Tribute to a Friend Lost

I thought I would give people a little bit of forewarning about this blog post. It has absolutely nothing to do with Wrestling or my Road to 2014. Personally, its more important than that. Sometimes you have to take a break from the now and remember. So if you were hoping for wrestling chat or my normal blog banter, you will have to wait a week or so. I'm not making any apologies, this post is about one of the best guys I ever had the pleasure of knowing and its a tribute from me to him.

Tribute to a Friend Lost

November always heralds a sad time of year, of course armistice day reminds us all of the sacrifice of so many who laid down their lives so that we could be free. It is a very humbling time of year. Lest we forget.

For me and some of my close friends; November will always be a time where we remember a friend who was taken from us a little over 9 years ago. It is hard to believe how quickly time has passed and how long ago that actually was... the more I think about it... this is going to be a very hard blog to write. It's already taken me three weeks to piece it together. I want to try and articulate how much someone can mean to you and how a loss of someone close can effect you and above all I want to honour the memory of my best friend by introducing you to him in my own way. I've never spoken publicly about him and I rarely talk about him in private if i'm honest...but that isn't to say I don't think about him. I do that a lot.

Andy Couser was one of the good one's. I know that is a little cliché these days to say that about someone who you know, who has passed away but I'm not going to apologise for it. I certainly haven't met anyone like him since and doubt very much I will again. Andy, was an influence on me, not a bad influence (except for his smoking and drinking) but certainly an influence and still is to this day - My son is named for Andy = Cameron Andrew Wallace. My life took some crazy turns because of him passing which in part has made me who I am today.

Andy, was from Donaghadee, a small little town in Northern Ireland. He went to Campbell College before coming across to Napier University in Edinburgh to study Sport and Exercise Sciences which is where we met. What a bloke, although he was attached for the most part whilst at uni, all the girls loved him and they all got on really well with him, he was a gent, so it was no surprise. I wouldn't call him a fashionista but  he had more shoes than I have socks. He was a proper lad and loved his rugby, a good bloke. 

Sometimes you meet those likeable characters, Andy was one of those people and we became good mates, if not the best of mates. We played rugby together, went to uni together, socialised together and of course drank together. Drank far too much together! Not just us, there was a good crew of us who were all good mates.

We had some awesome times. 2003/2004 was great and 2004 we had the summer of our lives, we worked the doors at the 3 sisters and Faith Nightclub and drank a lot we were just completing second year of uni, if I remember correctly - just scraping through though. We had the social scene in Edinburgh nailed to a T.  Thought we were the mutts nuts and back in those days, the clubbing scene was pretty decent and cheap! 50p pints! I'll give you the run down -

Monday - Revolution (Now Picture House)
Tuesday - Establishment
Wednesday - Shark @ City
Thursday - Gaia (Now Silk)
Friday - Worked
Saturday - Worked
Sunday - Sunday

We must have done that for months and probably why my memory of 2003/2004 is so bad. Big Tunes 2004 was the CD of choice and "My My My" by Armand Van Helden was a particular favourite of ours. If I had to pick one stand out night with Andy, It wasn't the booziest of nights, those I barely remember. I had to call Andy to get me home after getting drunk somewhere in Leith, i had no idea where the hell I was and he had to guide me back over the phone to some where I recognised. My favourite night was after a usual messy night at Rev. We walked for ages before heading to Faith for a night cap and ended up sitting and chatting on Lauriston Place in Edinburgh opposite the old hospital. We put the world to rights and planned our trip to Australia, planning to ditch uni about Christmas for a year and go exploring down under. We sat till about 5:00am just talking before making our way to the Spiders Web in Haymarket for a 6:00am pint. Yep, it was a full on night of drinking, that's how we used to do it back in those days. 8:30am quickly came about and we both had an epiphany - we could make the principles of coaching lecture at Uni! we made it, absolutely wrecked, reeking of booze, stumbled in - Struggled to stay awake and then went home. Pretty standard.

If I had to describe Andy to you, he was stylish, a bit on the rugged side, but his main attribute was that he was a funny funny bloke, sarcastic but funny. He was a big lad, not fat just a well built bloke but you could probably describe him as a bit of a softy, a gentle lad. All round good guy with his head screwed on and he loved a drink and a boogie. The boy band falll back was a particular favourite of his, hilarious to watch, I did it in a night club over the summer this year in a kilt, and fell on my arse. I got thrown out of a pub in Australia as well for doing it before meeting the neighbours cast. I will never learn.

I make it sound like Andy and I just drank, that's not really fair. We did have an awesome time and loads of laughs. Finishing work, Andy used to take me home to where ever I was staying in his black Renault Clio, one the way, we would play "I am not a taxi". Obviously a made up game but pretty funny, driving around town waiting for unsuspecting people to hail you and then stopping rolling down the window and saying "I am not a taxi". It's the simple things in life.

