LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Kellen Russell used a third-period clinch to rally past Oklahoma State’s Jordan Oliver, 0-1, 2-2, 1-0, and capture the 66kg/145.5-pound title at the U.S. Open on Saturday (April 19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It was the second freestyle championship for Russell but first in domestic competition. He entered the tournament unseeded.

After dropping the first period in the clinch, Russell claimed the final two periods to defeat Oliver in the championship match. He struck first on a quick pushout in the second frame but trailed by a point late after giving up an appreciation point on an Oliver throw attempt from a single-leg position on the mat and losing the subsequent challenge. He attacked on the restart, however, stealing the period with a pushout in the final 14 seconds. After just running out of time on a go-behind at the buzzer in the third, Russell pulled his color and converted in the clinch, returning Oliver hard to the mat to secure the takedown.

With the victory, Russell earned the automatic bid to the best-of-three championship series at the U.S. World Team Trials, scheduled for Friday-Saturday, June 21-22, in Stillwater, Okla.

Russell posted a 7-0 record en route to the title, outscoring his opposition in Thursday’s challenge tournament, 36-2, before knocking off three seeded wrestlers in the championship bracket. He opened the day with a second-period fall against No. 2-seeded Chase Pami. He dropped the first period, 2-1, but was leading 5-1 in the second after an early three-point takedown and gut wrench when his reversed Pami to his back for the pin at 1:02.

He cruised past Kyle Borshoff, 3-0, 7-0, in the quarterfinals before defeating third-seeded Adam Hall, 3-0, 5-2, on a combination of takedowns and pushouts in the semifinals. He scored on a go behind and a pair of pushouts in the first and two takedowns, including a counter off an early Hall headlock attempt, and two pushouts in the second.

“I liked having the matches yesterday – I didn’t mind it at all,” said Russell. “I’ve put in a lot more time working on freestyle, and it is good to see the hard work paying off. I felt good out there. This is Step 1, and Step 2 is the Trials.”

CKWC’s Kyle Massey also qualified himself for the World Team Trials with a sixth-place finish at 120/264.5 pounds — like Russell, his first time placing at a domestic freestyle tournament. Massey won his first two matches, earning a first-period pin in the opening round before claiming a disqualification victory over Ryan Tomei in the quarterfinals. He claimed the first period 6-0, scoring an early three-point takedown before Tomei walked out of bound three times to allow three pushouts. He was cautioned after each instance and subsequently disqualified for receiving three cautions.

Massey dropped his final three matches, falling to top-seeded Olympian Tervel Dlagnev in the semifinals before losing back-to-back consolation matches. He fell to Michael Meuleners, 4-1, 5-0, in the placing match, claiming the first point of the contest but giving up two takedowns, a pushout and a pair of exposures.

The CKWC duo will be joined by Jimmy Kennedy at the Trials in June. Kennedy was listed third at 60kg/132 pounds in USA Wrestling’s latest senior-level freestyle rankings.

CKWC RESULTS

Kellen Russell, 66kg/145.5 pounds
Qualifying Tournament
First Round – tech. fall Amin Queen (Roselle), 7-0, 8-2
Quarterfinal – dec. Edgar Mercado (unattached), 6-0, 3-0
Semifinal – tech. fall Dylan Alton (Nittany Lion WC), 6-0, 6-0

Championship Tournament
First Round – pinned Chase Pami (Sunkist Kids), 1-2, 1:02
Quarterfinal – dec. Kyle Borshoff (DCAC), 3-0, 7-0
Semifinal – dec. Adam Hall (NYAC), 3-0, 5-2
Final – dec. Jordan Oliver (Titan Mercury WC), 0-1, 2-2, 1-0
Finished as the 66kg champion with a 7-0 record

Kyle Massey, 120kg/264.5 pounds
First Round – pinned Derek Lee (Lemoore Farmboyz), 1:00
Quarterfinal – win by disqualification Ryan Tomei (Titan Mercury WC)
Semifinal – tech. fall by Tervel Dlagnev (Sunkist Kids), 6-0, 6-0
Consolations – dec. by Tyrell Fortune (Grand Canyon WC), 2-1, 5-2
Fifth Place – dec. by Matthew Meuleners (Aberdeen WC), 4-1, 5-0
Finished in sixth place with a 2-3 record

I compete in the world’s hardest sport. I take a lot of pride in that. Anyone who disputes it, well, they simply have never wrestled. In wrestling, you need to be strong, flexible, fast, determined, athletic and relentless and have superior muscular conditioning. You need all those things while simultaneously trying to get your body down to its optimum fighting weight. Sometimes that means pulling as much as 10-20 pounds in just a few days. That’s the easy part.

The true challenge of wrestling is the mental battle that goes into each match. A wrestling match isn’t simply a competition against you and your opponent; it requires everything you have physically, mentally and emotionally each and every time you step on the mat. If you lack in just one of these areas, it can be the difference between victory and defeat.

When you’re out there on the mat, you must resort to your most basic instincts — one man versus another. Only the superior person is going to survive. It’s not always the strongest or fastest man who wins, especially on the Olympic level, where everyone is strong, fast and athletic. At that level, it’s all mental, and the person with the tougher mental fortitude usually wins. One of the ultimate feelings in wrestling is when you can mentally break your opponent. That might sound crude to those who have not wrestled, but in that moment, it is the culmination of everything you have put in. It’s something that must be earned. You must take your own beatings, put in your time and do the extra things that others won’t. Nothing is ever just given to you in a match. There is no luck in wrestling; you must earn everything. It is through wrestling that I learned every skill necessary to make a positive impact on my country and the future generation who will lead it. Wrestling gives me the knowledge and confidence that I can stand my ground no matter how tired or hurt I am. I have been taught to fight through everything, never quit and always finish what I have started.

Wrestlers are a very unique breed. And by unique breed, I mean the most awesome breed — one that usually involves two separate lives. Off the mat, they are dedicated, loyal, caring, passionate and hard working. That’s the side that everyone sees. The other side — the one that most people don’t see — involves similar characteristics as they physically torture themselves day in and day out for the love of their sport. If you haven’t wrestled, you may never see that side of a wrestler where he or she hasn’t eaten all day in order to lose those last pounds or is attacking for a takedown in practice like a deranged lion. You won’t see them run sprints after practice is over again and again until they puke or their body shuts down. Few people ever reach this physical breaking point. I think that’s sad. And while it’s certainly nice that we no longer live in a world where survival of the fittest is a prevailing theme, I think it’s a true shame that people are rarely physically challenged anymore.

Over the course of my life, I have wrestled for many different reasons. When I was little, I wrestled because I wanted to be like my father. I still do. It was he who introduced me to the sport, and through his help and support, I developed into the mat monster I have become. I wrestled to burn off excess energy. I was always on the extremely hyperactive side. Wrestling was a positive and constructive way to focus all that energy.

In junior high, I wrestled because my friends did, and I was good at it. That’s also when it started to really grow on me, and while I was unaware of it at the time, looking back now, I see how wrestling slowly became my life. The deeper into wrestling I got, the better my opportunities in life became. In high school, I wrestled for the chance to get into an elite college into which, without wrestling, I would have never been accepted. Wrestling was my motivation as I went from a C-average student as a high school freshman to earning straight As during my senior year. In college, I wrestled to accomplish my goals, and in the years since college, I have wrestled for the opportunity to represent my country on the grandest stage.

Wrestling has made me a role model. No matter where I am or what I do, I know that I need to set a positive example. I put in 10 years of full-time training to earn the honor of being an Olympian. Why did I do it?

I wrestle because I love it. I will never make millions from wrestling. I will never be a famous sports celebrity — outside, of course, of the passionate wrestling world. I do it for my love of the sport and my love for fellow wrestlers and the entire wrestling community.

I wrestle because it makes me a better person. With every match you learn a little more about yourself and what you are capable of. You learn to go to your strengths and improve your weaknesses. If your conditioning isn’t what it needs to be, you run farther and harder. If you’re not strong enough, you lift heavier and more often. These things won’t just happen for you; you must make them happen. The same principles apply to life. You get out what you put in.

