Thank You and Good Night!

Sometimes, just sometimes… things in life are meant to be and sometimes life rolls you a snake eyes. You’ve probably read all the stuff about it’s what you do after you’ve been knocked down as to what defines a character and I suppose in many instances that’s true, i’ve been trying to find out what that means over the last couple of weeks. It comes part in parcel with sport and it’s not the first time in sport that something hasn’t gone my way.

For me, unfortunately the XX Commonwealth Games – Glasgow 2014 isn’t to be. I did pretty much everything I could to give myself an opportunity to compete at the games but this time things didn’t go my way. Although I met the qualification standards, so did another 8 fellas. That left a decision for Scottish Wrestling to pick their 7 athletes to go forward for nomination to Commonwealth Games Scotland and form the Wrestling Squad for the games.

I found out about 3 weeks ago that my journey was drawing to a close and have been reflecting on it a bit. I’ve you’ve been reading this from the start then you will know that this journey has had its ups and its downs and this doesn’t really feel like a low, which I think is a bit strange.  Of course I’m disappointed, who wouldn’t be. You put in the effort, learn a completely new skill set, a new sport and hit your target to be told that you aren’t getting the opportunity. Yep disappointment reigns for a bit. Even as I write this I’ve only just informed the world through the medium of facebook and the comments people have made are really supportive and overly kind, a few tickets for the 125kg wrestling have become available, but thanks to those who have left that bit of support it’s appreciated.  And to those that had faith to buy tickets in the first place – out of my hands, but it will be awesome to go to anyway!

www.goscotland.org

Scottish Wrestling have made the right decision, I would have made the same one and I knew that it would most likely be the case as we travelled back up from Birmingham after the English open, once we figured out there were 9 guys who met the criteria. The guys who have been selected are a seriously good bunch of wrestlers and hopefully they can pick up a medal at the games. Of the 7 selected 6 are institute supported and the other represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, Manchester in 2002.  That means time and money has been invested into those guys and let’s be honest, you would want those guys representing your country. You will see from Team Scotland’s announcement that they have doubled up on a few categories and sacrificed 97kg and 125kg.

It does however draw a close to my experiences over the last 18 months and to this blog in its current form. I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a good process and given me a chance to look back. I’m immensely proud of what I’ve managed to achieve in a short space of time. I met the commonwealth games qualification standards for a sport that I had no previous experience in, managed to set up a new wrestling club in Edinburgh, become a qualified wrestling coach, reintroduced some people to the sport they love and introduced a few newbies to it as well. In the end, that’s what it’s really all about.

I’ve been amazed and humbled by the support of my friends and family and even those who I don’t know who have spoken to me about wrestling and this is my thank you to them all. I am sorry it didn’t quite pan out the way we hoped but we set out to achieve our goal and we did that and I’m going to stick at it and keep training over the next few years to get to 2018 in the Gold Coast.

In that sense the journey is really just beginning, 2014 will have a few more developments that you will probably hear about over the next couple of weeks and months but I’ll leave that for another time. What now… a bit of time to recovery from this nagging back injury I’ve had over the last couple of months and a bit of family time.

But to finish, people don’t realise how much influence and inspiration they have had and I hope that over the last year and a half I’m managed to spark something in someone to try something a bit different.  My sincere thanks to everyone who has been involved, given their time, motivated me, wrestled me and just given me a bit of a boost when I needed it – cheers.

I shall leave you all with a few lessons learnt – not that anyone will ever use them but good to know!

1: you don’t look as bad in a singlet as you think you do

2: Wrestling shoes can double us as nightclub favourites.

3: Do not let an Eastern European put you in a headlock

4: Do not look at the clock!

5: Don’t be afraid of the big guys, it’s the little ones you need to watch

6: Actually, your coaches are normally right.

7: Give something new a chance, you’ll probably learn to love it.

8: Friends - it’s amazing who you meet and support you.

That pretty much sums it up. Thanks again and I’m sure I will see a few of you kicking about in the next little while!

All the best and as always thanks for taking time out to read.

Mike

@shocksjr

 

 

jumping the hurdle

A three month break in blogging for me but I’m back and what a couple of months it’s been. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for me the last couple of months, I’ve been motivated and unmotivated, determined to succeed and broken to the point of giving up but something happened last month that changed all that, I don’t know what – just an epiphany.  I haven’t really wanted to write a blog, I was disappointed with myself for not being able to train as much. I lost my focus after the British back in July last year, I can tell from reading my blogs back, yes, I was always keen to get back into it but the reality is that I haven’t been quite right since. I still get pain in my chest if I sit in an upright position, it’s brutal.

I’ve been incredibly busy over the last few months, with work and all the things that I do out of work – I currently chair ClubSportEdinburgh (Local Sports Council) and as a result sit of the Edinburgh Leisure board of directors. Having started my Masters, something has to give. I’ve been saying yes to a lot of things over the last year really to get out there and do something to make a difference but that has all had a toll on my personal life and when your 3 year old son comes up and asks to play or comes up and says “Daddy, can I have a cuddle or are you too busy” that’s the moment where you say of course not and you stand back and evaluate what you are actually doing. I’ve re-evaluated my priorities and am going to drop a few things and am not taking on nearly as much as I have been. Wrestling, made the grade and is staying up there as something I’m continuing with…unsurprisingly.