Unfortunately, We never did get the chance to go to Australia together. I don't want to get into the circumstances surrounding Andy's death, he died in the early morning of 4 November 2004 after a fall from height. What I will say is that that day was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. He was due to pick me up from work at Subway Sandwiches that afternoon and I had been dropping a few texts to get a match report of the night before, but not getting any replies which was odd. I knew something wasn't right pretty much straight away, you just get that feeling but I couldn't put my finger on it. Andy didn't show to pick me up and I went home. I was changing and about to jump in the shower when I got the call from my old boss Big Ian. He said, and I remember it clear as day "Shockers, You better take a seat son, I don't know how to tell you this... but Andy is dead." It took a minute to sink in but I said I understand and hung up. On the way to the living room where I had a couple of mates I was screaming something at them, I almost collapsed on the way to the room, my head was spinning and I just didn't know what to do, I had gone a bit hysterical and finally managed to spit it out that our friend had died. 

I called home, crying, that was all I could do, I didn't know what else to do, finally manage to blurt out that Andy had died and all I remember was my mum saying "Oh No!! and then telling me that it was going to be hard but I will pull through." what else could she say. 

The evening consisted with me trying to get the message out to our friends and having a lot of people coming and going. We all met down at the 3 sisters, there must have been 20-30 of us, maybe more and we all walked down to the western approach road where we met Andy's family and we paid our respects to our friend, cried, tried to get our heads around what had happened and Timmy Lowes, bless him asked if we could all pray and we did.

I got a letter through the post 2 days after from my Dad. It was a very nice letter which I still have. He explained that it was going to be tough and that mum and him knew that Andy was a big part in my life and how important he was. Mum tried to explain that "God has a reason, although in circumstances like these its incredibly hard to see what they are." Honestly, i'm still looking for that answer and I don't know if I will ever find it.

a large group of us travelled to Andy's funeral, a few people were told they could go see Andy a final time before they closed the coffin. I point blank refused at the first offer but needed that closure in my mind and Matt Thompson came in with me to see him for the final time. My head was spinning, I had never seen a body before and it didn't really look like Andy, although it was. I had a moment, said a prayer and a good bye and shed a few tears in the process, that was one of the hardest things I have ever done and have never spoken of it.

Andy was buried the next day and there were about a 1000 people at the funeral, testament to how well he was loved. I have no idea how Andy's Dad Alan did it but he gave the Eulogy and it was one of the most touching heart felt things I have ever heard. He gave us all a poem that has resonated with a few in our group of friends which is below.

I suspended my studies after Andy died and took 2 years out of uni. It took me a long time to come to grips with what had happened and I struggled for the longest time with it all, I bottled it up and tried to be strong for those who needed me to be, I actually used to write letters to Andy to help me deal with things, telling him how things were going and that we all missed him. I think a little part of me was lost after Andy died, part of the fun had gone out of life. I never had counselling although the uni did offer it, I chose to do things my own way and went off the rails for a little bit. Looking back on it all, I struggled and its thanks to a few people who really picked me up. I'm not going to name names but I hope they know who they are.

You can put these things down to life experience, they aren't nice, i'm not saying they are good experiences, but you do come out the other side knowing more about yourself that you did before and you are more resilient. My dad lost his best friend as well and I've never really spoken to him about it, and maybe I should, not easy topics but it is good to talk. It did bring me closer to some of my friends now and we will always have Andy as someone who brought us together. I haven't spoken to Andy's parents and brother for a while but they are people who I became very fond of and admire their courage and value their friendship. 

Andy Couser taught me numerous things, we pulled each other through 2nd year uni for one, but more than that he showed me how to have a good time, take myself less seriously and somehow always to look for the good in people. It of course makes me sad to think about what might have been. Its the same for anyone, if you have lost someone you always try to celebrate the life and not mourn the death. It's a good philosophy and I think one that has pulled numerous people out of grief. There will always be a void, I know that. Having someone close to you pass away is never going to be easy. I should have talked about it more, so if it does happen don't be afraid to open up about it and let it out and remember that everyone deals with things their own way. 

Andy's passing taught me a hell of a lot about myself. It makes you think and it takes time. They say time is the best healer of them all. That's true to a point, as you progress with your life the grief does disperse and you spend more time remembering the good times, which is always good and by doing that you know that you have lost someone special because you miss them. It's normal, all perfectly normal, we are human after all.

Martin Luther King once said that the true measure of a man is not where he stands in comfort and convenience but where he stands and times of challenge and controversy. I've always liked that... I like to think that I finished Uni because I owed it to Andy to do so, he was awarded his degree posthumously and was awarded a 2:1 which I thought was quite amusing considering the lack of work we had done up till his passing. I walked away with a 2:2 which continues to make me laugh, he will always have one up on me in that regard! 

