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!
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| 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
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