Feb. 14, 2008: Vernal Express

Wrestling Moms Invent Dance Moves
by Casey Christensen

They’ll be the two sitting next to each other bending and twisting themselves around on the seat, or they’ll be the people holding cameras next to the mat turning their heads this way and that or scooting their hips around on the mat. You have to wonder the entire time you watch if they’ve recorded anything on the mat (Having seen many wrestling tapes I can say most the time they are getting the back of a person in front of them).

Don’t get me wrong, other fans in other sports are great, but nobody does the bleacher quarterback thing quite like wrestling fans. It looks like they are playing the Nintendo Wii, their every movement controls the one made by their wrestler on the mat.

During a tournament I attended this year, a few Uintah fans and I watched a woman do a new dance move best described as the “butt-scoot and boogie.” While the match was taking place she bent over, seemingly dragged by her bottom end whichever direction it so chose. Her feet moved in small little steps, propelling her backwards.

She came to one end of the mat and bumped into a man, she took a moment to apologize before doing a few karate kicks in the other direction. Back in the bent over position she scooted across the floor, running into the usher standing guard at the door. He was obviously displeased, and after she apologized she decided to stand by a man watching her son.

A few moments later the man’s shirt was balled up in her hand, almost ripped from his body. He fought to free himself from the lobster claw, upon doing so she returned to the afore mentioned dance move. Scurrying across the floor as spectators jumped out of her way.

Fans in other sports do things like this, but nobody does it in quite the same fashion as parents of wrestling. They can’t help it, they’re watching their children get twisted into pretzel-like forms. A mother is wrestling her maternal instincts to protect and save her son or daughter. In other words, by doing the butt-scoot and boogie she is keeping herself from going onto the mat and teaching her child’s opponent about mom-fu (a style of fighting mother’s have developed that employs an anything-goes strategy).

The fathers are a different sort to watch. A wrestling father may have never wrestled a day in his life, but now he is an expert on the sport. He screams and shouts at the referee when a call goes the wrong way. As for dancing, he is not immune. His may be more guarded, but fathers wrestle while their children are on the mat.

The most interesting thing about all of this is – although some are more extreme than others – no parent is immune. From the beginning wrestler to the collegiate level athlete, his parents can easily be spotted.

It is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it entirely unique to wrestling. A parent’s intensity is a sign of passion, not for winning but for a child’s success. The butt-scoot and boogie is just a mother’s way of saying she cares. Arguing with a referee is a father’s way of protecting a child’s chance at an equal opportunity. If anything, all these things speak of the solid support system most Uintah High School athletes have behind them.

Forget Dancing with the Stars, this is Dancing with the Moms. Twice as entertaining and dangerous.