I still miss him, I couldn't tell you what life would be like if Andy was still here with us, but I do know that it would certainly be that little bit better.

May you continue to Rest In Peace mate:

Death is Nothing at All by Henry Scott Holland

Death is nothing at all.

I have only slipped away to the next room.

I am I and you are you.

Whatever we were to each other, 

That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.

Speak to me in the easy way

which you always used.

Put no difference into your tone.

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed

at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word

that it always was.

Let it be spoken without effect.

Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same that it ever was.

There is absolute unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind

because I am out of sight? 

I am but waiting for you.

For an interval.

Somewhere. Very near.

Just around the corner.

All is well. 

Vacations, Competitions and Operations

Vacation time - Alvor, Portugal

Right then... I've given you all six weeks off from reading the Blog and now its time to get back into things. I've been pretty busy, same old stuff really nothing much has changed, I say that but when I think about it I have been doing a lo and keeping myself out of bother. I'm still working, wrestling, eating, sleeping and I've been on Holiday. I had a pretty chilled out week in Portugal at the start of September. It was pretty awesome and the place we were staying had a gym that wasn't really used by anyone except for me and a couple of locals, so I managed to keep some training up! Lots of swimming, which was great because it's taught the little guy how to swim. A really nice family holiday was pretty good to recharge the batteries both physically and mentally. 

On to wrestling - - - First thing to tell you all about is (in case you have been in your own world) last month the IOC unsurprisingly decided to reinstate Wrestling into the Olympic programme, was it ever really in doubt? possibly, but more of a wake up call for the sport than anything else I think. it was a pretty comprehensive victory for the sport but you have to feel for squash and karate, particularly squash, that's three attempts to get to the Olympics and a lot of money spent for not a great deal of return. Of course, great news for Wrestling though! I think the IOC would have been hard pressed to justify getting rid of one of the ancient Olympic sports in replace for sports like Golf, Tennis, Football, Rugby 7's but I've mentioned that previously so no need to dwell, its back and that's the main thing.

Second, the Tryst Lions Open at the end of September. I had two bouts and lost two, it was pretty disappointing but as I found, you live and learn from these experiences. I felt great prior to going, training had been going well and I was feeling really strong, my weight programme from Alex was doing the job well. My first bout was against Ewan Maddox, a good friend of mine who is also a potential Commonwealth Games athlete for next year at 96kg which was all good, wrestled Ewan a couple of times at the club and its usually a good scrap. Ewan has been wrestling for about 3 1/2 years and has some good skills.

First of all... The venue was Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell, the fella's involved at Tryst Lions and North Lanarkshire Council did a superb job of making the place look great. It was really exciting to walk in there and see the place. They did themselves and their club proud and it was a fantastic day out. My problems, however started the night before... I couldn't for love nor money find my red singlet! It was ridiculous, I looked everywhere for it and it was no where to be seen, so I ended up stressing about that and was up late worrying about what the heck I was going to do. I was wondering what the toll on my body was for all this training, i'm pretty tired alot of the time, despite getting a fair bit of sleep, I sometimes feel like I just need to rest.

Tryst Lions Open at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Centre

Not a great start - however I travelled through for the 8:00am weigh in and weighed in at a nice 119.4kg and then decided that because I was so tired, I needed a nap so ventured out for a power nap in the car. I must have been snoozing for about 45 minutes and woke up and went back in to the hall. I still had a reasonable amount of time before my bout but the issue I find with Wrestling competitions is that you never know how long you have. In theory there are 6 minutes per match but pins and technical falls make it impossible to tell. Despite trying to get into the zone, I just couldn't get into it. I wasn't comfortable, I don't know whether its because with this little quest I've put myself under pressure, or whether it was because it was my first match back from injury or simply that I was tired, only had a blue singlet and just wasn't feeling it.

The match came about, I got on the mat with Ewan... Coach Cavanagh was in my corner and we started to wrestle. Ewan kindly loaned me his red singlet that was a size to small, so I looked more like I was rocking a badly fitting women's swim suit, proper budgie smuggling! anyway, I scored first with a leg attack that put Ewan into the blue to take a 1 - 0 lead. Then I don't know why I did it but I went for a double leg attack, got countered and before I could react on the ground ended up in a very easy pin position for Ewan and that was that. Not taking away anything from Ewan, he did well, read the situation -,reacted well and won the match. But... yet again I was my own worst enemy, if I had stuck to the game plan and defended after I had scored that would have been the smart thing to do and the match might have been a bit different. I haven't got the mat awareness that I need yet but that only comes with matches.

