Sectionals Weekend
This weekend marks the start of the PIAA individual wrestling postseason in Pennsylvania, and for the first time, I’ve got skin in the game — my son, a freshman wrestling at 121, is making his first high school postseason run.
I am not calm about this.
How the PIAA Postseason Works
For the uninitiated, PA high school wrestling has one of the most grueling postseason formats in the country. It’s a multi-weekend gauntlet:
Sectionals → Districts → Regionals → States
Schools are split into two classifications — AA (smaller schools) and AAA (larger schools) — across 12 districts. Each district runs its own sectional tournaments this weekend, and from there the field gets winnowed down at each stage. Survive all four weekends and you end up at the GIANT Center in Hershey for the state championships on March 5-7.
The format is simple: keep winning or go home. There are consolation brackets, so you get a loss or two depending on the round, but the margin for error is razor thin. Every match matters.
A Freshman in the Bracket
There’s something different about watching your kid compete in the postseason versus the regular season. Dual meets are fun — there’s team energy, the crowd is into it, and a loss stings but doesn’t end anything. Postseason is different. It’s a tournament bracket. It’s win-or-go-home. The gym is quiet in a different way.
As a freshman at 121, my son is walking into brackets with seniors who’ve been doing this for four years. Kids who’ve been in these tournaments before. Kids who aren’t nervous. He’s seeded where he’s seeded, and the path is what it is.
But that’s also kind of the beauty of wrestling. The bracket doesn’t care what year you are. It doesn’t care about your age, your experience, or how long you’ve been in the room. It’s just you and the other kid on the mat, and six minutes to figure it out.
The Wrestling Dad Experience
I’ve been a sports dad for a while now, but wrestling is a different animal. There’s no hiding in wrestling. No teammates to bail you out. No running out the clock. When your kid is out there, they’re out there.
I’ve learned that the best thing I can do on tournament day is shut up, stay hydrated, and not make it weird. The kid knows what he needs to do. The coaches have put in the work. My job is to be present, be supportive, and resist the urge to pace behind the bleachers like a lunatic.
I will almost certainly pace behind the bleachers like a lunatic.
Let’s Go
Sectionals kick off tomorrow. The road to Hershey starts now. Whatever happens this weekend, I’m proud of the kid for earning his spot in the bracket as a freshman. Everything from here is bonus experience — reps that’ll pay dividends in the years to come.
But also, let’s win some matches. 😄