Wrestling 2020 and beyond

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.

So…onto the International Olympic Committee recommendation. As you will be aware if you have any interest in the sport that this weekend is the announcement whether wrestling shall regain its place in the Olympic Programme after 2020. There have been some significant changes to the sport, and for those of you comedians out there, that doesn't mean fireworks, entrance music or a finishing move. They have changed the scoring system that is designed to make the sport more exciting and encourage more spectacular bouts. Don’t be fooled though, watching a couple of heavyweights compete isn’t going to be too much more exciting but you never know. If this whole saga with the IOC has done nothing more that give FILA a bit of a boot in the arse and raised the profile of the sport then that’s a good thing. It’s brought a lot of people from all over the world closer together and that can only be a good thing for the sport. Wrestling in Edinburgh has certainly benefited from the news that the IOC was going to turf it from the Olympics. I still struggle to get my head round that in the first place... a sport that was in the ancient Olympics from 776 B.C and has 300 million participants world wide its an outrageous idea to consider in the first place.

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.

David Smith - Changing Paths

I was pretty gutted I couldn’t be there, but more pressing matters needed tending to. Simmo (weeble’s) 30th birthday bash in Bristol. A competition of Mini Golf, Bowling and Laser Quest had me fighting off some old friends to try to win coupled with the first "Sharknado" drinkathon. I took a 2^nd place overall which I wasn’t going to complain about despite getting a gutter ball at bowling and completely sucking at golf.  

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!

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"

Nacho Libre

My final thing to report on is the Scottish Institute of Sport. I was asked to submit an application to the Wrestling High Performance Programme to get institute support. That application unsurprisingly came back negative. I dwelled on it for a minute or two but to be perfectly honest, why should the institute take me on? I’ve not got any qualification results.I haven’t shown that I’m good enough to compete in Glasgow 2014, I've only wrestled in 4 competitions - had I not been injured in the British it might have been a different story but the main thing is that if I qualify in March at the British closed, then its Team Scotland who have the final say and that is still my target and achievable So on that note – I have a lot of work to do, i'm going to work my arse off to make sure I compete at the Commonwealth Games on 29 July 2014. Ticket plug there! head to http://www.glasgow2014.com/tickets

Thanks for taking time out to have a read. Hope you enjoyed it.

@shocksjr

P.S = really good video from US Wrestling about keeping Wrestling in the Olympics

Guest Blogger - Steven Cote

Hello...

This week, another guest blog entry for: the Road to 2014 - I pestered one of my coaches Steve  Cote to get writing a blog post without any steer on what I wanted him to talk about. Steve is an experienced wrestler but also been all over the world with his studies before coming to Edinburgh for his MSc. I am indebted to him for the help he has given me and the club in Edinburgh, so if anyone reading this is in a position to employ in September and needs a good egg - he could be your man.

It's a good read from someone who has ended up becoming a good friend of mine and even more so from someone who hasn't written a blog post before. He has done a good job. Thanks to Steve for that and for the kind words but rest assured I'm still going to try and kick your ass at training! For note - I picked the pictures of Steven for the blog... I should take a moment to say whatever you do - don't google safesearch Steven Cote Wrestling Netherland and go to images. That must be a different Steven Cote!

Hope you all enjoy!

@shocksjr

I have never written a blog before so bear with me, even if it is a little long.

Mike asked me to write a blog entry for him a while ago, and I have finally found the time to finish it. I will try not to make this thing too much of an ‘Ode to Mike’, cause let’s face it; he has been getting enough credit in this thing already! But will tell you a bit about me and my background as well.

Steven Cote - Culturally Open Minded

I moved to Edinburgh last September to start a MSc. in Tourism Marketing at Napier University. I am half Belgian/ half American who was living in France before moving here together with my fiancé. I have lived in Belgium, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Tanzania, France and now Scotland, which has led me to define myself as a culturally open-minded and sociable person. My Scottish experience has been great so far, I have been able to do loads of exploring of the country, with one of the main distinguishing factors being the friendliness of the people. Doesn’t matter if I am in the heart of city or out in the highlands, Scottish people have a general likability and openness about them that I can’t get enough of; mind you I have not been to Glasgow yet! But I am sure that won’t really change my general outlook on things.   