I wrestle because my country needs more people like me. People don’t need to be tough anymore in this day and age, but it’s the tough people who stand up for the small and the weak and the young. Wrestling is more than just a sport; it is a tool that develops our youth into successful, passionate and driven adults. Wrestlers make the world a better place. I strongly believe that. And I want to live in a world that has wrestling.

I am sitting here in my living room on this Sunday afternoon getting my life back on track and watching the B1G Wrestling finals. I have been home for exactly one week, but I feel like I have not even come close to getting everything back in order from being away for so long. This might have been one of the longest trips I have been a part of. It consisted of extended stays in three countries over 21 days. The amount of travel and the many different rooms we had to stay in made it seem much longer than it really is. We stay in places that are not very comfortable. Hotels are probably the worst for being comfortable. There is never a good seat and the rooms don’t have a lot of shelving for storing clothes. Wrestlers have to bring a lot of gear since it is winter and we have to get down to weight. We are away from our families and loved ones for long periods of time. We do this because we love the sport, and inside all of us, we want to be champions.

The wrestling community at the highest level is a very close group. We compete against one another throughout the whole year. We also train with each other side by side, USA and the world. I have been all over this planet for wrestling — from Brazil to France to Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, China and many other countries. All of these places have very different cultures, and in each place, there are people training to become the best in the world. Wrestling has been around for as long as we know. It appears in one of the oldest known texts ever found in the epic Poem of Gilgamesh. This poem took place in what now is modern day Iraq, which is very close to where we were for the World Cup of Freestyle Wrestling in Tehran, Iran. When I walked into the arena before our semifinal bout with Iran, I could not help but imagine myself back in time 1000s of years ago entering a similar arena for the very same purpose. Ever since the original Olympic Games, men have wrestled and the rules have always been similar. In its purest state, wrestling is all about controlling the other man, and in doing so, a winner is chosen. Wrestling could not have been on a bigger stage than the moment the American team faced off against the Iranian team in that World Cup. Nothing else mattered other than settling a match to see who would advance to the finals. There were no talks about nuclear power or elections; the focus was on who was the best prepared to win a wrestling match. Wrestling brings people together from cultures whose governments couldn’t be farther apart. While we might always be enemies due to race, religion, geography and human nature, wrestlers can become brothers in a sport that supersedes everything else. Through sport, there is a mutual respect for one another, and we can learn from each other.

Every time I attend an international wrestling tournament, I get to see many of the friends that I have met along the way. These are people that without the sport of wrestling I would have never met or even known about. They come from different backgrounds, but each of them has the same goal in life. They all struggle on a daily basis to become the best wrestler or coach they can be. Striving to become the best has been ingrained in my mind, and if I don’t achieve perfection, it is hard to be happy. I learned at a young age that in wrestling, you have to sink or swim. As I get older, I appreciate more and more others that go through the same struggles we go through every single day of our lives. I think this is why I can go to a wrestling tournament in Tehran, Iran, and get a hug from my Russian coach like I was his son he has not seen in 20 years. The two of us grew a bond together from the time I spent with him, and I will forever be grateful for what he taught me. This coach opened up his life to me to teach me the sport of wrestling. To him it didn’t matter if I was American and my last name was Slovenian. I wanted to train to become the best wrestler in the world, and he was willing to help me because he saw something in me. This is why the sport of wrestling will never go away. We don’t need the Olympics to teach us the life skills that wrestling teaches; we are always going to dream bigger than we can achieve anyways. The Olympics needs wrestling because there is no other sport on the planet that can bring different nations together in a more pure form of sport.

We as a sport have to stop apologizing to others who do not understand us. We have to make our own path to secure our future as a relevant sport. We have to come together as brothers — not as separate nations — to pave the way for wrestling’s future. When we bend and change the rules so that outsiders like the IOC can understand a sport they never intend to watch, it is going to kill wrestling. I hope FILA understands this when meet to change the rules. We cannot change the rules just so 15 IOC members can understand the sport. We need to make sure we don’t alienate our fans, because these are the people are the foundation for the sport’s future. Wrestling is a popular sport all over the world; I know because I have been all over the world. FILA and its member nations need to find a way to market the sport so the fans start pouring into the arenas. Once we get the fans then we must create a plan to expand and grow the sport. It is 2013 and there are many ways to build a fan base, but for the world’s oldest sport this has been our biggest challenge to date. We must think outside the box, and we have to stop holding ourselves back by not thinking big enough. In the past, wrestlers were happy if we were simply given a mat and opponent. This can no longer be the case. The ATHLETES and FANS have to step up and demand more — more media coverage throughout the year, better attended events and more prize money for winning. With information today more readily available, it is easy to pinpoint why something was a success or a failure. The U.S. Open is back in Vegas, and we have some of the best wrestlers in the world right now battling for a national title. Will the venue be full? Wrestling is missing something big, and until we find out a way to fix it, we will be blaming the rules every 4-8 years.

So, regarding the rules, I believe they must be simple, but we don’t necessarily have to change the sport to accommodate a changing world. If this were the case, we might as well just make a video game and contest our bouts while playing online against our Russian foes. I believe what we have as a sport should not be changed. What needs to be changed is the way we let the officials influence the match. Here are my suggestions:

Match length: Either 2×3 min or 1×6 min match with cumulative scoring

Points: 1 point for push out, 2 points for a takedown, 2 points for any turn, 3 points for a takedown to the back and 5 points for a throw over the head.

Par terre: In order to take the official out of the match and to make it fair, there should be a 15- or 20-second clock that counts down after a takedown. A wrestler should also have his choice of par terre or neutral after taking a wrestler out of bounds. When wrestlers are on their feet, there can be difficulty scoring in a double leg/chest lock position, but a turn is almost always black and white, and the fans can see who gets the points with little to no confusion. This will bring back par terre without giving the officials the ability to influence the match. All the officials need to do is score the match. They don’t have to worry about how long someone has on top. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when a wrestler gets a takedown now they don’t know how long the official will give them on top. Having a set time will add an extra dynamic to the sport without compromising the integrity of the sport. Wrestlers will work hard to score within the designated time because it not only is a battle between him and his opponent, it becomes a battle against the clock. The fans would love this and every time someone is on top there is the potential to have an exciting period of wrestling as the time winds down.

The World Cup in Iran was one of the best wrestling experiences of my life. The USA wrestling Iran in Tehran, Iran, for a chance to make the finals of the World Cup was great for the sport. Wrestling has made giant leaps over the past few years to showcase the sport. We have had matches in Times Square and the USS Intrepid. In May, we will wrestle Iran in New York City, either in Times Square again or in another iconic location that will showcase just how big of a stage our sport deserves. In June, the U.S. will wrestle another team on the west coast for Beat the Streets LA. While the venue has not yet been picked, I am sure that L.A. will not be outdone by NYC. Finally, I am hearing things about a match in July against USA and Russia in Red Square, the most iconic symbol of Russia. If they can put down a mat and build a huge stage with St. Basil’s Cathedral in the backdrop, it would be hard to argue against our sport’s relevance. We must keep pushing the envelop to showcase what we already have. Fans and future wrestlers are going to be drawn to the matches that make the sport look larger than life, and right now we are moving in the right direction.

I want to leave you with one of the best quotes I have read since the IOC made the recommendation to drop wrestling from the Olympic Games.

“Do we destroy our historical sites which are symbols of humanity? No. Then, why should we destroy wrestling?” — Iranian gold medalist Ali Reza Dabir

Wrestling has been around and will always be around. People in the wrestling community have a direct impact on which direction the sport will take. We can either continue to be a sport on the verge of breaking into primetime or we can settle back into the same routine that we’ve done since man held the first wrestling match. Wrestling is embedded into human nature, and to take it out of the Olympics for something new and flashy would be like Egypt tearing down its pyramids to build condos in the shape of a pyramid. The pyramids have a rock solid foundation and will last thousands of more years. I believe wrestling will too. We just need to strengthen our foundation that has brought us this far. We must work on marketing and promoting the sport we all love, and together we can build a rock solid base with all the flashing lights that people love.

