The first bite of the cherry! British Open Championships



Qualification has started

This week was really the start of the Glasgow 2014 Qualification campaign for me... I was Southward bound for the British Open Wrestling Championships in Wales. This time with a coach in tow to sit in my corner, it was the first time I had a coach who was there for me specifically at a wrestling event and it really helped put my mind at rest about strategy and what I should be doing.

The event itself was in Welshpool, North Wales, and a mere 289 miles from Edinburgh. An interesting location for a British Championships. I have actually asked Coach Michael Cavanagh to write a blog post for me and he has agreed. Michael is an incredibly busy man, so we might get it in the next few weeks or so depending on when he has time, but I’ll let him fill you in with details of the road trip,the weekend and progress to date from the coaching perspective. No pressure given the calibre of Steve’s post the other week.

Mark Cocker (2010 qualifier)

My preparation for the British was very good, I ate well, slept well and had trained hard to get ready for what was the start of the campaign. I managed to get a good bout of KCR in before heading down and a massage from Optimus Massage on the legs which massively helped. I weighed in again at a solid 116.8kg had a big meal that night which would have bumped me up a little. The event itself was great, I really enjoyed the atmosphere that was there and I met Mark Cocker, English Heavyweight who came 5^th in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Mark took me for a little bit of a warm up and gave me some pointers about my opponent in the first bout. That was great for me and I really appreciated him taking the time to help me out. He is a genuinely good bloke.

The target for the day was to finish top 3 British Competitors and that would secure me one of the criteria for the Commonwealth Games which meant that I could potential be nominated by Scottish Wrestling to Commonwealth Games Scotland.

The good thing (depending on how you look at it) was that there were only 6 Wrestlers entered into the 120kg category which meant in theory that I was entering at a quarter final stage and I needed to get to the semi - finals to be in with a shout of qualifying. I had a pretty unlucky draw compared to some of the others. There were two byes into the semi-finals I was not one of them which meant I had to fight Tomas Bujak from Poland. Tomas is a Greco Roman wrestler, strong but not to savvy on the leg attack / leg defence. The strategy was to not get sucked in close defend the attack and once the attack was finish counter with a leg attack. It worked beautifully. I defended well and saw an opening and had a strong leg attack which put him on his back and gave me a 3 point lead. Great! The Rules of Wrestling have changed a little over the last few weeks and the latest change was that instead of a 10 point margin for a win you now need a 7 which obviously got me a little bit excited because I thought if I could get another 3 point take down I could be left with just 1 point for the win. This is where “mat craft” comes into it and lack of experience on my part. Had I stuck to the game plan I probably wouldn’t be sitting here licking my wounds and wondering what may have been.

Costal Cartilage tear - rough area in green (hurts lie hell)

Yep, I attacked – for who knows what reason, confidence, stupidity, excitement. I didn't hear Michael in my corner but I'm sure he was telling me to defend but instead I dived right in...Well as you would expect, I got blocked and got caught in a headlock before finding way to the floor to concede 2 points. He put me in a nelson which stretched me across the chest. I felt a pop that was uncomfortable but I managed to escape and get out of the hold. I was half expecting to be called back to our feet but that didn’t happen and Tomas put me in the same move and tried to turn me. This time the stretch across my chest ripped the costal cartilage next to my sternum, connecting my ribs and I don’t think I have been in as much pain since I blew my knee in 2005. It was agony. The ref heard me yelp in pain and called an end to the match. That in theory would have been me out because Chinu Chinu was the next opponent for the winner of my bout but Bujak beat Chinu with a pin, an upset in the heavyweight world.  Meaning I was pulled into the repechage but couldn't compete. I finished 5^th Overall, 4^th In the British Athletes meaning this time I’ve just missed the Qualification Criteria Boat. I continue to dwell on what might have been but I guess there isn’t any point. Had I beaten Tomas I would have been through to the semi-final and really had a chance of competing for the bronze spot. You live and learn.

I lay on the mat for a couple of minutes, paramedics were there before I managed to get up and head to the side where my breathing returned to normal. Tomas helped me get there which was very kind of him and a testament to the character of wrestlers. Something that I learned a great deal about this weekend. The organisers whisked me off to hospital with Michael to speak to the doctor who diagnosed the cartilage rip and ramped me up on some pain killers that aren't nearly strong enough for this. If you haven’t done this to your ribs, the pain is horrific, it hurts to sit, stand, lie, rotate, eat,  breath and if you are really stupid and make a sudden movement. I had hiccups earlier and wow, that was ludicrously painful. The pain changes from an ache to a stab that is possibly one of the worst things. I was almost sick with pain twice but it quickly wares off. I was reading a bit about what I could do to help progress the speed of the recover and a couple of articles I read compared the pain of this injury to a heart attack! how nuts is that! 

Although my competition was over for the day, I went back to watch some of the remaining bouts. I saw Cocker wrestle for the first time, he defeated a lad from Birmingham called Khan 7-0 before beating Bujak 7-0 in the final to become British Champion again. I watched Chinu fall to Bujak and saw my first live suplex, Leon Rattigan 96kg suplexed a lad and it was a beaut the video is here...

The highlight of watching wrestling for me was watching the women’s competition. I watched Sarah Jones compete in her final against Spiteri, that match was intense. Sarah was in control but got countered and the other girl straight back into it. The match finished 10 – 9 in Sarah’s favour. It was a great spectacle to watch. Then there was the two lassies from Tullibody and the Institute, Chelsea and Shannon. They were great to watch, just very good wrestlers, strong, aggressive and technical.

I had the opportunity to speak to loads of wrestlers and that’s the nice thing, although you are going to have 6 minutes where you are trying to hammer the guy, you can always sit down and have a chat before or afterwards. The sport is too small to do otherwise in my opinion. I really enjoyed meeting folk and chatting to the other Wrestlers and that is one of the things that makes it a great sport.

Where does this me now? Well, the qualification criteria, in theory gives me two more attempts over the next year. Although getting through the British Open Championships would have significantly helped my cause, I wasn’t expecting to qualify at this event but what has really annoyed me was that it was in my grasp, it just wasn’t to be. The Commonwealth Wrestling Championships were supposed to be in July but have been postponed and possibly moved meaning that there may be a call to rejig the Scottish Selection criteria to another tangible event but failing that I have to wrestle as much as I can and get a result at the British Closed next year. 

If I’m completely honest, it’s a tall order and is going to be pretty difficult to qualify for next year but I’m going to continue training for it and still put in the work, even if I don’t make Glasgow 2014 I have got Gold Coast 2018 on the horizon and who knows what will happen. another 5 years wrestling experience under my belt I could well be in for a shout for something better than just making the team. I've had some really nice positive feedback about my wrestling so far and although its disappointing not to be able to say i've met the qualification criteria, I have plenty of time to throw myself into contention at the British Closed Championships next year and that is the focus. 

As always, thanks for taking time out to have a read… sorry I haven’t made it yet, but where would the fun in that be!

@shocksjr