Having wrestled before and knowing I was going to be in Edinburgh for at least a year, during induction week at University, I was desperately trying to find a wrestling club within the city. For a while I thought I was going to have to get into Judo or grappling, but then one day the Engage gym staff came to Craiglockhart campus and someone told me about this wrestling club and Mike’s commonwealth ambitions. I immediately jumped on board, and initially just thought I would join a club so I could get back into shape, but eventually have become pretty invested in the club myself. Mike and the rest of the guys at Engage and the club have been great!  I am leaving over the summer for an internship in the Western Isles and am pretty gutted about the fact I won’t get to wrestle or coach over that time period.    

Steve - 2nd from left in the 

My wrestling career took place mostly during my high school days, when I wrestled for the DODDS system within Europe, which has over 50 international schools who participate against each in a variety of sports. Starting at the young age of 14, for me, was a critical issue in developing my skills and my passion for this great sport. My highest achievement came during my senior year when I placed 2^nd in the European Championships in 2006, which was the last time that I wrestled collegiate style competitively. After making the decision to stay in Europe for Uni, I started wrestling freestyle in The Netherlands where I became BENELUX national champion at 60 KG in 2007, which was the last time I ever wrestled competitively, and I have to say I do miss it sometimes.   

The guys at the Edinburgh club and in particular Mike have been egging me on to compete, I think a friendly wager should be made between the two of us to seal the deal. Something like, if I compete and do relatively well, Mike has to treat me to 5 orders at Los Cardos! Nothing like TEX-MEX for motivation, but to be fair if I do manage to find a way to stay in Edinburgh after University, I think a return to competitive wrestling will be in order.

Many people don’t understand wrestling and undervalue it tremendously; you might ask where is the appeal of two sweaty people in tights trying to grab each other? If that is not ample justification enough for you, let my personal experience provide some insight. Many people are adamant about their sports, but wrestling has taught me so much more than just techniques to play a sport. It taught me to be able to dig deep and do extraordinary things through self-motivation, mental toughness and self-confidence both on and off the mat. I think that is what I really love about the sport that success or failure is up to no one else but you. Both the physical and psychological development I went through made me a better student, a better athlete and an all-round better person in life. Wrestling provided me with skills that I was able to take with me into my adult life with some of the more important ones being leadership and confidence. As my coach during high school always used to say, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog, and that has always been my way of looking at both wrestling and life. I have no idea where I would be right now in life if it was not for wrestling as it transformed me from a scrawny, shy, aimless kid; into a confident, tough young man with goals. (Mind you I am still pretty skinny!)

Getting back on to talking about the Edinburgh Wrestling Club, we have two sessions a week right now at the club and on Monday practices, my role is usually to play crash dummy for Coach Michael to show moves on. Because of my previous wrestling experience, I generally know the techniques he is showing but also know how to fall, adapt my stance, and mirror correctly to what he is trying to show, which is beneficial for the other more inexperienced wrestlers to see. The other guys usually get in a laugh or two, when they see my painful facial expressions from Coach’s moves. The tables quickly turn when the expression ‘you won’t know until you feel it’ comes to play, where I persuade the coach to pick on someone his own size, like Mike! 

The Friday sessions which I coach are a bit more informal, but I still like to build on or go over what we did on Mondays and have a good thirty minutes for live wrestling at the end. The coaching perspective is something new for me, but I am really enjoying it. Seeing someone carry out a perfect technique you’ve showed them in a live wrestling environment is a rewarding experience. I have noticed a shift between my attitude when I am live wrestling at the club as well, no longer just focusing on winning the match but focusing on what the other person is doing right or wrong, in order to be able to give feedback afterwards. This shift towards a more coaching mentality has allowed me to think more about the technique side of things, and in the end will make me a better wrestler as well.     