Andy

MINSK, Belarus — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Jimmy Kennedy completed his three-week overseas tour with a silver-medal performance at the prestigious Alexander Medved International on Friday (March 1) at the Minsk Sports Palace.

Kennedy posted a 4-1 record en route to silver at 60kg/132 pounds, falling to Russia’s Rustam Abdurashidov, 1-0, 0-7, 1-0, in the championship final. Kennedy lost the first and third periods in the clinch. He posted back-to-back pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals — against Slovakia’s Mikola Solodnjuk and Russia’s Nyurtyn Skryadin.

“Jimmy wrestled very well,” said CKWC coach Andy Hrovat. “He is just solid in all his positions. In those matches where he earned pins, he was just too strong for his opponents. I had several Russian coaches coming up to me and telling me how much they like Jimmy’s style and believe that he is really good. But in order to make the U.S. team, he will need to keep sharpening up his skills. He’s right there, and I’m confident that by the U.S. Open, he’ll make that next jump.”

It is Kennedy’s fourth freestyle medal in just a six-month span, adding to bronze the Kadyrov Cup, gold at the NYAC Holiday Open and gold at the Guelph Open.

He was one of seven U.S. medalists at the Medved International. Jordan Burroughs and Tervel Dlagnev captured gold at 74kg/163 pounds and 120kg/264.5 pounds, respectively, while Jon Reader claimed bronze at 84kg/185 pounds, David Zabriskie and Wynn Michalak took silver and bronze at 96kg/211 pounds and Zach Rey claimed bronze at 120.

CKWC’s Kellen Russell posted a 1-1 record in his first overseas competition, defeating Russian Constantin Vlasov in the 66kg/145.5-pound first round before falling to Olympian Khtuyor Nazruzov of Uzbekistan. Nazruzov did not make it to the finals, eliminating Russell from the tournament.

“Kellen also wrestled well,” said Hrovat. “He’s still feeling out some of these funky wrestlers. He’s learning a lot from each of these experiences. I think it’s a big positive that he sees Jimmy having success. That should give him confidence. He’ll be ready for the U.S. Open.”

CKWC RESULTS

Jimmy Kennedy, 60kg/132 pounds
First Round – dec. Dyulsultan Basov (Russia)
Second Round – dec. Nikolai Noev (Tajikistan)
Quarterfinals – pinned Mikola Solodnjuk (Slovakia)
Semifinals – pinned Nyurtyn Skryadin (Russia)
Final – dec. by Rustam Abdurashidov (Russia)
Finished in second place with a 4-1 record

Kellen Russell, 66kg/145.5 pounds
First Round – dec. Constantin Vlasov (Russia)
Second Round – dec. by Khtuyor Nazruzov (Uzbekistan)
Eliminated with a 1-1 record

TEHRAN, Iran – The United States dominated its final two dual meets, finishing a strong third at the 2013 Freestyle World Cup on Friday (Feb. 22) at the Azadi Sports Complex. Team USA posted a 4-1 over the two-day event. The World Cup is the annual international dual meet championships, one of the most important events in wrestling each year.

Team USA shut out Bulgaria, 7-0, in its final Group B match on Friday morning. The win over Bulgaria put the United States in the bronze-medal match with a 3-1 record in their pool, drawing Belarus, which placed second in Group A. The only U.S. loss in their pool was to Iran on Thursday, and Iran won the pool, advancing to the first-place match.

The USA had another strong effort in defeating Belarus 6-1 in the third-place dual meet. The USA ran off five straight wins to clinch the victory.

“We bounced back today. I’m glad we were able to do it after how we wrestled last night,” said National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones. “We’re wrestling at 70% right now. After a long layoff, most of our guys are competing for the first or second time this season. Iran showed us where we are right now so we have some work to do.”

Iran defended its World Cup title, defeating Russia in the finals, 6-1. Placing fifth was Turkey, a 6-1 winner over Georgia. Winning the seventh-place dual meet was Japan, which edged Kazakhstan, 4-3. Placing ninth was Azerbaijan, who beat Bulgaria, 7-0.

The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Jimmy Kennedy posted a pair of day-two victories for the U.S team, beating Bulgaria’s Stefan Ganchev, 6-0, 9-2, and Belarus’ Sergey Ermakov, 3-0, 6-0, at 60kg/132 pounds. Kennedy, who split time at 60kg with Olympic bronze medalist, went 2-1 at the tournament. It was the fourth international tournament appearance of his career and second time representing the United States.

“Yesterday the US team went 2-1,” said CKWC coach Andy Hrovat, who served on the U.S. coaching staff. “Jimmy was able to get a match against a tough Japanese wrestle and did not perform up to the standard he is used to competing. He settled down the second day and wrestled two great matches. This was a learning experience for him, and what he was able to learn here will help boost his international career. We head to Belarus tomorrow and wrestle next weekend. Jimmy and I expect nothing but a gold medal in Belarus.”

U.S. RESULTS

USA 5, GEORGIA 2
55 kg – Obe Blanc (USA) dec. Givi Davidori (Georgia), 1-0, 1-0
60 kg – Malkaz Kurdiani (Georgia) dec. Coleman Scott (USA), 1-1, 1-2
66 kg – Brent Metcalf (USA) dec. Malkhaz Zarkua (Georgia), 2-0, 1-0
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Jakob Makarashvili (Georgia), 3-0, 2-1
84 kg – Max Askren (USA) dec. Nodar Egadze (Georgia),1-1, 5-4
96 kg – Tedore Ebanoidze (Georgia) dec. J.D. Bergman (USA) 6-4, 5-2
120 kg – Tervel Dlagnev (USA) dec. Tornike Khidesheli (Georgia), 2-1, 1-0

USA 5, JAPAN 2
55 kg –Fumitaka Morishita (Japan) dec. Obe Blanc (USA), 4-0, 1-0
60 kg –Shogo Maeda (Japan) dec. Jimmy Kennedy (USA), 1-0, 1-0
66 kg – Brent Metcalf (USA) dec. Toshinori Ishida (Japan), 0-1, 2-0, 3-0
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Sohsuke Takatani (Japan), 2-0, 7-1
84 kg – Phillip Keddy (USA) dec. Shinya Matsumoto (Japan), 1-2, 1-0, 2-0
96 kg –J.D. Bergman (USA) dec. Takeshi Yamaguchi (Japan), 7-0, 3-0
120 kg – Tervel Dlagnev (USA) pin Tomoyuki Oka (Japan)

IRAN 6, USA 1
55 kg –Hassan Rahimi (Iran) tech. fall Zach Sanders (USA), 6-0, 8-0
60 kg – Masoud Esmailpoorjoybari (Iran) dec. Coleman Scott (USA), 2-0, 3-1
66 kg –Mehdi Taghavi (Iran) dec. Brent Metcalf (USA), 5-0, 2-0
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Ezzatollah Akbarizarinkolaei (Iran), 4-0, 2-0
84 kg – Ehsan Lashgari (Iran) dec. Max Askren (USA), 6-0, 5-2
96 kg –Hamed Tatari (Iran) dec. J.D. Bergman (USA), 3-0, 4-0
120 kg – Khomeil Ghasemi (Iran) dec. Tervel Dlagnev (USA), 1-0, 0-1, 2-0

USA 7, BULGARIA 0
55 kg –Obe Blanc (USA) dec. Mehmed Feraim (Bulgaria), 1-0, 6-0
60 kg – Jimmy Kennedy (USA) dec. Stefan Ivanov (Bulgaria), 6-0, 9-2
66 kg –Brent Metcalf (USA) dec. Nikolay Kurtev (Bulgaria), 1-0, 3-0
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) tech. fall Stefanov Kirov (Bulgaria), 7-0, 6-0
84 kg –Max Askren (USA) won by forfeit
96 kg –J.D. Bergman (USA) won by forfeit
120 kg –Tervel Dlagnev (USA) tech. fall Dragomir Stoychev (Bulgaria), 6-0, 6-0

