Note to Self - gut wrenches are not good for the ribs!

After the IOC rocked the wrestling world there have been some pretty big movements on a political stage. Vladimir Putin is supporting a committee that has representation from Russia, the United States, Cuba, Iran and Japan. That's a lot of big hitters in the global community and as Michael Cavanagh pointed out "there aren't many things in the world that would get those countries on the same page" and he's right. Let's just hope the IOC take note and give Wrestling a reprieve in September. You've even had 2 Gold medallists from 1996 and 2000 send their medals back to the IOC in protest and I don't know what I think about that. Pretty extreme but they must feel strongly enough about it to do it.

Bulgarian Valentin Yordanov sends back his medal

Personally, I think the IOC would be pretty stupid not to give Wrestling its spot back, I was reading a blog by a guy called Willie Saylor and the stats he was quoting showed wrestling in a really good light and made you question what the real motives were to recommend Wrestling's removal. He actually highlights some of the things I was rabbiting on about but its worth a read. you can get the link here. One thing the decision has done is increase the profile of the sport.

My training has taken a little bit of a back seat of late. I was having problems with my side for a few days after the English Championships so ended up getting it checked out at the hospital. They reckon there is a cracked rib in there which Ross, my physio/masseuse agreed with. The medical stand point was "Nothing we can do, pain killers and keep mobile"so I continued to train. Problem was that I was getting gut wrenched and that hurt like hell. It must have been the Grecco Champion at the English Championships, he got a beautiful Gut Wrench on me.

On the home front, the family has been in the wars this week as well, Cameron has developed what looks a lot like Chicken Pox and Emma has a pretty bad chest infection, so its fun again this week in my household but on the plus side we are the happy owners of a new car! 

The Emirates Arena in Glasgow

I have had mixed fortunes in my training matches of late which has been annoying. I managed to get to the Emirates arena with Martin just after my last blog update. What a venue! it's an impressive facility and I haven't even sneaked a peak at the Chris Hoy Velodrome yet. The athletics arena is awesome and Wrestling is housed at the back on the balcony, you even get to watch the Glasgow Rocks pro basketball team in the morning sessions. It's pretty cool. I got some good one on one coaching with Vio and Vlad and I got some really good feedback about my speed in attack. That session I would say was the most useful I've had to date. They let me find what I was comfortable with and get my stance sorted before showing me the grips. That's what i've been missing. It's helped me massively, so much so that I finally managed to get a win on the mat against Steven Cote. It's been along time coming! not that I'm going to brag about it too much, that wouldn't be cool but suffice to say I was down by 3 and managed to get a double leg take down and then 2 rolls to win the bout 5 - 3. It was good fun. I could go on but if I was to do that i'd have to admit that Coach Cavanagh beat me the same day 5 - 2 or 5 -3 I can't remember, he is like a raging bull when he is losing!

My success on the mat didn't last long, back in Glasgow two days later I got my ass kicked by Zane and Pedram in a round robin one minute on and one minute off. That was hard going. I just couldn't find my groove and ended up head snapping Zane into my nose which didn't help matters. Still life goes on and I had a special visitor to Friday nights session, my good friend Callum Anderson rocked up for a bit of training and we worked on a move called the suicide throw. Sounds cool but its really just to use when your in trouble. The sneaky git, used it and scored three points to win the first round. Fair play to Callum, he got stuck in, learnt the move and used it well. Luckily for me, I managed to bring him down a peg or two in the next round with a  gator roll from standing. I think he enjoyed himself, might even see him again. 

Volunteer 2014

I've found the last week really infuriating, because my rib is sore I've been over compensating on my left side which has destroyed my back, i've been having massive problems with movement so haven't been training which i've not been enjoying but managed to get on the mat earlier to be in the background for an interview with the BBC. Michael Cavanagh was getting interviewed about the closing of the Glasgow 2014 volunteers which is tomorrow (28th February) If you haven't filled in an application and you are in Scotland - you should get it handed in - there is still time http://www.glasgow2014.com/join/volunteering 

Anyway, Joanne Macaulay from the BBC interviewed me about Volunteering and my exploits on the mat so for all you early birds it should be on Reporting Scotland tomorrow morning. I'm well aware I should have had a haircut! I should say thanks to Alex at this point for letting me throw him around a bit. I got my volunteer application in this evening, I was a little late to the party, but better late than never. Hopefully I'll be competing in 2014 but if not I would love to be there as a volunteer. I can't see there being another Commy Games in Scotland in my lifetime but you never know.