 

The 23^rd February heralded the final qualification event of the Scottish Wrestling programme and it was a must to get on the podium. There was something very different about my mind set in the run up to this one. With about 2/3 weeks I suddenly became almost carefree about the result and more confident in my ability to wrestle. I kept a close eye on my weight and dropped from 123kg to 119.6kg to ensure that I didn’t have any issues at weigh in the night before.  I was brimming with confidence all week and it showed in the competition.

My wrestling session the Wednesday before competition was good, very physical but I found the zone and stayed in it and worked myself hard. Steve noticed and was pretty happy with the training performance. I got home and had a massage off Ross, my physio and he did a great job, the niggles in my back subsided and I felt in good shape.You would be surprised about the number of people who told me or text me “you better qualify, I’ve already got tickets.” – Nothing like a bit of added pressure when you’re preparing for competition.

The English Open Championships were in Birmingham, another long journey into the depths of England. It was the first British Wrestling event of 2014 and there was no weight allowance, hence the cut. I was chatting to Michael about cutting on the way down and he laughed and said “don’t talk to me about cutting 3kg!” back in the day I think Michael had to cut significantly more and didn’t want to hear me chirp on about being hungry for not eating carbs most the week.

I’m a much better wrestler than I was 7 months ago, feeling strong and my technical ability continues to increase which is something that you would expect. The English started with 5 wrestlers. First up I got to wrestle Mark Cocker.  Mark is weighing in at about 106kg and possibly looking to drop down a weight class in the run up to the games, our bout was fine. The focus was just to hold out as long as possible and for me my personal goal was to not get pinned. I was taught a lesson in technical wrestling. Mark shot for my legs got a take down and tried a leg lace. I conceded a few points but we were brought back up and with not much time on the clock and being down by 8 points I thought I had nothing to lose, went for the shot was blocked and that was it. Technical fall – but not a pin.

The next bout for me was against Chinu Chinu, again I like Chinu, he keeps himself to himself but we get on alright. I have a great deal of respect for both Chinu and Cocker so it’s always good having the opportunity to wrestle them. Last time I wrestled Chinu was at the same competition last year. My first ever match as a competitive wrestler and it was over so quickly it was ridiculous. This time was a bit of a different story. I felt like I was matching Chinu for strength standing up, I was feeling good and he was just a bit too technical for me again, got the take down but I managed to defend well on the floor and there wasn’t much he could do which was a huge improvement for me. I spoke to Chinu briefly after and said “better than last year” his response “keep it up” which was nice of him to say.

That meant there were two bouts left and they were both must wins for me. The first was against a guy called Rodney from Fearless wrestling club. I’m not sure why he wasn’t there but he withdrew from the competition in the morning which put me down as a win. That was a lucky lucky break but also left me in the position of wrestling against Marek from Birmingham for the bronze, assuming he didn't beat Chinu or Cocker.

This was the one, the must win and coach Michael, took me aside and told me the game plan, stick to our strengths and do what we do but most importantly he told me to focus and I had a real chance to meet the qualification standards for the commonwealth games. This was for Bronze and that podium finish. In a sense it was what the last 18 months has been all about.

I felt great going out there, there were small butterflies but nothing major and it was out onto the mat a quick hand shake and into the match. I was focussed and confident, I circled well. Marek tried for a single, I blocked and went for my single which I got and pushed him out for a point. The match continued in that vain for the next minute, I got a couple of points here and there before going for another single leg that saw me score 4 points and take a healthy 8 – 0 lead. My final points came from Marek going for a throw which he did well, but I managed to step out and get behind him to get the tech fall and win the match.

I was pretty elated. The pressure was off, I shook hands with Marek and the referee and there is something great about the feeling of having your hand raised in the middle of the mat. I shook the hand of the opposing coach and then back to my corner and gave Michael a hug.

It’s been 18 months since I got into in to wrestling - 12 months competitively and 9 without injury. To me that is a good achievement and something I’m incredibly proud of. I would love to take my wrestling further. Yes, I’ve met the qualification standards for Glasgow 2014 but I will need to wait and see, that may well be the biggest hurdle but it’s certainly not the last. Scotland had 9 men meet the qualification standards for only 7 places available, which is awesome for the sport. So.. it does still mean that I’m still fighting for that place in the final team, and even then it has to be approved by Commonwealth Games Scotland. There are things that will go in my favour in selection and those that won’t. So it really is a wait and see situation. The team announcement is in May, so we will need to see what happens. But I’ve got my fingers crossed.

In amongst all that, there was a competition to organise the following week and wow, that was stressful. The club managed to pull it off and the event was fantastic. I also decided to compete. I really didn’t want to but if I hadn’t there would have been no bout for the other 100+ lad. I’m not making excuses for losing this one, he wanted it more than me at the end of the day, it was a close contest and he won it with a last second flurry. Fair play – I was exhausted and just happy to have that out the way but I don’t think it would have done me any favours with commonwealth games selection but you can’t do everything!

So what now, I start training again like I’ve not qualified except with qualification out the way, there is no pressure on me and I can enjoy it again. I’ve been watching a bit of heavyweight wrestling on you tube, whilst not the most exciting it is teaching me quite a bit. Then it’s a wait and see what happens with the selection process. It would be the cherry on the cake of what has already been a remarkable journey and I hope that I will have some good news to report in the not too distant future.

Thanks for taking time out and as always, thanks to everyone who has helped me out along the way. You don’t know how appreciative I am!.

Cheers,

Mike

@Shocksjr