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.

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