TAKEDOWN TACTICS LEARNED IN A WRESTLING ROOM

Takedown tactics in wrestling come from as many angles as there are wrestlers.

Takedowns in real life are the same, except no one is keeping score.

Since real life takedowns come with unforeseen consequences, be careful how you choose.

The first thing to do is show up.

The simple act of showing up is an agreement to learn something you didn’t know.

Learn a few moves. Watch others do the same.

Then it comes time to put it all into play.

There is a time element involved. You learn what others have learned over centuries.

No one expects you to show up and rule as the new King of the Mat.

But that doesn’t mean you won’t get there.

Put in the work, pay attention, and compete. That’s three things, not three hundred, not one or two, and most definitely not anything you can whine or complain about.

A wrestling room has it’s own royalty and no one is backing down for the new person.

If you want to be the best, you challenge the best.

Go too early and your success may suffer.

Matthew McConaughey Showed Up

That’s him in the top pic in the White House pressroom talking about events in the Texas town where he was born, the town where too many residents have lost kids and teachers and neighbors to another school shooting.

Uvalde, Texas is the name of the town, a name that could be remembered as the last mass murder in a school room.

Does anyone not want that to happen?

Uvalde, Texas, is where I was born.  It’s where my mom taught kindergarten less than a mile from Robb Elementary.  Uvalde is where I learned to master a Daisy BB gun.  I took that — that took two years before I graduated to a 410 shotgun.  Uvalde is where I was taught to revere the power and the capability of the tool that we call a gun.  Uvalde is where I learned responsible gun ownership.

Responsible gun owners want gun reform.

Listening To A Local Voice

He was a Texas kid in a Texas town, growing up like other kids in small towns across the nation.

His roots brought him to the White House.

I’m here today in the hopes of applying what energy, reason, and passion that I have into trying to turn this moment into a reality.  Because as I said, this moment is different.  We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before, a window where it seems like real change — real change can happen.

He heard the news, let it sink in, then did what people do when they hear the name of the town they were born in connected to mass death of fourth graders.

So the next morning, Camila, myself, and the kids, we loaded up the truck and drove to Uvalde.  And when we arrived a few hours later, I got to tell you, even from the inside of our vehicle, you could feel the shock in the town.  You could feel the pain, the denial, the disillusion, anger, blame, sadness, loss of lives, dreams halted.

The Wrestling Room Analogy Explained

The first time a kid dressed down and walks into a wrestling practice, two things happen:

One: he might be welcomed because every wrestling team needs new blood.

Or, he might get baited into a test of ‘How tough are you?’

One kid walked in and met an assistant coach who did the ‘Tough Test.’

They slow walked through a demonstration of single leg takedown tactics.

“Now take my leg.”

The kid took a leg in the standing position.

Without notice, the coach sprawled back and slammed his weight down on the kid’s head and shoulders.

The smashed kid stood up and asked to do it over.

They both got back into the standing single leg position and before the coach got set the kid ran him straight into a wall and got ready to hear, “Get out of here you maniac.”

Here’s what he heard instead:

“Kids come in here and leave when they meet their pain threshold. Wrestling isn’t easy. It’s a test of pain tolerance for the winner and the loser. Did it hurt when I sprawled on you?”

“I was already hurt. I was more surprised. Did it hurt when you hit the wall?”

“Like you, I was surprised. This might be the place for you.”

Fred Lucas was right. It was the place for me over the next three years of high school.

Is Uvalde Texas The Place For Takedown Tactics

McConaughey spoke of the kids in the White House pressroom.

And that is there that we met two of the grieving parents, Ryan and Jessica Ramirez.  Their 10-year-old daughter, Alithia — she was one of the 19 children that were killed the day before.

Now, Alithia — her dream was to go to art school in Paris and one day share her art with the world.  

We also met Ana and Dani- — Danilo, the mom and the stepdad of nine-year-old Maite Rodriguez.  And Maite wanted to be a marine biologist.  She was already in contact with Corpus Christi University of A&M for her future college enrollment.  Nine years old.

He talked about change and how to start.

So where do we start?  We start by making the right choices on the issue that is in front of us today.

We start by making laws that save innocent lives and don’t infringe on our Second Amendment rights.  Start right now by voting to pass policies that can keep us from having as many Columbines, Sandy Hooks, Parklands, Las Vegases, Buffaloes, and Uvaldes from here on.

Are these takedown tactics from a Hollywood elite, or common sense ideas from a Texas man more able to articulate remedies than accusations?

Voting For Takedown Tactics That Work

Find your people on the ballot, people who feel the need to eliminate mass school shootings.

Voting for candidates who say, “Well, we’ve to learn to accept these things,” condemns more schools and parents to a morbid future of grief.

Vote, ask others to vote, and put your stamp on the future instead of another shovel full of dirt.

I’m looking at you, the smart millennials, who have a chance to fix the things they can’t live with.

Otherwise you’re leaving decision making and law making to the same group who look to their sponsors before their constituency.

Where can change begin? Mark the ballot with a blue or black pen.

That’s where.