THIRD PLACE MATCH
USA 6, BELARUS 1
55 kg –Obe Blanc (USA) dec. Vladizlav Andreyeu (Belarus), 1-0, 1-0
60 kg – Jimmy Kennedy (USA) dec. Sergey Ermankov (Belarus), 3-0, 6-0
66 kg –Brent Metcalf (USA) dec. Alexandr Kontoyev (Belarus), 0-1, 3-0, 6-0
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Ali Shabanau (Belarus), 1-1, 5-0
84 kg –Max Askren (USA) pin Amir Mahamedov (Belarus), 2-4, pin in 2nd
96 kg –Ivan Yankouski (Belarus) dec. J.D. Bergman (USA), 1-0, 1-0
120 kg –Tervel Dlagnev (USA) dec. Vadzim Shvedau (Belarus), 1-0, 6-0

The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Jimmy Kennedy will participate in his third — and certainly most elaborate — overseas tour this month, touching down in nine different countries with extended stays in Azerbaijan, Iran and Belarus. He will represent the United States at the prestigious Freestyle World Cup at 60kg/132 pounds, before meeting up with several other U.S. wrestlers for the Medved International. Jimmy will periodically share his progress, results, experiences and photos from the road.

TUESDAY, MARCH 5 | Back in the USA

So, I just got done shoveling the sidewalk in an attempt at making a long path with no exit. That way, I could watch my dog run up and down confusedly, searching for a way out. Not sure why that seems funny to me, but it does. Before I went on this trip, I never imagined that upon my return I would be facing one of the biggest blizzards of the winter. I had hoped to bypass the snow altogether. Either way, it feels good to be back.

My apologies for not writing much while overseas, but Wi-Fi was hard to come by, and I couldn’t ever get myself in the mood to blog anything. Looking back on it now, I am so fortunate to be able to travel to these places. I was a bit nervous going to Iran, but that feeling quickly changed upon arrival. The hotel we stayed at was extremely nice from the buffet of food offered at every meal to the spa area that featured both a wet/dry sauna, a cold/hot tub, pool, workout area and so much more. It definitely made making weight a little more enjoyable, although that’s pretty hard to do.

The Iranian people treated us like celebrities, chasing us from the arena to the bus every time we left. They were mostly interested in Jordan, but they never passed up a chance to just touch our shoulders or shake our hands. One guy, after my match, tried giving me a kiss on the cheek, which I politely declined. During the meet, it was crazy how loud they cheered. Some would bang on drums and others would blow horns all amongst orchestrated chants and cheers that could definitely weaken someone’s knees before a match. I originally thought they were all drunk, because during a four-hour break in which zero teams were competing, they screamed and cheered the entire time. We could hear their stomping from our locker room underground. I thought maybe they served beer or something there, but I was told Iran is a dry country. It was so much fun wrestling in front of that kind of crowd and atmosphere.

Afterwards on the podium, the Iranian president came by and shook all our hands. That was a cool experience for me since he probably doesn’t shake hands with too many Americans these days.

Belarus was by far the longest of the legs of the trip. In order to get on the internet you needed to buy Wi-Fi cards that would give you 60 minutes apiece. It wouldn’t have been that bad except that the first several days these cards were hard to come by. When we did find them, we would buy the house.

I wrestled great during the Medved tournament, giving up just one takedown and registering pins in both the quarters and semis. I dominated in the finals match, controlling just about every position and action, but unfortunately lost the first and third periods in clinch positions, 0-1, 7-0, 0-1. It was a bad way to lose, but I was very happy with how I wrestled throughout the tournament. I am learning a great deal with each tournament and trip, so I am very excited for the direction that this year is headed.

Thank you for the continued support and taking the time to read my blogs. I’ll do a better job with updates on my next trip.

Jimmy

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 | A Busy Morning

Past few hours have been stressful and it’s only 8:30 in the morning. A lot has happened, but I’ll start from the beginning. Yesterday we went to an Azerbaijani spa. There we sat in the sauna then whenever we wanted, we could go back and get a massage afterwards. It was a little different than any masseuse I’d ever been to. Before you could get your massage, you’d lie on the table in the front room where we were scrubbed and rinsed from head to toe. They started with a rough almost sandpaper-like scrub and then finished with the soap scrub. I’m sure it’s all for hygienic purposes and probably considered an amenity around here, but it was a little strange since they were fully-grown men washing you down. Afterward you’d go to the next room where there were tables lined up for the massages. The massage felt great except when she tried cracking my toes. I, for one, am not a fan of that, and it felt like she was trying to break the poor little guys clean off. We finished with another sauna sit and returned back to the hotel.

Last night we went out to dinner at the Four Seasons compliments of our team leader Ken Honing. I think it was one of the most lavish dinners I’ve ever eaten. It was on the top floor, so naturally the view was incredible. Out of one of the windows I could see a skyscraper that had a huge rotating light show of someone waving the Azerbaijan flag. The building twisted upwards towards the sky, and the top 50 floors or so displayed the flag waving. As soon as we sat down they started bringing us endless orders of seafood, from calamari to crab to my not-so-favorite clams. Zach Sanders kept pushing the clams on me because he, unfortunately, experienced his first clam there. But I knew better as I’ve tried them before. We weren’t even given menus, just told to order whatever we wanted and they would accommodate us. Most everyone ordered some form of steak that melted to the knife. I tried to not eat a lot because of my weight, but then again how often are you given chances like this?

I started falling asleep on the ride back to our hotel since I’d been up some 14 hours or so. My brother and cousins were wrestling in the Illinois state tournament, so I was trying to keep up-to-date on that. That night I slept well except I’d wake up every two hours to check results. Finally, around 6 a.m., I saw Cam was up in a few matches so I decided to just stay up.

I made the bonehead move of watching the little stick figures on Trackwrestling during that match, never noticing there was actually a live stream. The match was tight and my heart was pounding the entire time. He was taken down in the last 20 seconds or so and the little stick figures showed him down 2-1 with five seconds left in the match. I immediately closed the browser when I received a message from my girlfriend that he won. Apparently he scored a reversal in the closing seconds to win. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my life. From complete disappointment to utter jubilation — talk about a 180. Can’t trust them Trackwrestling stick figures I guess. I later tuned in for my cousin’s match on the live stream and was even a few minutes late to our morning walk watching him pull off another late comeback win, scoring a takedown to secure the victory with short time left. I’m so happy for those two and my younger cousin on placing for his second straight year. I’m still all jacked up right now. I wish I could have been there, but now it’s up to me to do some work out here. I swear I get more nervous for their matches than I do my own. I’m sure any other parent or sibling can attest for that. It’s been quite a morning so far and I hadn’t even had breakfast.

What a great way to start my day. Stay sweet.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15 | Settling Into Azerbaijan

Since the last blog I wrote was way back in Russia, I guess it’s fitting that I start again here in Azerbaijan. We’ve been here for a few days now, so I’m still adjusting to the time change. I’ve been waking up at 5:30 every morning, but it’s not so bad because I’m able to catch up on what’s going on back at home. I was shocked and extremely disappointed when I heard about the IOC’s decision to drop wrestling in 2020, but on the other hand, it’s been amazing to see how much support and action has come about as a result of this. Every time I’m on Twitter or Facebook, I see one post after another calling for wrestling to be brought back. It will definitely be interesting to see how the IOC responds to this intense storm of media. With as much attention and publicity that’s come about, I find it hard to believe anyone could stay firm on that decision.