This week, its back to training, I want to hit it hard and get to where I need to be for the British novices in April. I'm looking forward to that one and feeling a lot more confident on the mat!

Thanks for taking time out to read and if you are a heavier lad  at a loose end on Monday lunchtimes or Friday evenings, get yourself down to [EN]GAGE and get on the mat!

Cheers

@shocksjr

Thoughts on the IOC recommendation

I'm taking a break from my normal blog style of telling everyone else what I've been up to in my quest to get to the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Rest assured, it’s all good this week but there are more important things to discuss. I promise my break in normal themes hasn’t got anything to do with losing a match 5 – 2 to Michael Cavanagh on Monday. It was a sad day but great fun and absolutely nothing to do with a cracked rib!

International Olympic Committee

Of course the more important thing this week that I’m blogging about is the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) recommendation to remove Wrestling from the Olympic Games after 2020.That recommendation from the IOC has the potential to put Wrestling on the sporting equivalent of the endangered species list. You may think that's a tad dramatic but indulge me for a minute and I'll qualify that statement. 

First of all let’s take a quick look at Wrestling – Wrestling is one of the oldest combat sports in the world. Historians can track wrestling back 15,000 years but most noticeably and most relevant to this news is that Wrestling was the number one sport in the ancient Olympiad and has featured in every modern Olympic Games bar Paris 1900, that’s a pretty impressive track record. In one sense Wrestling has until now withstood the test of time, holds the traditional values and provides a link back to the ancient history of the games themselves.

Egyptian Burial Chamber drawing depicting wrestling from 2400 BC

The Olympics is steeped in tradition, I for one don’t think enough emphasis has been placed on the traditional values and the merits that the individual sports bring to the modern games. Not only that; but let’s look at the popularity of the sport. Those in the UK will say “What? popularity of Wrestling?” well you’d be surprised, there are over 200 countries across the globe where Wrestling is recognised, in the College set up in the US it is the 6^th most popular sport and their High School programmes last year alone had 280,384 participants pushing Wrestling into the top 10 sports. That’s just the US, look at Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Canada and Iran to name but a few and I’ll bet you have a hell of a lot of world wide participants. Granted the UK only had 701 registered Wrestlers last year but there were more who aren’t affiliated to the National Governing Body.

Here are my thoughts - In my view what makes the Olympic Games the greatest sporting competition in the world are the principles that they were founded upon. The Olympic Charter speaks of Olympism. They describe Olympism as a philosophy of life that combine the qualities of mind, body and will, blending sport with culture and education. The Olympic Charter goes on to state that the goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind and that the practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic Spirit. 

Unfortunately, In my view I don’t feel the vision and values that the Olympics and the IOC should hold to its core match the current situation that we find ourselves in today. Once upon a time the Olympic Games were about Amateur athletes coming together to compete for their nations but nowadays that’s been lost in the commercialisation of sport. Wrestling lost its place because the IOC deemed there to not be enough global popularity, the volume of ticket sales and its sexiness for a television audience. I’m paraphrasing of course but they could have just said... Money!

I would like to think that because I’ve not been involved in Wrestling for that long, I can take a slightly objective view of their decision but to be frank I think they have made the wrong choice. The IOC are trying to modernise, I get that. It’s essential for every organisation to move with the times, the Olympics is now big business with big sponsors and they can and need to continue to attract big television audiences and ticket sales, how do you maximise TV audiences and Sponsorship? you get the big names from the big team sports but I would argue that its taking away from the whole ethos of the Olympics?

GB had Andy Murray playing tennis, whilst it was great for GB to medal. I watched (on TV) Andy Murray play in the Wimbledon final three weeks prior to the Olympics starting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s done wonders for Tennis, but the question is, did Tennis really need the extra exposure of being an Olympic sport?