Here comes the part of the blog entry that Mike is going to love, my praise to him! (Just don’t let it get to your head) Like I said wrestling is not easy, it’s a tough, both mentally and physically, demanding sport, which not everyone can do. It takes integrity, intelligence, and determination to succeed in this sport, and in the past few months of wrestling, Mike has been showing me these traits. I started wrestling at a young age and fell in love with the sport, it is great for me to see someone like Mike who started fairly late in life with wrestling taking such a liking to it. His commitment to his family, his job, his training and wrestling and juggling all of those together impresses me every time.

Reading through Mike’s blogs from the past, he has started being more honest about our wrestling matches during practice as well, and by honest, I mean admitting that I have been getting the best of him! That should drive our healthy rivalry up a notch! All kidding aside though, it is great to see the strides Mike has been taking during our live wrestling sessions. His mat awareness, wrestling techniques, stamina, and match mentality have all increased immensely, making him one tough opponent! I will even give Mike the recognition he deserves, by stating he beats me fair and square (occasionally) not just by his weight advantage, but truly because of his superior strength and wrestling technique. As an unofficial coach and enthusiast of Mike and his goals, I believe The British open in a few weeks will be the real test of his improvement, but I think it is safe to say that Mike’s objective of qualifying for the Commonwealth games needs to be changed to medaling in the Commonwealth games!

I leave you with this poem by Anthony Robles, who won the 2011 NCAA wrestling championship with only one leg. I think it really exemplifies a wrestler’s attitude towards life, check out the short youtube clip about him and you can hear these powerful words from the man himself.

Every soul who comes to earth
with a leg or two at birth
Must wrestle his opponents knowing
it’s not what is, it’s what can be, that measures worth.
Make it hard, just make it possible
And through pain I’ll not complain
My spirit is unconquerable
Fearless I will face each foe
For I know I am capable
I don’t care what’s probable
Through blood, sweat, and tears, I am unstoppable.

Wrestling - Taking the bad with the good!

Sharples Bolton Open Championships 2013

It's been a reasonable amount of time since my last blog update so thought it was time to regale you with chat about what's been happening in the world of wrestling and specifically my #mission2014. The last time I updated the blog I was talking about the kick up the arse I had (motivationally speaking) from David Smith MBE and how his story had encouraged me to buckle down and get training. I spoke about the Commonwealth Games qualification standards and burritos from Los Cardos in Edinburgh, of which I am now a loyal customer. In other news my old man celebrated his 66th Birthday and I was treated to a Nandos, I would have loved to have treated him but really just haven't got any disposable income at the moment, it's a sad state of affairs but we will prevail. Still having money worries, its pish but that's life! It was their first taste of the chicken gurus and they thought it was pretty good. Was great to catch up with them just the three of us, first time in a while.

I spent a bit of time last week reading back over my blog posts and on reflection, it has been a pretty fun journey so far. I've been wrestling properly for 7 months now and have three championships under my belt with 2 loses, 2 wins and two golds. I've fought the Best in the Britain and I've had a cracked rib... i've got loads I want to do and I need to and want to train harder. I noticed that for the first three months I was spelling Michael Cavanagh's name wrong and I botched up his role title as well, what a muppet. He never mentioned it but I will apologise for that. He must have thought I was a complete tit for getting that wrong but I've amended them now.

I've had a few good run outs on the mat, my confidence was running high after the British Novices and I wanted to keep that feeling going. I have also had a bit more support from my mates which is great, I'm still eagerly awaiting the return of the Bear to the mat and would love to wrestle the Weeble, but i've been Wresting on Tuesdays at the Emirates arena with Dave Simm (the weebles brother), it's been great fun and tough training. Dave is back in the Scotland 'A' Rugby League squad and trying to increase his fitness and he is a good partner to train with, although he is a lefty which makes life that little more awkward for me. It's great to have someone kind of close to my weight to wrestle against it is completely different wrestling someone heavy that the lighter guys.