Let me backtrack a bit now… Wednesday was a lighter day as most of the team arrived earlier that morning. A few guys, myself included, played some soccer just to warm the body up and get a sweat going. We went to the wrestling facility, which was the biggest wrestling room I’ve ever been in. I think they had some 14 mats down. It looked almost like a huge tent on the outside, but the inside was much nicer. They have their own side room with a few basketball hoops and soccer nets. There, before our soccer game, we watched the Azerbaijanis play. They were real good. Us? Not so much. Luckily we didn’t have to play them. We looked more like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off running around chasing a ball, especially when it went behind the goal. My team included Askren, Pami, Rey and our trainer Bruce, while the other team had Burroughs, Obe, Keddy, Hrovat and our chiropractor Fred. We started off down early but rallied back to win a nail biter 10-9 — or 10-8, I can’t remember. Either way, it was a fun way to get a light workout in and get some of that travel out of our system.

The next day was a match day. We wrestled two matches in the morning and another one at night. I wrestled their top guys at my weight in the morning session, and then I’m not sure who exactly I wrestled in the afternoon. I wrestled well but still felt a little sluggish from the time change and travelling. That and we were only given a 20-minute warm-up to stretch and try and get some shots in. I think I took three shots before they called my name to the mat. There were a ton of Azerbaijanis at this workout, but it seemed like only we Americans were actually wrestling in the matches. I think their coach wanted to just rotate guys in on us, because he got a little mad after we only did two in the morning even though most of their guys did less than us. The afternoon session was very similar except we just did one match and then went on our own afterwards.

It’s amazing how much building they are doing out here. Apparently their economy is on the rise, because they just built an oil pipeline here. Andy was saying that in 2006 their currency was worth like half of ours and now it’s worth more. It seems like one every block there’s another 15-story building going up. The weird thing is you never see anyone in these buildings. It’s a head-scratcher. The hotel is really nice. It looks like a hotel room back in America except for the water hose that’s next to the toilet. You can guess what that’s for. Anyway, it’s still early in the trip and we haven’t been able to really get out much, so I’ll keep you informed if we do.

Before I go, I just want to say good luck to my brother, Cameron, and cousins, Garrett and Grant, who are competing at the Illinois state tournament this weekend. Bring back some hardware boys.

Jimmy

TUESDAY, MARCH 5 | Recapping Medved

If you want to be the best at anything in life you have to sacrifice a great deal. This old saying is true for about anything in life and wrestling is certainly not an exception. I have seen our national team make many sacrifices over the last five years; these sacrifices have been the catalyst in creating a team mentality of expecting to win every time we go on the mat to compete. The Medved International wrestling tournament in Belarus is a very strong event, and for the USA team to come home with seven medals — two gold, two silver and three bronze — is a great achievement. But we are not going to hang our hats on this performance, because I know, as do the rest of the coaches, that winning in the winter means nothing if we cannot duplicate this performance in September. The winter tour season is a time for us to travel overseas, train, make weight, compete and most importantly, come home with ideas and plans that will help future trips be more successful.

I am very proud of how the men competed at the tournament. It was a long trip, and for about half of them, they had to make weight and wrestle two weeks in a row. Throw in the week-long training camp in Azerbaijan prior to the World Cup, and it’s the formula to potentially wear an athlete out. When Zeke started coaching the national team after the 2008 Olympics, part of his plan was to increase the amount of time our team spent overseas. When I was young and competing, there weren’t too many guys who wrestled overseas, let alone regularly trained overseas. Now these men don’t think anything of it, and for the new guys coming into the system, spending weeks overseas is becoming the norm. In my mind, this is where most of our recent success can be traced to. The team is making sacrifices in order to understand and experience what it takes to become the best in the world. In the past, we would fly in, make weight, wrestle then leave the very next day. Now we try to participate in a training camp before every international tournament we compete in. Our national team men know the wrestlers they compete against not just in wrestling, but in regular life as well. We know them at a deeper level than ever before so that when we are training and preparing for the World Championships and Olympics, we can close our eyes and know everything our competitors are doing to get ready for the same tournament. When I was younger, the Russians were a mystery to me and probably the rest of the national team, but now we know them and now we know we can beat them.

On the first day of the Medved tournament, we had nine athletes competing in the first four weight classes. We were ready to win. The coaches and support staff (massage therapist, chiropractor and trainer) arrived early to secure a nice spot in the stands for our team to set up camp. We catered to the guys’ every need. On the day of a tournament athletes should only focus on winning and let the support staff take care of the rest. Our team chiropractor, Dr. Fred Roberto, might have been the most helpful person on the trip. He knows a lot about nutrition and insisted on going shopping to buy the best food for the guys to eat throughout the day. He adjusts them before and after matches, while our massage therapist gave them a quick rub to flush out the lactic acid they built up during matches and our trainer will work on and tape any injury they get throughout the day. These men volunteer their time, and without them our team would have a tougher time winning. It takes a lot of money to bring them all on the trip, but if we want to win and be the best team in the world, we have to continue to fundraise in order to have the support staff that we have.

We won two medals on the first day and just missed out on another. Jimmy Kennedy was silver at 60kg, while Jordan Burroughs won gold at 74kg. Both these wrestlers looked great and have already had quite a bit of success this year. I was lucky to be picked as a coach for this tour, and I was very excited to have Jimmy with me the whole way. I know what he is capable of doing, because I see it every single day, but now the world is starting to take notice what he can do. The Russian he faced in the finals knew going into the match that he would have a difficult time with Jimmy, so he used the rules to his advantage. He ended up winning both ball pulls and both clinches. Jimmy teched him the second period, 7-0, in just a little more than a minute. As a coach, I wasn’t anything I could tell Jimmy that would have cheered him up after the match. He wrestled great, but in the end, he lost on a rule that will likely be eliminated from the sport by the end of the week. As far as Jordan… well, he was Jordan. I am not his coach, and since Zeke was on this trip, he was the one who cornered Jordan and I was able to sit back and enjoy the show he put on. From the World Cup and then in Belarus, Jordan wrestled hard, put up a lot of points and did everything he could to make this sport better. The foreign athletes, coaches and fans know that he is something special and that he has paid the price to earn all of his success. He works hard and doesn’t take anything for granted. Zeke could not be happier with the example he sets. When you have a world and Olympic champion living in an outdated hotel room in the middle of the Belarusian woods just to train and compete, it makes it easier for the rest of the guys to do the same and then expect the same results.

The second day of the tournament started out the same as the first day. We set up camp and provided the men with everything they needed in order to perform at their maximum capacity. They responded well, and at the end of the day we had one gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Tervel was our lone champion on the second day. Like Jordan, he sacrifices a lot to be where he’s at. He goes to all the best tournaments in the world and trains overseas every chance he gets. You can tell by the way he competes that he knows what it takes to win and has been there so many times that wrestling a foreign athlete no longer feels foreign to him.

We have some great leadership on the team right now and the men all get along. They push each other and help each other whenever they can. When we are in United States, we are spread across the country at our different training locations, but overseas, we are one nation and the men help each other and push each other to be the best they can be for American wrestling. This attitude will take us far and is the reason I believe we will win the World Championships and World Cup within the next three years. We have great coaches who are willing to do everything they ask their athletes to do, we have great support staff, and most importantly, we have a great group of young men who want to win. Every trip overseas I learn something new, and I can see how to run a successful team. Like the athletes, I use these trips to expand my knowledge of the sport. I am continuing to learn more about nutrition and all the other elements it takes to get an athlete to close the gap on the best wrestlers in the world. The margin between taking silver and gold at the Olympics is a very small and in order to get to that point you have to do everything right at all times. I am learning exactly what this entails with every passing trip.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26 | The World Cup

Over the past few days the internet has been a little choppy, so I apologize for missing a few blog posts. Since I left you, the team has been all over the place. We arrived in Tehran, Iran, a week ago today, getting in very early in the morning; I didn’t get to bed until 4 a.m. So, after traveling most of the night, we let the team and coaches sleep in. In the final preparation for the World Cup, the team went over the Iranian house of wrestling to do some mat work and lose weight. They all looked sharp, and everyone’s weight was well under control since we had a good diet and lots of workouts in Baku leading up to the competition.