The heavyweights from the Tryst Open

The second match, I was nervous about but really looking forward to, it was against a fella called Gregory Martinetti. As it turns out Gregory is a former Olympian who fought for Switzerland in the 2000 games. He fought at 85kg back then and wow, what an experience wrestling him. He was fluid, very very impressive and there wasn't much I could do to stop him scoring, I managed to avoid the head locks which was a result for me and had a reasonable scrap with him but he was far too quick for me, every time he moved there was another point and not surprisingly he beat me convincingly 7 - 0. Again, in Wrestling there are only winners and learners and I took away a lot from that bout and that meant I finished in 3rd of 3. Not great! 

From that you might think a wasted journey, but  you have to look at what I have learnt from it. Positives are sometimes really difficult to find but I have found that you need to look outside the bx a little when your against the wall. Psychology plays a massive part sport in general and especially in wrestling. I need to learn to have a bit more control and train myself to get in the "zone". And what is that "zone"? for me its a place where i'm warmed up, psychologically ready to get on the mat, i have been through my visualisation and am ready to compete. I had it at the British Novices and at Bolton, even at the British Championships when I got injured but didn't have it at Tryst, and what a difference. I have a plan and warm up routine, but I really need to work hard to implement it. I used to do it for rugby but haven't managed to transfer it across to wrestling...yet, possibly because my rugby routine playing for Scotland used to have me taking a couple of minutes somewhere quiet Toilet or more often than not in the shower. It is so important to focus, and i think that at the last competition I really just couldn't so I need to go into the next one ready and will my own routine.

In other Wrestling news, its been pretty exciting, despite a bad day for me at Ravenscraig - we got measured for the kit for next year, if anyone knows me, they will know that I'm a big lover of stash! I roamed in and had to try on the Asics gear which was all pretty smart, a little small on the day and I measured in at a 50 inch chest, which is the biggest I have ever been and was the biggest the guys from Team Scotland had measured at that time... they still had the weightlifters and hammer throwers, some big lads! I've also got access to the Team Scotland on-line management system, which is pretty interesting. They ask loads of questions and take a lot of details, so I guess if I do qualify they will utilise that info. They ask some pretty random stuff - what year in history I would like to have lived through? have a think about that one, its tough! its really exciting to be included in those things and here all the plans for the coming months, just a reminder that things are real and starting to come together.

Back home, on the family front. Emma has got a new job, which is awesome for her. It does mean that my training schedule has had to change a bit. Wednesday at Edinburgh Wrestling Club, Thursday at Emirates with my new training partner Iain Feenan. I really enjoyed having Iain down, he picked it up pretty quickly and we had a good brawl but again I was knackered by the end of it, Vio put us through our paces a little with the warm up but Iain being the machine he is, is still in pretty good nick. Great to have a training partner.

I managed to get along to the club at Tullibody the other week, which was awesome, I really enjoyed the coaching from Alan and Colin, its a great club but a tad far away for me. Training at Edinburgh Wrestling Club has been good, we need more people down to really get things going, its a shame that we haven't got more, so if you haven't got anything to do on a Wednesday and your in Edinburgh, get along, it would help me out! I have managed to get my first win against Coach Cavanagh 8 - 5. It took me over a year to do it
It was the extra minute that let me do that and that meant I had bragging rights for the week, last we had a tough session and there was a rematch which saw Michael throw me with about 3 seconds to go to win the match 3-1 so my gloating was very short lived. Frustrating as he has the bragging rights back but good to know that your coach can boss you.

I even had Dave Simm back at the club this week, he has forgotten a few things, but is still a brute to wrestle against, he did really well, I was burst after the session but managed to get a suicide throw and a pin which was good for me but lucky! That session we had Chris Sellar from the Sportscotland Young Persons Sports Panel in doing a video. The guys and girls from the panel are making a video showcasing all the commonwealth sports and I think Chris found it pretty tough and got some decent footage. He did an interview with Michael and myself so hopefully they can use that. Will be nice for Wrestling to get a little promo.

Cup cake fest!

I've been trying to watch what I eat this month - however, Emma has been baking like a daemon over the last couple of weeks practising for a family friends 21st birthday, Halloween themed cupcakes and I have been the tasting board. The cakes have been pretty awesome, very tasty and Emma should be pretty proud, not a trained baker or decorator but she nailed it with the Chocolate Orange, Vanilla, Sticky Toffee Apple, Pumpkin and caramel cupcakes. Yum!

I suppose the final thing for me has been a couple of days of worrying about my old man. I drove through to Pittenweem after a really nice weekend with Emma, I took her out for a meal and to see the Lion King at the Edinburgh Playhouse for her Birthday - seats were great but wow the playhouse is not designed for any man over 6 foot tall, so cramped. I spent the last 20 minutes trying to shift the pain from my knees to my hips to avoid having to get up. Almost gave a standing ovation, just to be able to stretch. When I got to Pittenweem, there was an added bonus I was told there were clothes hanging up - and RESULT - the red singlet was there!