The question I would ask to the IOC is why do we need to lose any of the smaller sports, the IOC claim that the cap on sports is to allow for manageable organisation but surely Tennis, Rugby, Football and Golf all have their rightful places away from the Olympics. If I wanted to watch a contest of any of the above sports I could do so easily throughout the year, every year because they all have majors, grand slams, world cups and International Competitions. What’s next Olympic F1?

Save Olympic Wrestling

Back to one of my opening comments, the endangered species. Wrestling has the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, yes it’s got Regional and World Championships in Europe, Asia and the Americas but taking the carrot of the Olympics away from Wrestling would be like taking away the Football World Cup. Wrestling is very much a development / grass roots sport and if you take away something as large as the Olympics, then what do the young one’s have to aspire to. You are almost guaranteed to see the world wide participation rates decline. For those nations not in the Commonwealth, what do they have left on an international profile raising stage?

You have to hope that the people at the IOC have thought about it and aren't just bowing down to the political, corporate and commercial pressures that have been festering within sport over the last few years. The IOC has an obligation to protect the autonomy of sport; that means to keep it independent, to me that means forget the politics and forget the commercialisation and let sport be sport. Let’s hope they see sense and keep Wrestling where it is...where it deserves to be. 


Thanks for taking time out to read

@shocksjr

The Baptism of Fire

With my inaugural competition out of the way, i've had a bit of time to look back and reflect about it. The whole purpose of entering the English Wrestling Championships was to benchmark against the best and figure out where I was standing in the grand scheme of things. As it turned out things probably couldn't have been much better for bench marking but it was a long slog and a tough draw.

With a week to go I knew that I had to get myself mentally and physically prepared. I treated it as if it was an important rugby match, that's all I really know and although I was happy with the prep there are things I would like to change for next time. 

The week leading up to competition I had all my sessions as normal, I managed to get in the wrestling, flexibility and mobility sessions, KCR and and had a really good massage off Pav, my hamstrings and quads were loose and my calves weren't too bad the only issue I had was with the small of my back, it was a little tight but all in all in good shape even after a light Wrestling technique on Friday night

Love a steak 16oz

My flight to Bristol was Saturday morning 8:45am meaning I needed to get to the airport for 8:00am, no problem except that Cameron has been suffering all week from a viral infection called slap cheek and was up every half hour through the night, I think I got 2 hours total. Not great two nights before competition. Anyway I made the flight and spent the day with Simmo helping him wit some rugby stuff in Bath and Bristol. What facilities they have down there, there Bristol Sports Academy and University of Bath - phenomenal! We had a good feed for lunch, I managed to devour 16oz steak no problem and probably couldn't have eaten any more on the Saturday after my chicken loaded pasta that evening. 

Early to bed and up at 5:30am the next morning for the 2 hour journey up to Wolverhampton. I have to say at this point that Simmo did me a solid favour over the weekend. He drove me up to Wolverhampton he then had to get to Bath for Rugby before coming back to get me in Wolvemhapton and taking me home again. 400 Miles in total that's the equivalent of driving from Edinburgh to London. Thank you very much mate! 

Aldersley Sports Village, Wolvermhampton - just before weigh in

I arrived in Wolverhampton in good time for Weigh in and despite my protein and carb fest the day previous I only managed to weigh in at 115.2kg - standard weight for me at the moment. I watched as the place filled up scouting out the heavyweights. The current British Freestyle Champion Chinu Chinu rocked in, he is a big man. I've been trying to find a picture but none really do his size justice. There were a couple of others 9 in total fighting in my weight category. 

It was pretty busy must have been 400 - 500 people there in total including 220 competitors meaning a lot of matches. The bouts were released and I got a bye in the first round which was fine and I got drawn against Chinu in the second. That meant that I would be taking on the British Freestyle Champion in my first ever proper wrestling encounter. It was a long wait, Chinu came and found me because he was a little confused that after my name came ENG and he didn't know who I was. I explained that ENG wasn't England and was in fact [EN]GAGE Wrestling Club. The prep before you fight is odd (well to me anyway), there are two extremes, those who are sociable and talk to anybody and then there are those who chill out and keep themselves to themselves. I watched a lot of wrestling and did a fair bit of talking, I was just trying to get a feel for the place but next time I'd like to focus a bit more on my matches. That said, I did have to wait 3 hours until I was on.

