I saw this news clip of the father of an 11 year old wrestler, running to the mat, and slinging his son’s opponent into the air.

My 16 year old son, adopted at age 3, with his sweet siblings from Texas, took up high school wrestling just this year. I have 21 sons, seven older than him, yet this was our first foray into varsity wrestling. I had a lot to learn about the rules, holds and procedures, but even I, a hot-headed, goofy mama of 39 kids, knew better than to rush the mat.

I remember one particular match when my son was way over-matched by a taller, very talented opponent. Gito, my 122 pound son, all of a sudden, literally jumped out of a hold with Herculean strength, and flipped to pin the guy within a 2 second time, provoking responsive, proud cheers from the home team crowd.

I asked Gito, later, “What came over you all of a sudden, I was afraid that kid had you.”

“I channeled my anger,” Gito responded, “You’re always telling us to release it positively, so I did. I won, didn’t I?”

Yeah, you did, son, in a big way, and the crowd was proud of the way you represented the school. Gito was basking in this, chest pushed out, shoulders high, two older brothers back-slapping a very excited 10th grader.

Even though Gito was approaching his fourth birthday when his sister and his brothers joined our family, even though he now has no strong memories of his life before our family, there is still some part of him that feels residual anger at the disrupted bonds in his early life.

He’s been a great son, smart, cute, and helpful. He’s college material and his acting-out behaviors have been few, if any. He’s so normal, and I’m so grateful, as many of my others children exhibit such challenging behaviors.

Sports have been a positive outlet for my children’s aggressive tendencies and anger buildups. Sadly, some of my children’s grades have prevented them from getting on a team, as schools have strict policies nowadays…like I’d let a kid who was failing several subjects play?

We have weight sets I’d bought at yard sales, a dozen soccer balls, bikes, scooters, two large trampolines, skates, a basketball hoop and a swimming pool all designed for the proper release of fury and frustration. I’d be angry also, if I were my children, regarding the injustice and unfairness of their lives before adoption.

We participate in our county’s soccer rec leagues, our fees paid for by a local coach who does fundraising, “Cleats for Feets” for the community. My daughters play hard also, both on community teams and school. There's Little League, one son played for ten solid years, participating in regular season, All Stars and fall ball. Our church offers the church league teams, and the older boys have played both softball and basketball.

Besides the obvious physical release, I believe that my children have had the added benefit of superb coaching, based on winning attitudes and leadership skills.

My sons told me early on, to stay off the field, even if they’d been hurt…that one requirement has been tough on me….I yell positive encouragement to them and their team, we celebrate victory and defeat as I’ve preached, “Y’all learn as much from losing as from winning.”

And I’ve found sports participation to be one of the biggest pluses in an aggression reducing sports-as-therapy program.