The day of weigh-ins is always hectic. Every wrestler has their own routine, and by now our U.S. staff knows how to best help every wrestler. I went with our guide and team chiropractor Dr. Fred Roberto to the Iranian grocery story to load up on food for after weigh-ins and for the day of the tournament. The manager of the grocery store was a huge wrestling fan and was very helpful. He told us that he had been to the New York Athletic Club before and was even in NYC for the 2003 World Championships.

I went to weigh-ins early since Max Askren wanted to get on the mats that day to get his weight down. We sparred for a while and then waited for the rest of the team to show up. We had a little scare when the team arrived and found that our scale was .2kg over. This would normally never happen, but between the late arrival into Iran and the extra security we encountered, I can see where this mistake happened. The guys did a great job not complaining and just went into the sauna and worked off what they had to in order to compete. The rest of weigh-in day was uneventful and, for the most part, the guys just relaxed and got themselves mentally focused on the task at hand.

On the first day of the tournament, our team arrived to the competition before any other team. It proved a right decision as we secured a great locker room with a refrigerator to store all the lunch meat, juice, water and fruits we had bought the day before. I knew it was going to be a great day for wrestling and felt the atmosphere would help push our team on toward victory. In order to compete at this level you have to feed off the crowd and live for these kinds of moments.

The team looked really sharp in our first two matches, and I believed we had the opportunity to beat a good Iranian team on its home turf. The timing of our dual could not have been any better. We had a break after our first two matches, so we went next door to a sport hotel where the guys could lay down and rest a little. As the guys rested, the coaches and team leaders stayed in the lobby and talked about the World Cup, the future of wrestling and what was taking place back home in America to fight the IOC’s decision. Some of us went back to the arena early to represent America in the opening ceremonies, while Zeke and the guys wrestling that evening were able to spend an extra hour lounging around the hotel before they had to get back to the arena to warm up and wrestle.

As soon as we arrived back from the hotel, I knew something was different than the morning session. The crowd had grown and, for the next two hours, they cheered continuously without reason. They were excited to show support for their team, and they all knew who the opponent would be. The people in that crowd cheered on the Iranian team in a way I had never seen before. In the front row, right in the middle of the arena, there was a section made up of drums, horns and all sorts of instruments that I’m not familiar with. The whole crowd looked to this group to lead them — what cheer to do and when. I couldn’t believe how in-sync they were and every time something great happened, the noise level reached a level I’ve never even heard before.

We lost to the Iranian team 6-1, but I know we are much better than we wrestled. Jordan Burroughs was our lone bright spot in his first competition since winning gold in London. It is always hard to wrestle in an environment like that, but every one of the men on our team will learn from this experience, and the next time they experience a pressure situation like that, they will know exactly how to handle that pressure.

Nobody was happy after we lost to Iran, and I know it was everyone’s goal to win the team championship. But we could not dwell it, because we still had two matches the next day. The team responded very well after the letdown, posting a combined 13-1 record on the second day of the tournament. Our team took third in the world, and we are all proud of how they bounced back to earn bronze in a very tough World Cup. At the same time, it will definitely leave a sour taste in our mouth until we can have the opportunity to win it all.

I can speak on behalf of our entire team and coaching staff that we will not be satisfied until we win the World Cup and World Championships. I know we will get there as a team, but it takes an effort not just from those individuals who wrestle but from the whole country. We can be the leaders in the charge to get our sport back. All wrestling fans out there need to support this great sport from the top down. We need to make sure the men on our national team feel valued and appreciated. These men live on scraps for a chance to win world and Olympic medals, but they are typically overlooked by most wrestling fans. I feel like in America we focus so much on our folkstyle that when an athlete graduates from college, they are simply forgotten. These wrestlers who were loved and admired in college are still wrestling. They are still training and competing, and they are the men who are pushing our collegiate wrestlers to strive to be the best. These are the men who set the path for every college, high school and youth wrestler in America. We can’t become the best nation in the world until we unite our efforts. We need to make our current senior-level athletes famous so that they can be recognized as role models for the youth of our sport. Every parent of a wrestler out there is doing their child an injustice if they don’t give them an opportunity to dream of being an Olympic champion. It doesn’t cost anything to have a dream, but it will cost someone a potential opportunity if they are never even presented with that dream.

I saw how important fans can be on the outcome of a dual meet last weekend. We, as Americans, have three years to prepare for the World Championships in Las Vegas. I will promise you, as a member of our National Team coaching staff, that we will have our men ready to win the World Championships. I want to challenge you to join the cause, support our national team, encourage young wrestlers to dream big and, most importantly, step up and become the superfans that we need to win that world team championship in 2015. And when we succeed, this will be something that every wrestler and every fan can say they played a part.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 | Last day in Azerbaijan

With the World Cup approaching, Zeke Jones and I looked at the schedule from the day of weigh-ins and changed our training accordingly. This weekend we switched our off day from Sunday to Saturday, allowing us to recover a little more from the long travel and get on a cycle more suitable for a competition that begins on a Thursday. In place of training on Saturday, we went to a bathhouse where they had a wet sauna, dry sauna, turkish sauna and a steam room. We also lined up massages for the team and the staff. We have been putting in a lot of hard work at this camp, so it was nice to have a day to relax, recover and clear the mind.

Today we had our last practice here in Azerbaijan. Both teams went off on their own for the final preparations and essentially did the same thing at the workout. Since this is the week of the World Cup, training together is pushed aside for individual concentration. This will be the most important World Cup in the history of the sport of wrestling. What the IOC clearly didn’t know in its decision to drop wrestling was how much the sport means to so many people from all corners of the globe, and to make this announcement just two weeks prior to the World Cup was terrible planning on its part. Wrestling is the national sport in Iran, and with the top 10 countries in the world converging to compete for the honor of calling itself the No. 1 team team, all eyes in the wrestling world will be focused on Iran.

In the United States, the media consistently portrays countries like Iran, Russia and Cuba as our enemies. But, within our sport, we are all brothers who are training every day for the chance to become a world and Olympic champion. While the wrestlers from all the participating nations focus on and prepare for the competition this week, the coaches and leaders will come together to save this sport. My hope is that the media will turn their focus to this collaboration. We are rallying together as one to save our history and secure that generations to come will have to chance to train for Olympic glory. But while we may be fighting side by side with Iran, Cuba, Georgia, Russia and Azerbaijan, make no mistake, we are out to win the World Cup. We are bringing a team to Iran that can contend with any nation in the world. It is my goal for our team to win this World Cup — on the biggest stage the wrestling world has ever scene.

Every one of the wrestlers here is very thankful for all the support we are receiving back home from wrestling fans to the general public. All I ask is that we continue to fight and not get complacent. We cannot let one day go by without doing something to help to sport. There is a lot that can be done, so please continue to reach out and lend a hand to the sport we all love. Stay tuned to TheMat.com and follow our quest to become World Cup champions. Parents and coaches, we will be posting thousands of photos of our camp and the World Cup soon, show them to your young wrestlers. These men are HEROES to our sport’s next generation. Tell them that they can become great like all the athletes here. The spirit of the Olympics lives in the athletes who strive to win medals and represent their country on the grandest stage. We need a lot more people looking at the big picture in order to preserve the sport of wrestling for another 3,000 years.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 | Azerbaijan Culture

Training for the World Cup is well underway here in Azerbaijan. Jimmy Kennedy and I arrived Tuesday night, while the rest of the team arrived Wednesday morning. To give you a sense of our schedule for the week:

On Thursday, we had our first practice and, immediately, we went right into matches with two apiece during the morning practice at 11:30 a.m. They were all tired from the traveling, so it was good for them to get a nice hard practice in right away. In the evening practice, at 5:30 p.m., we only wrestled one match and then did some drilling and sparring. Today’s practice was a little more structured with drilling, situations, sparring and a match. We only had one practice today, which is not a bad thing since we wrestle in less than a week, and tomorrow, we are taking the day off, going instead to a sauna house as a team to sweat and get massages. We’ll get back on the mats Sunday and Monday before leaving for Iran on Tuesday.

