“That was his third wrestling meet of all-time and he’s a bigger kid for his size,” Dall said. “He’s in the 99th percentile for his size at his age so he’s getting pitted against bigger kids. I just have no answers for him. He came over really upset and was crying because his forehead had hurt. It wasn’t hurt, I think it was that he was just kind of handled a little bit had upset him.”
Coming from way, way outside the wrestling and MMA world, Dall has spent the last 27 years of his life coaching varsity women’s basketball, catching only brief glimpses of the UFC on Saturdays after games or on off-nights. He always enjoyed the spectacle, but never thought in a million years that very community would be rallying around his family in the way that they have.
In fact, Dall’s decision to put his son in wrestling didn’t come from an abundance of time on his hands or a childhood full of wrestling of his own; he just saw Kinnick having fun around the house and jumped at the opportunity to help him excel at something he seemed to enjoy.
“He’s such a strong kid and he likes to wrestle at home,” Dall said. “There’s interest in it with his ‘papa,’ which is what he calls his grandpa. They do a lot of wrestling, and we want to expose him to all different sports. At the time basketball comes around he’ll probably do that, too, whether he likes it or not. I just thought I would be able to see him succeed at something he may be good at.”