 My mission was to pick up my dad and take him through to hospital. Despite it being pretty brief and miserable weather, I do really enjoy being back in Pittenweem, its a nice part of the world. The old man was in for his spinal operation to fix the Stenosis in his neck, there was a 1% chance of paralysis and believe me - that plays on your mind, the what ifs weren't good to think about. He came out of it well, I popped into see him and he was cracking jokes and showing off, touching his toes. He was discharged a day early, so am very thankful to the surgeons and nurses at the Western General for their work. He is still recovering but its great that he is okay.

That pretty much wraps up the last 6 weeks in my life. Sorry if it was a little long, fair bit to catch up on!

As ever, thanks for taking a bit of time out to read. Really appreciate the support! still a long way to go but the focus for the next 6 months is really to get myself fitter, faster, stronger and hone down those techniques! 

@shocksjr

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

Start the Countdown - Glasgow 2014 #1YTG

There is only 1 year to go until XX Commonwealth Games - Glasgow 2014

Last week there was officially only one year to go until the start of the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. To me that meant two things... The first being excitement. It's an exciting prospect getting to the games and potentially competing for your country in the second biggest multi sport stage in the world. I keep on imagining how amazing it will be to walk around during the opening ceremony and watching the spectacle that Glasgow 2014 is going to be. It's going to be an incredible atmosphere. I was in the volunteer centre the other day and you got a snapshot of what its going to be like.

The second thing was as you would expect is nerves...they have their part to play, I still need to get there and qualify and that's going to be no mean feat as i've said before. I have started to use a bit of positive imagery - next year winning a match to secure qualification to the games, that is a phenomenal thought. It seems very far away and still very surreal. I've been sitting out injured for 7 - 8 weeks already. I'm on the mend though, that's for sure, the ribs are still sore at times (sneezing is probably the worst). I was out in the garden over the weekend trying to shift some rubble was doing a bit of digging, that gave me a twinge just on the rotation but apart from that i'm not too bad. 

Training with the SRU regional U18 squad

That said I have been back on the mat a few times, more recently to help Coach Cavanagh with a session for the Scottish Rugby Union U18 Regional squad, some good lads in there. They picked it up quite well and were working hard 95% of their maximum heart rate so felt the benefit. It was good. Before that the first couple of times I got back onto the mat was just training, nothing too intense no live wrestling and this week i've been back into full training. Just doing the basics and trying to build up my fitness. It was OK, but psychologically i'm not quite back to my best. The second time on the mat was a complete disaster. I was wrestling with Danny from the club, we were just going over stuff that we had done before and when we got to parterre (on the ground) I couldn't remember very much, i'm not sure if it was because I was feeling drained or whether it was just me struggling because I had been out for so long but it was pretty disappointing. Does that happen to anyone else? use it or lose it!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to taking to the mat again and really getting back into some sort of competitive wrestling this month. I might not be able to do much but I'm hoping I will be able to get myself into decent nick for the Tryst Lions Open at the end of September. The key is to not go back to soon after these sorts of injuries and I'm seriously hoping it heals before too long. I am not the biggest fan of resting and never have been but it is unbelievably important to rest . I mentioned above its more the psychological side of things that's holding me back at the moment. Not in a bad way but at training every time I land on the mat or try to rotate there is always that niggling feeling that you just don't want to go through that pain again, it's more than that even, it's a feeling that I can't afford another injury there isn't enough time and the only way to stop that is to get fitter, stronger and more flexible. I say that they you'll read that I ate that monster below, protein? 

Men vs. Food! 

Where am I now! Well... I've completed 3 weeks of pre-hab, that involved some body weight exercises increasing the reps each week and including some interval training. I felt pretty good about all that and decided I would take it upon myself to start increasing the weight. After 7 weeks out I managed to do 3 x 170kg deadlifts and 5 x 120kg squats ,  the deadlifts without straps or chalk which was pretty decent, squats, I could have done more but was very tired. I was happy enough with that but really need to get to work on my strength which is where I'm heading over the next 6 weeks, I really want those numbers to increase over the next few weeks. I actually managed to persuade an old friend of mine to get out to the gym last week as well, you may remember from my earlier posts, a fella called the bear - he has't been out to the gym at [EN]GAGE in ages and to wrestling in even longer so I dragged him out for a pre weekend shoulder session. It was pretty good we both enjoyed ourselves before heading out with Wife and Sister in law in tow to a restaurant called Shebeen - possibly my new favourite restaurant for a couple of reasons which I've highlighted in the pictures this week. Yep, Bear and I shared a 1.2kg burger patty. The bad boy was huge but we

taming the monster!

smashed it, you have to remember that Bear and I have a combined eight of 240kg so to much 600g each, its doable, the meat was incredible an it was delicious, although I don't think I will eat another burger in the near future!

