It’s been a good while since my last blog update, I can hear
the thoughts of “not long enough” going through some people’s heads. Truth be
told I've been trying to get this update done for over a week now and yet again
in this little quest to become a Commonwealth Athlete. I've found it a bit of a
struggle to balance all the facets of life.
Actually training has been great fun the last few weeks, I've properly got back into my weights programme that Alex has done for
me, I've been looking a reasonable size (muscle wise) and have been enjoying a bit of
bulking in the gym currently at 119.1kg. Even better than that though I've been loving Wrestling. There was a stage admittedly that I was
just so tired and run down that I really couldn't be bothered but I still did
it and got through it. Even better though I've fully recovered from injury
I think every sports person who has had an injury will know
what I'm talking about when I say that you get the “FEAR” when you get into the
same position as when you received the injury the first time round. It happened
to me in rugby – when I blew my knee out it was always in the back of my mind
that I might do it again and that is a dangerous thing, you adjust your body position or don't pull all effort in and you are more likely to get injured. I'm past that bit with this injury. I probably got back on the mat 3-4 weeks too soon, but I
needed to because my knowledge had slipped badly but after last night’s session, I'm pretty confident I'm back on track. It's nice to have that fluidity in your wrestling.
The IOC will announce this weekend their verdict based upon the
presentations of the World Governing Bodies of the sports that were on the
short list. Who is going to get in? Well, personally from chatting to a few
people I think that Wrestling will rightly be restored to its place on the
Olympic programme but I also think that to save face the IOC will need to put
something else in as well. To my mind that has to be squash. Squash have been
on the shortlist for the Olympics 3 times, they have made some incredible
changes to the way their sport is perceived and viewed across the globe and
let’s be honest if you look at squash, they deserve it. Whilst I think Karate
would be a good addition to the programme I just don’t think the governing body
is in a fit enough state to progress to that level of competition, that said
there is of course argument to say that if it was granted access to the
Olympics it would give the sport a boot in the right direction. There you have
it … if I was a betting man Wrestling and Squash into the programme.
I’ve had a bit of a humbling experience over the last couple
of weeks which has been pretty interesting. The first was heading home to see my parents for
a couple of days. My old man is getting progressively worse with a stenosis in
his neck which is affecting his walking. Although he is still doing too much
and he knows it!
My old man has been working tirelessly for the last 11 years
on building a new church for the East Neuk Baptist Fellowship (Now Coast Line
Community Church). Through the battles with planning and the community council who were opposed to it being built. Yep can you believe that a community council in a small fishing town were opposed to a new church facility that is open to the public, for conference, cafe, book store as well as a church. It's shocking that they didn't support the project and are still causing issues. Some people need a reality check.
Anyway I walked into the church building and the only thoughts going through my head were that dad had put in some much time, effort and thought into the building and I was incredibly proud of him. It was an amazing feeling knowing that your dad has had such
a positive influence on somewhere that is going to benefit so many. What was
even nicer was at the opening ceremony Mum and Dad were asked to cut the
ribbon, testament to all the work that they had put into that.
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| David Smith - Changing Paths |
Then there was the the Edinburgh Sports Conference, we had David Smith MBE as a speaker, I've spoke about David before and about his story and I will say it again. The
man is a complete inspiration. An incredible story that is really just opening
another chapter as he hangs up his oars and jumps onto a bike in hope of Rio 2016. I was lucky
enough to be able to speak to David for a bit before and after his speech at
the conference. It’s not often you meet someone who has a Paralympic Gold Medal
but even more impressive than that was how genuine a bloke he is, happy to chat
to anyone and hear what their stories are. By the way, those medals are pretty
damn heavy! He mentioned about planet X bikes. I am in the market for a road bike, I’ve never been a big rider but something I’m getting pretty keen to get
into, so will do some exploring! If anyone can recommend some good bikes, I'm all ears!
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| Mexican Drug Lord Fool |
My final humbling experience was having my good friend Ben
over from Australia. You realise when you haven’t seen someone for 5 years and you can slip back into a good friendship like they have never been away you realise that people are good friends. We hit Edinburgh pretty hard, Castle, Whisky, Wrestling (he almost
spewed) and even came up with a new business venture that i'm not going to mention - its too premature. It was great to see him and even better was the banter on Friday night
at Emma’s birthday Mexican themed night. Ben pulled out the artistic side and
made me a wrestling mask for the evening. See picture. What a hero and I drew some tattoos for him as a Mexican Drug Lord. Something that Cameron was pretty keen to emulate this week. He took a shine to Ben! He has been trying to find him for the last couple of days. Looking for his friend "Big Ben" as opposed to his cousin "Little Ben"
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| Nacho Libre |
Thanks for taking time out to have a read. Hope you enjoyed
it.
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