If your free get down to the club

I had a nice surprise the other week as well down at Edinburgh Wrestling Club, I mentioned that Iain Feenan was going to try and get down for a session, that finally happened a couple of Mondays ago. It was awesome to have him and Rory Monks down for a bit of a grapple. Iain, I think found it pretty easy to adapt to giving his MMA and Judo background and to tell the truth I was a little bit anxious/nervous/excited/all of the above to wrestle him in the live bouts at the end of the session. Iain is strong, fast, explosive and doesn't show any mercy so to get on the mat and fight with him was great. The wrestle itself was pretty decent, Iain with his speed managed to get some points in early with a double leg and he nipped round behind me. I managed to get him down as well and scored 4 points with a leg lace to get back in it and was only losing by 6 - 7 with 7 seconds left on the clock. In that situation there is only really one thing you can do... charge. I don't think Iain saw it coming... my charge was low into an ankle pick and drive that got him down with that I took the round 9-7. Unfortunately I didn't get to wrestle Rory, maybe another day! Iain took on Rory and beat him pretty convincingly but I have to mention that Rory got a cracking double leg at the end to give himself 3 points. Yep, we ruined Iain's day!

My other wrestling Antics have been with my coaches Steven Cote and Michael Cavanagh and then with folk like Callum Anderson and Danny Gallacher. They are always keen for a scrap at the end of the session. Steve and I have a healthy rivalry which is great. He has the experience and I have the weight advantage but to be fair if we were the same weight he would score a lot more. Steve tried a new tactic last week and kicked my ass twice, the first was just normal and he beat me in the last 2 seconds but the second bout he properly smashed me by mixing it up and driving, which I didn't see coming and I didn't really know what to do, in fact Steve had the better of me this week as well, its been a bad training week for me, this is Wrestling and you have to take the Bad with the Good, that's how you learn! Coach Michael proved a point this week as well that he still has it. He scored mainly off of my mistakes, I have no idea why I changed my tactics, i'm normally pretty defensive but I went for some leg attacks and failed and as a result Coach one the round. Then there is Danny, its always fun wrestling Danny, he has an energy which I really like, he bounds about the mat and has a really good double leg attack! Again the weight advantage usually dictates the winner of those bouts but its great to see Danny getting better and better and he managed to get a good take down on me yesterday as well. 

Callum - I don't want to talk about him, I need to kick his ass next time he is down training, using my favourite move against me.

Scales spotted on Saturday - no weigh in?

Moving swiftly on to the Bolton Open Championships... I was a little annoyed that there wasn't an on the day weigh in but I guess it didn't matter at the end of the day. I was just hoping to save myself some driving, petrol, time, money the night before but c'est la vie. I only had one bout again but it was a good one and as it turns out it was really just to give me someone to fight against. I was fighting a lad called Cameron from Tryst Lions in Cumbernauld. I think he was weighing in a bit heavy for the 96kg lads at 98-99kg and he won that division and had to wrestle me. That kind of took away from the day a little bit for me but still we had to wrestle and we were both looking for the win. It tough to develop when you only have one match, yeah you still get the title and hats good but i want to be able to walk away after winning a couple of matches not just one.

The match itself wasn't the most brilliant of spectacles, there was a lot of strength and fighting for position and a few shots and blocks but at the end of the first round the score was sitting at 0 - 0 that meant that we went to the Clinch. This was my first in competition. It's basically a tie breaker. One person draws a ball out of a bag and the colour of that ball gets to dominant position by starting with the opponents leg in their arms. Basically like a rugby tackle. I drew out the blue ball and that meant I had to surrender a leg and was in a bit of a precarious position. The whistle went and I sprawled and somehow managed to break my leg free. That meant I only had to defend for 30 seconds without conceding and the round was mine. Success!

Hanging out with my Trophy 

The second bout was a bit more interesting, I won 2 - 0 with a push out of bounds and I successfully defended a shot and managed to take Cameron's back that gave me another point. What are my thoughts after the match? I need to work on my fitness, I'm not sure if it was the day that took it out of my, pressure of winning a match or the driving or something else? but I was tired afterwards and that's something I want to fix. I felt my strength was good and I think I played a very safe, very tactical game, I knew that Cameron had a very good leg attack and my goal was to disrupt that, throw him off his game plan and pick up a couple of points. think that worked quite well. If there is one thing I've noticed since the English Championships its that my wrestling knowledge and know know has really improved... but there is still a hell of a lot of work to get done.
I watched the USA vs. Iran vs. Russia at Grand Central station in NYC the other night, wow! Jordon Burroughs take a bow, his double leg attacks were phenomenal, no idea where he gets the power from when he is on his knees but its impressive!