I saved myself all day for it and next time I go i'm demolishing a Lion sized steak! I've heard good reports! It was an outrageous feast followed by a hilarious night. 
Speaking of hilarious nights, I'm headed down south to Bristol for my good friend Simmos 30th Birthday in a couple of weeks and which will be my penultimate consumption of alcohol up till my birthday next year at the earliest. I'm not a big drinker any more, but am not shy of a night out. My good friend Benfoolio is arriving from Australia at the end of the month meaning that I have to tend to tradition and introduce him to the Whisky experience and a few of Scotland's finest drinking establishments, we have a thing about super brews and they are going to be out in force for the few days he is spending with me. That's the social agenda for the next little while but more importantly...

I'm back to training this week with the Scotland Coaches and Team which i'm really excited about, I've got my training buddy Dave Simm with me and I can't tell you how much I appreciate him coming to the Emirates with me as a training partner. This next little while is going to be a big transition for me, another challenge to add to the list. If i'm going to do this, I need to get bump training up a  notch, sort the diet out and get myself fitter, faster and stronger than I have ever been in my life and i'm actually looking forward to it, i've enjoyed lifting the last few weeks and its a great feeling. Back into the groove!

The final thing to report on this week is that i've had my Glasgow 2014 Volunteer interview, if unsuccessful on the competitor qualification, and pending selection for volunteering, I will be at the games in the wrestling arena helping out. That's a bonus. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to compete in a home games but its also a once in a lifetime opportunity to volunteer at a home games So i've got my fingers crossed that i'll be at the very least involved in Glasgow 2014 in some capacity. 

In case you were wondering, tickets for the Commonwealth Games go on sale this month, if i'm successful in the Qualification then i'll be competing on July 29 at the SECC - Now that's a date for the diary!


Thanks for taking time out to read.

All the Best!

@shocksjr

Light at the end of the tunnel

It’s about time I updated my blog, It’s been about 3 weeks and it’s been a long three weeks at that. Let me give you an update on where we are at the moment. I’ve been through a rollercoaster of emotions over the last couple of weeks. I was depressed, unmotivated, sad, frustrated and angry that I hadn’t met the criteria for Commonwealth Games selection which is still grating at me a little bit. I totally appreciate that these things happen but what a pain in the arse.

Pain equivalent - heart attack (fact)

Why was I feeling like this well, what seems to be the trio diagnosis of my injury is torn cartilage, costchondral separation and to top it off… fractured ribs. I felt awful at my first day of work, I was struggling to move, breath and probably visibly distressed. I’m still feeling pretty uncomfortable now and I’m just sitting. Now the pain feels like a stitch that you get when you run but two weeks ago I went through some of the worst pain I have ever felt. Scary Pain! I was driving home after a Scottish Student Sport committee day and had a sneezing fit on the city bypass travelling at about 60 mph I almost lost control but managed to save it. The pain was a searing pain close to my heart, it felt like I had been stabbed, someone was squeezing my chest, the whole episode took me about 20 seconds to recover. After that incident, nights of restless sleep I decided it was time to pay the doc another visit.

The doc was pretty good, empathetic to my plight at least and unsurprisingly it was the first time he had ever written a prescription for the cause of Olympic Freestyle Wrestling. My main issue was that I couldn’t sleep which to me meant that my body wasn't recovering well or at the very least quick enough, my point being that I wanted to get back onto the mat as soon as physically possible. He did reckon that the sneezing fit had fractured a rib due to the lack of support from the separated rib. He prescribed me some Supradol and Diclofenac in its droves to control the inflammation and numb the pain. With the Supradol, it was predominantly to knock me out at night and it did the trick, hadn’t slept so well in weeks but it did mean that I couldn’t drive.

I’m upset that I’ve lost out on 3 weeks of training already, I won’t be ready to hit the mat again properly for another 8 weeks or so but next week I’m starting to build up my cardiovascular endurance again, nothing strenuous but I need to get back doing something. I did try this 3 days after injury and was ok, iced down the chest and did some really light exercises (3kg fly) looked like a real hard man in the gym lifting those bad boys.