After last night’s practice, I was able to sit down with the Azerbaijani National Team Coach. He, like many of us in the United States, was caught off guard with the IOC’s decision to drop wrestling from the Olympics. He could not comprehend how a sport like wrestling, where the USA, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Japan and many other big and powerful countries take so much pride in, can lose something of such great value. The sport is so popular in this country that they cannot even fathom how it could even be considered to be dropped from the Olympics. The coach told me that many of his fellow countrymen have been asking why wrestling had been dropped, and he was deeply saddened that he could not give them an answer. He felt the need to explain to me that he was a very well-known figure in his country, and when he would get in a taxi, walk down the street or go into the market, he would constantly have fans coming up to him.

The country of Azerbaijan has been pouring a lot of money into the sport, and as a country, they are committed to grow the sport — not just in the Olympics but year round and worldwide. Azerbaijanis knows what kind of impact wrestling has on the youth of their nation. The top wrestlers in this country are all over television, in commercials and on billboards. Little kids want to wrestle, because they see how well the athletes are treated. They know that if they become successful, they will be able to make a living and secure a future for themselves and their families. When a wrestler in this country wins the European Championships, Worlds or Olympics, they get a house. These young athletes have incentive to do well and, for them, becoming an Olympic champion is the pinnacle of a long, hard fight both mentally and physically. I have seen firsthand how well the athletes here are treated, but with that comes stress of having to perform. They hold their athletes to a very high standard, but they also take good care of them for winning and bringing pride to their nation.

The head coach of Azerbaijan was born in Dagestan, Russia. As a young wrestler, he remembers watching Sagalov Abdulbekov winning the Olympics in 1972. He told me that he dreamed of being like Abdulbekov and bringing pride to his country and his republic. His prediction for wrestling, if this decision by the IOC holds up, is that there will be a minimum of 20% fewer wrestlers in Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Ossetia and Karbardino Balkaria. With his familiarity of these areas, he knows that if the children do not have wrestling to motivate and drive them, there will be big societal problems on the horizon. Little kids today still dream of becoming Olympic champions just like he did in 1972. He knows that this is a very big deal, but he is calm and collected about it because he has the backing of the most powerful man in the country. The President of Azerbaijan is a huge wrestling fan and personally helps fund the program. I guess when you have such a powerful man who believes in a sport and the effects it has on the young children, you can have an attitude like his. He is simply not worried, and he told me his athletes are going about training like nothing has happened. He believes in his president and knows that the world will unite to get wrestling reinstated in the Olympics. I have to agree with him on this issue. I know we have an uphill battle, but this is what we train for day in and day out — every day of our lives. Nothing is ever given to you when you step onto the match and line up across from another man. You have to earn you victories in life, and when wrestling is reinstated back into the Olympics, we and the rest of the world will have all the more appreciation for our great sport.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13 | Traveling to Azerbaijan

For the last week, I was very excited for my upcoming trip to Azerbaijan, Iran and Belarus. There is a lot of preparation that goes into planning for a three-week trip and making sure everything back home is squared away. I was busy all Sunday and Monday — so busy that they are a blur in my memory right now. I didn’t get a second to relax until I finally sat down on the plane. While I was on the plane, I was thinking about what I should write about in my first blog, and I had decided upon writing about the first time I came to Azerbaijan in 2006. We came to the final of the Golden Grand Prix that year, and I learned a lot from being on my first world team that summer. Since then I have been all over the world, and I am now sitting in Azerbaijan for the fourth time in my life. Not too many Americans can say they have been to Azerbaijan, but I have been fortunate enough to have come here before the money rolled in, and I can see how much this city (Baku) and country are growing. They are doing a great job in Azerbaijan and wrestling is one of their top priorities.

The direction of this writing about took a detour shortly after I arrived. I am here with Jimmy Kennedy, and when we arrived, we were exhausted from an entire day’s worth of flying, so we showered and sat down for a meal after we checked into the hotel. When I finally opened up my email and social-networking sites, I was shocked by the news that wrestling was being dropped from the Olympic Games. I still cannot comprehend what has happened to the sport I love so much. I was in London as a coach and as a spectator, and in my opinion, that was the greatest wrestling I have ever witnessed throughout a tournament. The atmosphere of the crowd and the excitement of the matches clicked in a way that I have never seen before. I was certain when I left London that wrestling was safe within the Olympic movement.

I’m not going to talk about what could have happened or what we as a sport could have done differently. I don’t think pointing fingers at this moment is the right thing to do, and it certainly is not a productive use of my time. What I want to talk about is why I love the sport of wrestling.

I don’t think I chose to wrestle, because I was too young to remember. I think this sport chose me. There is no other sport like wrestling in the world, and ever since I was a five-year old I knew that. Wrestling is one person against another, and in order to win, you have to have strength, skills and smarts. When I was young I loved to just wrestle and try different moves to win matches, but as I got older, I loved the strategies involved with winning at the highest levels. Wrestling made me the man I am today, and I know people in Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, India, Uzbekistan, China, Ukraine, Argentina and many other nations where men and women can make the same claim. We are a family of individuals who believe in the same ideals that the sport of wrestling teaches us. As I sit here in Azerbaijan reading reports from the L.A. Times and many other periodicals throughout the USA, I have to wonder if people even can comprehend what this means. The U.S. wrestling community is so far detached from the rest of the world in our folkstyle bubble that I do not believe that we can understand what this means to the rest of the world.

In America we have wrestling clubs, wrestling in middle schools, high schools, universities and then, if you are good enough, you can wrestle in the Olympics. By the time any one of the wrestlers on our Olympic team reaches the level to become an Olympian they have already prepared themselves for a life after sports. I have been to places overseas where wrestling is an out. People choose to wrestle not because they are going to get an education like we get in the U.S.; they choose to wrestle so their families can eat or so they can become national heroes. We as a country sell ourselves short on this aspect of the sport. Becoming an Olympic champion is very hard to do. I tried my whole life to do it, so I know all that it takes. Putting it in perspective: there are 40 NCAA champions every four years compared to only seven freestyle Olympic champions. It is no wonder when someone in Iran, Russia or Azerbaijan wins the Olympics they are treated like gods. There are kids in Cuba who sleep outside the gym just so they can get in to train the next day. It is kids like this we have to stand up for and fight for. We have to fight for the kids in places where wrestling is an out for them. And while we will continue to have our NCAA championships for the foreseeable future, let’s make sure we can still sell the dream of becoming an Olympic champion. Kids need something to strive for, and they need heroes like Jordan Burroughs and Jake Varner to look up to.

I was on a conference call last night from 1:30-3 a.m. with the newly-formed United States Wrestling Foundation. I just want to assure everyone that there are some very influential people that were on that call and they are doing everything in their means to make sure wrestling stays in the Olympics. While I was on the call, I believe they already had pledged around $500,000 to fight the IOC’s decision to drop wrestling. We will need a lot more money than that, and a lot more manpower. I encourage everyone to go to the USA Wrestling Support Olympic Wrestling page. From there you can learn more about action steps and donate directly to the cause. Our initial goal was to help wrestling in the United States at every level, but with the news we received yesterday, we have to broaden our horizons and our fight to get wrestling back in the Olympics where it belongs. I have said for years that as soon as wrestling is not an Olympic sport, athletic directors around the country will have one more excuse to drop our beloved sport. Everyone in the wrestling community can help, and this is the best time to show all the young wrestlers in our country what we can do when we work together.

Wrestlers are tough individually, but collectively — and globally — as a group, wrestlers are so tough I don’t think there is even a word yet created to describe it. We as a sport will rally together to fight for what we believe is right. The only advice I can give young wrestlers is stay focused on the present. Nothing has changed for the immediate future, and 2020 is a long way down the road. Use the sport of wrestling for all it is worth and don’t let the sport use you.

Please stay tuned to TheMat.com for any further developments and to learn where you can help the cause. Don’t be afraid to step up. If there’s one thing I know about wrestlers, it’s that they will never back down from a good fight.