How is my balancing act with a full time job/wrestling/family/money. I've still not won the lottery which is pretty disappointing, i've not really been playing to be fair but still... that's not the point. It's the last couple of weeks in the month that hit me hardest. Not that i'm bad at budgeting, but the first week of the month wipes me out - mortgage, council tax, bills, food, petrol. I've been managing my time a bit better of late I think. Trying to get sessions in where I can and i'm vowing to start running this week to start increasing my CV capacity. Of course FILA (Governing Body) have changed the rules of the sport which i'll talk about in my next update... I've also got myself a guest blogger for the next Update - Mr. Steven Cote is going to write me a blog post this week giving some interesting insights into the world of wrestling and hopefully on my progress on the mat since we locked horns back in September... i'll keep you posted with that one. Cameron has been helping me out with some training. You may have seen this n Facebook or You Tube but in case you didn't 

This video below is Gareth Jones, one of the Scottish Wrestlers who was competing at the Bolton Open, I thought his bout was really good to watch. It went the full distance. You can check it out here: Gareth Jones - Sharples Bolton Final camera work isn't great

My final thought for the day goes out to an old friend of mine Pete Oshagbemi - I played rugby with Pete years back for Scotland Students, he was a big, strong, fast winger and a lovely bloke. I mention Pete because Pete has started writing a blog, he isn't doing any mad sporting challenge (yet) or reviewing anything in particular but what he is doing is trying to make sense of things and document his thoughts, much the same as me. I read it last week and thought it was a decent effort, a well put together piece of writing. I hope he keeps it up! If you want to have a look you can find it here. Musings of a citizen of humanity just like you!

Right, that's all from me this week. Thanks to everyone who has supported me thus far and who has been been down to the club or through to the Emirates to help with training, always on the look out for new people so feel free to get down!

Cheers

@shocksjr

"Practice makes permanent"

Inspired by a Paralympian...Never Give Up!

Since the novices at the beginning of the month i've been riding a bit higher than normal, it gave me a great boost and a confidence lift that I needed, I know it wasn't the biggest contest in the world but i'm still chuffed to have got a W on the board. 

The last few weeks at wrestling have been great, I've been going back over some of the moves that I was a little rusty on, gator roles, gut wrenches, head locks and leg laces all of which i've enjoyed. My body has held up alright, leg laces are horrible things and wrestling the guys who have been down Craig, Callum, Danny and Dave all of whom love an arm drag has left me covered in bruises but other than that i'm doing fine.

I finally managed to drag my ass back to the Emirates for a spot of wrestling. I haven't been able to fork out the extra cash for a 120 mile round trip but I happened to be in Cumbernauld on Tuesday presenting a breakout session  for the Scottish Sports Development Conference afterwards I was sitting listening to the key note speakers in the afternoon and was inspired. So much so that i'm almost re-energised to increase my efforts and get to the end goal of the Commonwealth Games. It's got me excited again.

David Smith MBE

I don't think that happens all that often... getting inspired or enthused into doing something but I was listening to David Smits' paralympic journey and how they secured a gold at the Paralympics and was pretty much blown away by what had happened to him. In a nut shell, he was in the GB bobsleigh team for the winter Olympics before heading down to the paralympic open day, basically if you have a disability you can do some testing and they match you to a sport. David was born with clubfoot and therefore qualified for paralympics and tested really well for rowing. It's a little more complicated than that but basically he had been feeling not quite right for the 19 years he had been doing sport and was finally diagnosed with a spinal tumour. After surgery he had to reboot his nervous system and teach himself how to walk again amongst other things and wow that was some story. 2 years later he is winning gold. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, he is a very humble guy but his story is pretty incredible. 

