Guest Christmas Blogger - Andy Grodynski

Being a master of persuasion, I managed to get Andy Grodynski to write me a little piece for the blog. Andy is a good friend who has packed up his life and moved to Australia which is a little sad as we don't get to see him much any more, still there is a holiday friend to tap up when I get to Oz! Andy has more passports than James Bond and Jason Bourne put together... He is a little bit British, Polish, Indonesian and Australian. Pick one of those four for a place to set up shop and its not a surprise he has headed down under to show them how to do some engineering. He is only back for three weeks and managed to get a wrestling session in, which was great fun.

Before I let you read any further I should state that Andy was "emotionally compromised" from excessive alcohol consumption at time of writing and claims to have been lurking in a dark place on Struggle Street. 

Thanks for doing the Blog Andy, I appreciate it and hope you have a safe trip back home to Brissy!

All the best

@shocksjr

Grod vs.Shocks but really vs. Simmo

Andy Grodynski        -             Shortround

Mike, or Shockers, as I’ve always known him, managed to appeal to my competitive side when he said Aran Simm’s guest blog entry would be a tough one to beat on the hits!  So, here we go… I’m Andy, otherwise known as Grod, or Short Round, due to my slight resemblance to Harrison Ford’s sidekick in Temple of Doom. 

I first met Mike nearly six years ago, making my debut for the Scotland U18s RL side, where he was part of the coaching staff.  I must have been doing something right because he encouraged me to get along to play for the Edinburgh Eagles and the Napier University side.  A handful of Student and Amateur caps and 4 Grand Final wins later, I’m now playing rugby league in Brisbane, and have much to be thankful to Mike for getting me involved in the early days.

I made the escape to warmer climates just over year ago and have missed a big year for Mike and his family.  I left not long before his son’s first birthday, missed out on his stag doo and had to be content with viewing his wedding through photos!  And then there was the announcement that he had taking up wrestling!

At first I thought the pressures of parenthood and married life had hit him really hard – so I had to Skype home to make sure he was feeling okay!  However a thirty minute chat, and a bit of assurance from Emma, it was clear to see he was intent on giving the wrestling a real go.  He has done really well to get a great back-room team up and running for him very quickly – he’s got fantastic facilities and a great team at work, and I know Emma and Cameron are rooting for him at home.

I already knew I would be home for Christmas, so as well as making sure I caught up with him and Emma, I was definitely going to get along to one of his sessions to see how it was all going.

Napier Rugby League league winners 2008/2009

I rocked up to the Friday night Wrestling session not really sure what to expect.  There was some chatter amongst the other guys about different techniques; ways to win points; ways to win more points; ways not to lose points; and very quickly I was aware I didn't have the slightest clue about any of the rules!  The speed of the session was good for me – after a quick warm up we went through an hour or so of technique work.  I was fascinated by a lot of the drills we went through, which ranged from take-downs, headlocks and some counter moves.  I had no idea that the sport was so technical, as I thought wrestling was just about throwing your opposite man into the ground.  Some of the techniques were transferable to rugby league, but I’m not sure how legal the headlocks are in my game!  I think I've forgotten a lot of the technique stuff already, and whatever I did manage to retain got thrown out of me when the session moved into a few bouts.  The bouts were fun to watch – there were an obvious variety of different fighting backgrounds amongst the other boys and it was interesting to see them fight against each other.  I was a bit apprehensive about taking on Mike as he’s got nearly 30 kilos on me in weight, but (I think) I held my own and came out in one piece!  As there’s no video evidence, I might try and tell people I dominated the bout!

Proof that there are headlocks in rugby league

I was very impressed by the session and the setup at the [EN]GAGE centre at Sighthill, and really enjoyed my short session there.  I’d love to be able to do more to support Mike his bid for a spot at the games - I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye out on his progress from across the globe.  Although his foray into the wrestling world may seem a bit left field to a lot of people, he’s made a huge amount of progress in a just a few months, and has a big year of graft and training ahead of him.  The Commonwealth Games in 2014 is a huge incentive for him, and I know he’s got the added personal incentive of doing it for Emma and Cameron.  

I hope a few more of his friends can get behind him and give him the support he deserves to ensure that the next time I’m back in Scotland, it’ll be 2014 and I’ll be cheering him on from the stands at the Commonwealth Games!


@the_grod

Road to 2014: impromptu update

I wasn't planning on updating till later on in the week but... I found movie maker on my laptop and got a little bit excited this evening after I was sent some video. Hopefully my counterpart in this movie Aran "Simmo" Simm will be writing a guest blog section for the next update with a few of my thoughts thrown in there. 

Now what you are about to witness! Please bare in mind that this was our first proper grapple. Probably also worth noting that Simmo on a couple of occasions fails to abide by Wrestling etiquette (a friendly slap before starting  - tut tut). We will let him off though because he was good enough to come to the session today and put in a shift. 

