥, VB