Perseverance is the key

After David Smith there was a talk by David Grevemberg (chief executive Glasgow 2014) about the "legacy" of the games and building a sporting community, inspiring young people. Unfortunately, the speech didn't quite hit the spot for me. I've heard David speak before about the Power of Sport and he was very good, this time it almost felt scripted and lacked a bit of passion but it didn't matter I was already inspired by Dave Smith. Finally to top off the day we had Doctor Andrew Murray to close the conference, he is a great speak and another one I would recommend. He is an ultra marathon runner and is threatening to try out all the commonwealth sports before Glasgow 2014 comes about. I was chatting to him briefly afterwards and we might even see him on a Monday down at the Edinburgh Wrestling Club. The key message I took away from his speech is pictured to the right. Hopefully he will come down to Wrestling...

So I had a revelation that my training kit was in the car and decided to head through to the Emirates after the conference to make a much needed appearance. I text my mate Dave Simm to see if he was about and luckily for me he was and was keen to get down. It was a pretty full on session lots of technique work and Dave is a lefty, which I find horrific to fight against. I can tell that i'm getting better and I think Vio (Scottish Assistant Coach) was relatively pleased. Even better i'm going to head down every Tuesday and that will be my session in Glasgow to keep me in with the coaches. Vio gave me some really good feedback again and whilst I don't want to pre-empt anything, I know know there is still a lot of work to be done its looking possible that I will be making my debut for Scotland in July at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Edinburgh. That's a really exciting prospect and of course gives me the third platform to qualify for Glasgow 2014. 

So onto Glasgow 2014 itself, people keep on asking me what the likelihood of this actually coming off and me making it to the games. I take an objective view to it. At the moment i'm enjoying the training, I need to work on a few things and find a bit more time to train but overall I think we are still in with a tangible shot at making it. In case you have forgotten how it works. I have my first qualification event in June at the British Championships. If I finish in the top 3 Commonwealth Athletes I have met the qualification criteria. The second is the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in July, I have to be selected to compete in that event but there isn't any reason to suspect I wouldn't be selected at the moment, if nothing else to give me more experience competing against the best in the Commonwealth. If I finish in the top 8 or top 2/3 or the field then I meet the criteria and the British Closed in early 2014 if I medal I will make the criteria. Lets assume I make one of those criteria or lets assume I don't I still have to be nominated by Vlad and Vio to represent Scotland and the final decision is then taken by Commonwealth Games Scotland. The maximum number of competitors is 7 males for wrestling but they could double up a category if they wanted, which they might well do if there is a better chance of a medal. I don't know who we have at what weight category so its hard to say but I'll keep on trucking till I know. Most likely will be British Closed next year but we will need to wait and see you never know, I might get a good draw and qualify before then. It's exciting!

How good does that look!

To finish off i'm going to plug a couple of local companies / organisations in Edinburgh the first is the zoo, great training venue, get yourself a 28 month old and a buggy and go see the big cats. That is a great workout. I was in Leith in Edinburgh over the weekend, my cousin Sheila turned an unspeakable age on Saturday and had a get together party in Wild Creatures, really cool little bar on Leith Walk. The real company I want to mention is the one across the road. I managed to get across the road to Los Cardos for a burrito after the party. These things are amazing. If you are ever on Leith Walk and need a good feed...No... wait... if you are ever in Edinburgh and need a good feed you need to get to Los Cardos It is the bomb!! www.loscardos.co.uk If I could I would eat there all the time.

Thanks to all the guys who have made it down to training over the last couple of weeks and to those who are going to come down, look forward to seeing you there and thanks for the support. 

Thanks for taking time out to read the blog

Cheers

@shocksjr

British Novice Championships - 120kg Final

Nothing quite like a bit of gentle slander to get someone straight on the ball. Thanks very much to Martin King for taking the video down in Stockton for the British Novices, it was much appreciated. Even more so for battling with the technology yo get it on line. 

The long awaited video of my first Win. 

For those that don't know me i'm the big fella in the red!