It's on our knees grappling trying to throw and pin. Not bad for big lads! hope you like it an let me know what you think of my movie making skills! haha.

Will update properly later in the week but for now ENJOY...

Off to a good start

It's been another exciting day.


Well...The kid is in bed, still jumping around it, but in bed. The wife is on a pass tonight and in town and i'm chilling out at home on baby duty, so figured i'd update with what's been happening.

Yesterday and today have been pretty awesome. I've not really kicked off my campaign to get into the Commonwealth Games Wrestling Squad, i've been dabbling a bit with the gym, mainly sitting on the bike and just trying to shift a few pounds before the mental training starts, the diet has been pretty good the last couple of weeks and I haven't been eating any crap and i've been off the booze completely. 

Even though I haven't started yet things are starting to come together. I received my nutritional plan and diet yesterday - It looks pretty good, no starchy stuff and loads of veg. I've seen a lot worse, so it should be pretty easy to stick to. Could hit the wallet quite hard though! Yesterday I announced on facebook (obviously that makes it official) that I would be embarking on this quest and within hours of that I got offered a cheeky sponsorship deal with my mates company (Tysonfitness) to help with supplements. Looking forward to hearing what he has to say on things. Quite a few folk thought I was joking, but alas i'm not. I've been needing a goal for ages to get me back into shape and i've found it.

Today was pretty wicked, I took a trip down to the Loch Centre in Tranent of all places to watch Michael Cavanagh (Chairman, Commonwealth Games Scotland and former wrestler) deliver a session to the SRU age grade lads. It was awesome to watch and I got my first real taste of wrestling up close. There is a lot of cross over with Judo - happy days as my throws coach is a GB judo lad. Today was all about Tsuri - Goshi,  I learnt quite a bit and the chat was good afterwards. I should be getting in touch with Scottish Wrestling's performance director over the next couple of weeks (after the Olympics) to discuss the plan of action which is great news for me. 

This evening was good fun as well, I popped into Edinburgh and Caught up with Matt and Kev from Uni and bumped into my best mate from school Rich. Awesome to see all of them and was nice to hear their thoughts on my new venture, they all gave good support for me even trying to get to the CWG but honestly, I reckon its just to see me in lycra (bunch of perverts).

Thanks for your support so far. 

Scottish Wrestling

Back again - Day 2

The Goal

As you can probably tell, I'm really excited about this new venture into the Wrestling world and am really positive that I can qualify for Glasgow 2014. I can't wait to start training properly. It's been ages since I've had a proper focus for sport and ages since I've had the motivation to do something. Almost feels like a switch has been flicked and my focus completely restored. I have got too many people involved with helping me get to where I want to be to pull out, so either way this is going to be happening.

I've been doing a bit of research into how things work with the Wrestling and think I've managed to get my head round what needs to be done. I'm hopefully catching up with Michael Cavanagh tomorrow who will be able to give me some guidance and make sure i'm on the right track. 

At the moment my target is to compete and win the Scottish Open Championships in 2013, then Finish in the top 3 of the British Championships in 2013 before finishing top 8 in the Europeans in March 2014 before the Commonwealth Games in July 2014. That should allow me to qualify for the CWG... in theory although the official seclection criteria is still to be realeased.

So, that gives me a year to learn the ropes of wrestling and get into really good shape to be able to compete.

My training is officially starting on 13 August with fitness testing. VO2 max testing, anthropology and 1 RM testing. I'm dreading it a little bit... haven't done a VO2 max since my second year in uni almost 10 years ago. Plus I know that I'm not that fit and am sporting more fat than I would care to have for this sort of testing. I suppose the final thing is that I haven't been hitting the weights very hard over the last couple of months but can probably still shift enough to get me started.

Alex Rawcliffe - my S&C coach

It's all relevant anyway, everything will give me a baseline a that will gauge my progress and in that sense I'm looking forward to it.

My new training diet also starts on the 13th, a friend of mine who is clued up in that field in sorting me out with that side of things.

Tuesday the 14th will be the first day of the programme and my S & C coach Alex hasn't given me any details except to say that "he is going to break me in that session." Which is fine. #gohardorgohome

James Millar - my Grappling / Throws coach

Tuesday also sees my throw coach coming in to burst me on the mat and start to give me some basic know how on grapples and throws. James Miller is my throws coach, he has represented GB judo on a number of occasions and is a good friend of mine. Looking forward to working with him. Jig as he is affectionately known is a lot smaller than me, but I cant wait for him to put me through my paces.

Wrestling itself in Scotland is a bit of an anomaly, I want to join a club but the nearest one is about 60 miles away from me in either Stirling or Glasgow but needs must and I'll be joining one in January to improve my wrestling skills and of course learn the rules! That is of course until we have a club set up out of [EN]GAGE in Edinburgh.

I'll get my first taste of wrestling coaching tomorrow and see what's what and how its done. very excited about that and the next few weeks.