So... it’s been a frustrating couple of weeks, next week brings a new dawn in the training, it is going to be tough, I’m running a kids camp at work for 23 kids but luckily team [EN]GAGE will be on hand to deliver a fantastic week of activities. but I will need to chuck in some training as well. The key to this is to avoid reccurance 

Global blog - pretty cool


I was a little bit down at the end of my last blog post, I thought of it as me being a bit of a realist and I didn’t want to have expectations of making the Games next year, it still blows my mind thinking about it. This quest that Michael Cavanagh mused on me has taken its toll, I’ve put a lot into it. Sure, there are times when I could have and should have done more but I am where I am and I’m pretty happy with that. I feel like I have sacrificed a lot for this, I’ve completely stripped my social life down to the occasional catch up with friends and probably lost touch with a few more mates than I would have liked. I lost a few at the very start who thought that wrestling was stupid thing to take up and that I wouldn’t have the ability or conviction to get there and that took its toll mentally. At the end of the day It’s been tough but I have had a fantastic amount of support from a lot of great people and I’m lucky to have them in my life. They know who they are but what is cool about keeping this blog, I can thank them publicly. I read it back and it’s been an interesting journey, it’s been read over 6000 times from countries all across the world. In the last month alone people have been reading from the UK, USA, Germany, France, China, Russia, Netherlands, Poland, Canada and Australia which is incredible.

So for all those people across the world and particularly to my friends and family, I am absolutely delighted to say that I had a moment yesterday that made the slog of #mission2014 and everything over the last 10 months’ worth it.

I was lucky enough to get an email yesterday from Colin McLaren, wrestling team manager for Commonwealth Games Scotland who informed me that I have been put forward as the 120kg potential competitor for the Commonwealth Games 2014. To top it off, my friend Martin King is the same boat. A lot of other people have been working a lot longer and I hope they get their just reward.

On the horizon - fingers crossed

it’s by no means a definite that I will be competing at the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2014. I have to get a podium finish in the British Closed Championships next year to earn my place in Team Scotland and even then I think that Team Scotland will have to approve everything but I’m closer than I was and that’s the main thing. That said hearing that I have been officially put forward has renewed my motivation, passion, vigour and to have a target is and always has been important in this. It’s amazing to be recognised as having potential to do something and its thanks to everyone who has supported me thus far and for the coaches and management of Scottish Wrestling for seeing a bit of potential that they can work with. My thanks especially has to go to Michael Cavanagh and Steven Cote for the hours of coaching they have put in and the things they have taught me. Final shout out goes to my friends and family, guys who have taken time out to wrestle and the support of family and family in law.

Still lots of work to do but we are back on track and it feels amazing!

As always, thanks for taking time to read.

Cheers

@shocksjr

The first bite of the cherry! British Open Championships



Qualification has started

This week was really the start of the Glasgow 2014 Qualification campaign for me... I was Southward bound for the British Open Wrestling Championships in Wales. This time with a coach in tow to sit in my corner, it was the first time I had a coach who was there for me specifically at a wrestling event and it really helped put my mind at rest about strategy and what I should be doing.

The event itself was in Welshpool, North Wales, and a mere 289 miles from Edinburgh. An interesting location for a British Championships. I have actually asked Coach Michael Cavanagh to write a blog post for me and he has agreed. Michael is an incredibly busy man, so we might get it in the next few weeks or so depending on when he has time, but I’ll let him fill you in with details of the road trip,the weekend and progress to date from the coaching perspective. No pressure given the calibre of Steve’s post the other week.

Mark Cocker (2010 qualifier)

My preparation for the British was very good, I ate well, slept well and had trained hard to get ready for what was the start of the campaign. I managed to get a good bout of KCR in before heading down and a massage from Optimus Massage on the legs which massively helped. I weighed in again at a solid 116.8kg had a big meal that night which would have bumped me up a little. The event itself was great, I really enjoyed the atmosphere that was there and I met Mark Cocker, English Heavyweight who came 5^th in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Mark took me for a little bit of a warm up and gave me some pointers about my opponent in the first bout. That was great for me and I really appreciated him taking the time to help me out. He is a genuinely good bloke.

The target for the day was to finish top 3 British Competitors and that would secure me one of the criteria for the Commonwealth Games which meant that I could potential be nominated by Scottish Wrestling to Commonwealth Games Scotland.

The good thing (depending on how you look at it) was that there were only 6 Wrestlers entered into the 120kg category which meant in theory that I was entering at a quarter final stage and I needed to get to the semi - finals to be in with a shout of qualifying. I had a pretty unlucky draw compared to some of the others. There were two byes into the semi-finals I was not one of them which meant I had to fight Tomas Bujak from Poland. Tomas is a Greco Roman wrestler, strong but not to savvy on the leg attack / leg defence. The strategy was to not get sucked in close defend the attack and once the attack was finish counter with a leg attack. It worked beautifully. I defended well and saw an opening and had a strong leg attack which put him on his back and gave me a 3 point lead. Great! The Rules of Wrestling have changed a little over the last few weeks and the latest change was that instead of a 10 point margin for a win you now need a 7 which obviously got me a little bit excited because I thought if I could get another 3 point take down I could be left with just 1 point for the win. This is where “mat craft” comes into it and lack of experience on my part. Had I stuck to the game plan I probably wouldn’t be sitting here licking my wounds and wondering what may have been.