I sat down with my coach on the day and asked for advice, we joked and agreed the best thing to do was "run!". Seriously though, the recommendations were to stay away, defend and try to last out the round. That plan would have been good if Chinu hadn't been as strong and powerful as he was. Stepping onto the mat to face him was fairly intimidating, he is a bit lad and the lats on him we more like wings. Let's not beat around the bush, he dominated me and smashed me and i'm happy to accept that. There was no way I could have beaten him with my knowledge or skill

Chinu Chinu in blue (photo copyright Nigel Farrow)

I wouldn't go as far to say I was a bunny in headlights but I wasn't expecting the power that came from his head snap. He managed to head snap me and try to move around the back. Once I knew he was on his way behind me I went to default par terre postion, on my front on the mat. A good idea in principle but he managed to turn me and I was in a pretty crap position that I shouldn't have let myself get into. All in about 20 seconds! I was on my back, bridging, moving my shoulders off the ground, I could feel him pushing me towards the edge of the mat and the umpire about to call us back up after about another 20 - 30 seconds. Normally you would get called up after 10 - 15 unless there is scope for a pin. For a second my back was flat on the floor and the umpire called the pin. A pretty easy second round fight for Chinu and a massive learning experience for me. 

Wrestling is a lot more technical than most people give it credit for and I can tell you that rolling around on the mat under the weight of the British Champion only for 30 seconds trying to avoid a pin is physically and mentally draining. His power was something else and something that I really need to work on, I wasn't expecting the aggression that he had and have decided that I'm far too nice on the mat and need to find a nasty streak to start winning matches.

So that was the end of that. Chinu had in all senses on the word smashed me on the mat, it was good to get that experience but I was in effect out of the competition unless Chinu made it through to the Gold medal match. Which, of course he did. That meant Repêchage and another crack at the whip. I was only two bouts off a bronze medal but got drawn against the British Roman Grecco Champion who was trying his hand at Freestyle. He had done freestyle before and a bit of kick boxing so was expecting a quick exit. We got on the mat, had a scuffle and a bit of pushing, he tried the head snap, I defending this time and was doing ok but ended up getting gut wrenched stupidly 3 times in a row and that was the round! The second round went a lot better, I was getting pushed towards the edge and managed to get a throw in but was countered and lost that encouter. I did manage to get a single leg take down on the Grecco champ but didn't close it and hold him once it was complete so was a bit of wasted effort and got a pulled external oblique for my trouble. The round finished with another counter from him after I tried a throw and that showed that he was more experienced than me. I was a lot happier with that performance.

All in all a good day, the match against Chinu was a bit of a waste of time on the wrestling front but did give me a flavour of how powerful the best are and that's what this was about. I chilled out that evening with an uneventful night in Bristol, a couple of catch up pints with Simmo and the superbowl before passing out and heading home on Monday afternoon. Even got an easyjet upgrade (if there is such a thing) to better leg room seats, the flight attendant took pity on the two elderly ladies I was about to sit in between.

As Promised   singlet photo (ignore the socks)

So where does this leave me apart from in a bit of pain when I turn or rotate. Well, fighting the best was a privilege and showed me exactly how much I have to learn. I need to really hone down the fundamentals and develop the power. I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I may get the opportunity to compete in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in July, for me personally; as much as I would love to, I think this would be a step too far, I'm not ready for that and I wouldn't fare to well against the best in the commonwealth but that's for the coaches to decide. I've got a lot of training to do between now and then and the first qualification event in June. 

How are my Commonwealth Games 2014 qualification chances looking? I'm under no illusion that things are going to be tough, realistically if I'm going to qualify it will be at the British Closed Championships early next year. That would give me a year to buck up and learn the basics well. I'll still be entering the British and the other events but you have to be realistic about what you can achieve and luck can only take you so far! 

The next event for me is in April in Manchester at the British Novices! Looking forward to that one and starting training again. 

Thanks again for taking time out to read, and thanks especially to Simmo for his efforts last weekend #headofmoral 

For those of you who don't know the UK that well this is the journey that the big fella racked up this weekend. What a trooper! I did give him petrol money! not that tight!

Bristol - Wolverhampton - Bath - Wolverhampton - Bristol = Edinburgh - London

Cheers

@shocksjr