Twitter: @shocksjr

Where better to start than at the start!

Well... This is my Blog - i've never done one before so we shall see how it goes. 

This is all about the journey i've decided to embark on to try and get myself to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games as a Wrestler in the 120kg weight category. 

A bit about me and why i've decided to do this? 

I would class myself as a very average guy, there isn't really anything special about me. The basics are that i'm Scottish / American (My old man is from Edinburgh / and my mum from Kansas), I'm 28 and married with a little boy. I'm 6'2 and a little bit over weight, the last time I had a 6 pack I must have been about 8 years old. I'm a graduate from Edinburgh Napier University in Sports Science and one of the few to work in my chosen field in the Sports Sector. My mates call me "Shockers" after my brothers before me and I suppose the other thing that makes me normal is that I have financial worries just like every other new family man. Pretty bog standard.

I've played sport as long as I can remember, rugby was my forte but I was always pretty good at Athletics in particular the shot putt and discus. Towards the latter days of my school career I played for Fife Chargers in the county rugby set up and played midlands rugby union before getting dropped just before the making a regional team called the Caledonia Reds. To be fair I had a shocker of a game and that was the end of my climb up the rugby union ladder. 

My brother Adam after a tour to France

My older brother Adam used to come back from uni with all sorts of cuts and bruises and once with a broken thumb and that got me interested. He was playing rugby league for Scotland Students and got me involved in the first ever Scotland Rugby League under 18 squad. We played France in Peebles and got humped by about 40 points, but it was a good experience and since I went on to play for Scotland Rugby League about 60 times at various levels. Never made it pro though.

I've had my share of injuries. I'm 28 now, 11 years ago I had my first keyhole surgery on my knee which was a bit of a bugger, it set me back a little bit having my cartillage out. I made it back to form and to a national level and blew my knee out completely in 2005. I was playing for Scotland Students in the World Cup in Australia against New Zealand. 

When you get an injury like I received that day everything happens so quickly but I seem to remember it in slow motion. This monster of a kiwi came running towards me I stepped forward, planted my left leg and threw my shoulder into him. This guy was a mutant and just ran over me, I remember trying to pull him down, realising my leg was stuck, it hyperextended as I fell backwards and twisted, completely tearing the ACL. very painful. If you ever see a footballer on TV rolling around, you know they aren't really injured. When that happens and you hear your knees cracking, you don't move a muscle.

Anyway, I made it back to play for Scotland and it was a great achievement for me after thinking I was done. Actually my comeback was a complete fluke, in 2009 I was helping out with the coaching of the Scotland A squad and we had a few injuries which meant I was drafted into play against Wales, did alright and that was me back in the fray.

Playing for Scotland 'A' against England (2010)

In 2010, after a fantastic international and domestic season I was playing in the Scottish Grand Final for my club "Edinburgh Eagles" and in the last moments of the game jarred my knee against someone. It was sore but not too bad, on MRI I found out the PCL had torn and from then I decided my competitive sporting career was over.

In fact, it was over until about a month ago when I decided to play Rugby in a friendly match. I miss playing competitive sport dearly so it was nice for a run out. I managed to show the young bucks how its done a little and like anyone else, its nice to know you still have it! Anyway, I played my last game of rugby last week for Edinburgh Eagles 2nd team and got hammered 84 - 4. You'll never guess where the 4 points came from!! 

More to the point though... Wrestling!

I know pretty much bugger all about it. All I know is that Michael Cavanagh who is the Chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland and a wrestler himself popped in for a meeting at my work about setting up a wrestling club, he was looking for a 120kg man with a sports background who might take up wrestling as we (Scotland) haven't really got anyone in that weight category. 

I joked with him about me getting back into training and going for it and his parting words were "aye, see you at Glasgow 2014". I went home reflected on it, spoke to the wife and a couple of others and now here I am, ready to start training for the Commonwealth Games 2014. 

I've managed to get myself a Sport Scientist, Strength and Conditioning Coach and even a nutritionist and a throwing coach to start me on my quest. So i'm all set and the 13th August is my start date.

Honestly, I have no idea how it will go, I dont even know the rules of the sport or what style i'm going for... but what I do know is that i've been inspired by the Olympics and inspired by my friend Euan Burton. He won't know this but he is a two time Olympian and his commitment really is inspiring and I want to have that. Euan has had a tough time at London 2012 but he'll bounce back. I'm 100% motivated to do this and want to compete for my country but most of all I want to try a new sport and fall back in love with competing. I've never really done any individual sport, so this will be a test but I'm confident I can make it!

So to sum up - I'm an average bloke, who has been inspired and is motivated to try this and see if its possible. I don't have a clue really about the road ahead but for me all signs are pointing to Glasgow 2014 and that's where I want to be in 2 years time!

watch this space!!

Oh and you can catch me on Twitter - I've only just set it up, hence hardly any followers: @shocksjr