Costal Cartilage tear - rough area in green (hurts lie hell)

Yep, I attacked – for who knows what reason, confidence, stupidity, excitement. I didn't hear Michael in my corner but I'm sure he was telling me to defend but instead I dived right in...Well as you would expect, I got blocked and got caught in a headlock before finding way to the floor to concede 2 points. He put me in a nelson which stretched me across the chest. I felt a pop that was uncomfortable but I managed to escape and get out of the hold. I was half expecting to be called back to our feet but that didn’t happen and Tomas put me in the same move and tried to turn me. This time the stretch across my chest ripped the costal cartilage next to my sternum, connecting my ribs and I don’t think I have been in as much pain since I blew my knee in 2005. It was agony. The ref heard me yelp in pain and called an end to the match. That in theory would have been me out because Chinu Chinu was the next opponent for the winner of my bout but Bujak beat Chinu with a pin, an upset in the heavyweight world.  Meaning I was pulled into the repechage but couldn't compete. I finished 5^th Overall, 4^th In the British Athletes meaning this time I’ve just missed the Qualification Criteria Boat. I continue to dwell on what might have been but I guess there isn’t any point. Had I beaten Tomas I would have been through to the semi-final and really had a chance of competing for the bronze spot. You live and learn.

I lay on the mat for a couple of minutes, paramedics were there before I managed to get up and head to the side where my breathing returned to normal. Tomas helped me get there which was very kind of him and a testament to the character of wrestlers. Something that I learned a great deal about this weekend. The organisers whisked me off to hospital with Michael to speak to the doctor who diagnosed the cartilage rip and ramped me up on some pain killers that aren't nearly strong enough for this. If you haven’t done this to your ribs, the pain is horrific, it hurts to sit, stand, lie, rotate, eat,  breath and if you are really stupid and make a sudden movement. I had hiccups earlier and wow, that was ludicrously painful. The pain changes from an ache to a stab that is possibly one of the worst things. I was almost sick with pain twice but it quickly wares off. I was reading a bit about what I could do to help progress the speed of the recover and a couple of articles I read compared the pain of this injury to a heart attack! how nuts is that! 

Although my competition was over for the day, I went back to watch some of the remaining bouts. I saw Cocker wrestle for the first time, he defeated a lad from Birmingham called Khan 7-0 before beating Bujak 7-0 in the final to become British Champion again. I watched Chinu fall to Bujak and saw my first live suplex, Leon Rattigan 96kg suplexed a lad and it was a beaut the video is here...

The highlight of watching wrestling for me was watching the women’s competition. I watched Sarah Jones compete in her final against Spiteri, that match was intense. Sarah was in control but got countered and the other girl straight back into it. The match finished 10 – 9 in Sarah’s favour. It was a great spectacle to watch. Then there was the two lassies from Tullibody and the Institute, Chelsea and Shannon. They were great to watch, just very good wrestlers, strong, aggressive and technical.

I had the opportunity to speak to loads of wrestlers and that’s the nice thing, although you are going to have 6 minutes where you are trying to hammer the guy, you can always sit down and have a chat before or afterwards. The sport is too small to do otherwise in my opinion. I really enjoyed meeting folk and chatting to the other Wrestlers and that is one of the things that makes it a great sport.

Where does this me now? Well, the qualification criteria, in theory gives me two more attempts over the next year. Although getting through the British Open Championships would have significantly helped my cause, I wasn’t expecting to qualify at this event but what has really annoyed me was that it was in my grasp, it just wasn’t to be. The Commonwealth Wrestling Championships were supposed to be in July but have been postponed and possibly moved meaning that there may be a call to rejig the Scottish Selection criteria to another tangible event but failing that I have to wrestle as much as I can and get a result at the British Closed next year. 

If I’m completely honest, it’s a tall order and is going to be pretty difficult to qualify for next year but I’m going to continue training for it and still put in the work, even if I don’t make Glasgow 2014 I have got Gold Coast 2018 on the horizon and who knows what will happen. another 5 years wrestling experience under my belt I could well be in for a shout for something better than just making the team. I've had some really nice positive feedback about my wrestling so far and although its disappointing not to be able to say i've met the qualification criteria, I have plenty of time to throw myself into contention at the British Closed Championships next year and that is the focus. 

As always, thanks for taking time out to have a read… sorry I haven’t made it yet, but where would the fun in that be!

@shocksjr

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.