The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club was just in Colorado Springs for a national team camp and the Dave Schultz memorial tournament. This was not a particularly great tournament for our club as we did not have anyone finish among the top three. This is the biggest and toughest international tournament that is held in the United States with representatives from China, Japan, Bulgaria, Russia, Kazakhstan, India, Panama and Canada, so we as a team had to test ourselves to see where we stand against everyone else. We only had Kellen Russell and Kyle Massey competing in the tournament, while Jimmy Kennedy was also in Colorado training and getting prepared for the World Cup and Belarus later this month. Both CKWC guys were eliminated before the placing matches; Kellen lost in the consolation quarterfinals, while Massey lost in the consolation semifinals.

I am proud of the way both Kellen and Kyle competed, but if they want to make the U.S. World team this summer they will have to spend a lot of time working on the small areas of their wrestling where they lost points this past weekend. Wrestling is a sport where you constantly have to make little corrections. Perfection is not an attainable goal, but the closer we can get to perfect the better chance we have to win when it counts.

I want to talk a little about Dave Schultz and his impact on the wrestling world. Dave was a World champion in 1983 and an Olympic champion in 1984. Throughout the rest of his career Dave never made it back to the top of the podium at the Olympics or the World Championships. Dave placed second three times and third twice at the World Championships. In today’s internet age, Dave probably would have been written off by all the critics sitting behind a monitor and keyboard. Luckily for us this never happened. Instead we have a lasting legacy of a man who was not just great on the mat but a man who is revered by all in the wrestling community.

Dave Schultz was 24 years old when he won the 1983 World Championships. This is a young age for an American to win the World Championships. If you look at Jordan Burroughs, he is in a very similar situation as Dave Schultz. Both Dave and Jordan won the World Championships then won the Olympics the very next year. This is actually a very rare feat and has only been done about 10 times since the 1984 Olympics. Dave loved the sport of wrestling, and he continued to try and master a sport that is impossible to master. Every time you step on the mat you have a different opponent and anything can happen. This is why we all compete. Dave was a great example of someone who strapped on the shoes and saw what happened.

In order to be great you have to be willing to dare to be great. You have to be willing to test your skills against the best wrestlers in the world time and time again. You can’t hide from anyone if greatness is what you’re after. This is what Dave Schultz taught me. I wanted to be the best wrestler in the world, and I gave it my all. I wrestled in all the toughest tournaments in the world, and I competed against some very good wrestlers. I won some matches and lost some matches, but at the end of the day, I know I did everything I could to become a great wrestler. I still strive to be great in all that I do. I want to be the best coach in the nation, and I want to help young wrestlers win World and Olympic championships. Dave Schultz will always be a legend for what he was able to accomplish on the mat. His wrestling career was not perfect and he had his share of losses, but like Dave, you have to learn from the losses and grow from them so you can come back a better wrestler and a better person.

I have been in the same situation that both Kyle and Kellen are in. Just because they failed to place at this Dave Schultz tournament does not mean they are not capable of doing great things this year. Our team tested themselves this past weekend, and we will take what we learned from our matches and use that to get better moving forward. We know where we stand at this point in the season, and we know where we want to stand in September during the World Championships.

Andy

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Kellen Russell and Kyle Massey competed at the annual Dave Schultz Memorial International on Friday (Feb. 1), falling just short of placing at 66kg/145.5 pounds and 120kg/264 pounds, respectively, at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. It was the third senior-level freestyle appearance for both CKWC wrestlers.

Russell posted a 3-2 record, advancing to the quarterfinals at 66kg, where he fell to familiar college foe Boris Novachkov, 3-1, 0-2, 4-1. The bulk of Novachkov’s points came off of Russell’s attacks — a counter takedown and separate exposure points in the first period and two exposure points in the third. Russell took the second period on a late pushout and takedown.

Russell split his subsequent wrestleback matches. He cruised to a 5-0, 2-0 win over Jason Tsirtsis, winning the first period on a three-point double leg and gut wrench and taking the second on an early takedown and late pushout. Russell was eliminated after a 2-0, 7-1 loss to Mongolia’s G Mandakhnaran.

With a 2-2 record at 120kg, Massey fell just one match shy of reaching the third-place contest. He earned back-to-back wins over Japan’s Nobuyoshi Arakida and Kazakhstan’s Bakhtiyar Sultanbeck in the wrestleback, cruising to a 4-0, 4-0 decision in the latter with four takedowns in the second period.

He was eliminated after dropping a 5-0, 3-0 decision to Ryan Tomei in the consolation semifinals.

CKWC RESULTS

Kellen Russell, 66kg
First Round – dec. Fernando Mendoza (Panama), 6-0, 3-0
Second Round – dec. Ganbayar Sanjaa (DCAC), 6-3, 0-1, 8-2
Quarterfinals – dec. by Boris Novachkov (Bulgaria), 3-1, 0-2, 4-1
Consolations – dec. Jason Tsirtsis (Region WC), 5-0, 2-0
Consolations – dec. G Mandakhnaran (Mongolia), 2-0, 7-1
Eliminated with a 3-2 record

Kyle Massey, 120kg
First Round – Bye
Quarterfinals – Sunny Dhinsa (Canada), 1-0, 2-0
Consolations – dec. Nobuyoshi Arakida (Japan), 2-0, 2-1
Consolations – dec. Bakhtiyar Sultanbeck (Kazakhstan), 4-0, 4-0
Consolations – dec. by Ryan Tomei (unattached), 5-0, 3-0
Eliminated with a 2-2 record

I was in Guelph, Ontario, this past weekend coaching the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club. We had three wrestlers competing, and when it was all over we came home with two gold medals and a silver. This was our second straight year going to this tournament. As a coach, I cannot stress how important the Guelph Open is to our development as a team. It’s held at a perfect time of the year, and since it is only a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Ann Arbor, it is almost like wrestling at home relative to other international tournaments.

At the tournament Jimmy Kennedy and Kellen Russell placed first at 60 kg and 66 kg, respectively, while Kyle Massey was second at 120 kg. All three of them did an outstanding job from the time we arrived to the gym until the last match was over. They know exactly how to warm-up properly, get mentally focused for each match, stick to a game plan during the matches and, most importantly, rest between the matches and get good nutrition into their bodies throughout the day. It doesn’t matter which tournament you are wrestling in, you have to approach each one like it is the World Championships. To achieve this, you have to find a routine that works and practice it, tweak it and perfect it.

When I run practices for the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club or for the U.S. National Team, I run the same warm up every day. We have a routine where we jog and get limber for five minutes, tumble and do some gymnastics for five minutes and do a dynamic stretch routine for another five minutes. Every one of our CKWC athletes can run this warm-up on his own at this point. When they do the warm-up on their own, they will always know they are ready to wrestle live soon after. Getting a routine down and sticking with it will help get you mentally prepare for the biggest matches. You will have no doubt in your mind that you are ready to rock when the referee blows the whistle to start the match. Habits are formed by doing things on a consistent basis, and our warm-up is consistent everyday. Everything component has a purpose, not just for that specific day, but it includes aspects that build strength and flexibility over time. I didn’t just throw together random calisthenics and call it a warm-up. I studied the most successful wrestlers in the world, saw them doing this warm up in practice and before tournaments, and applied it to my own wrestling.

After the warm-up is complete, you have to drill and wrestle live before you are ready for your first match. Just as with the warm-up, the amount of drilling and live wrestling is consistent in all of my practices. I’m a firm believer that drilling is an extension of the warm-up, and the most important part of the practice is live situations and the live matches. Drilling to learn new moves and to work through situations is very important, but it’s my philosophy that this is better done after the live wrestling and not before. When I run practices, we do just enough drilling so we can get right into the live situations. I do this so we are fresh for live wrestling. We do between 8-16 minutes of situations every day. I vary the time of each situation and the total time of all of the situations depending on the time of year and what tournaments are coming up. If you lose in international wrestling, you have to wait to see if the person who beat you makes the final so you can have a chance to wrestle back. In the majority of my practices, I only do one match. There are some days — Tuesdays and Fridays — where I will have two matches in a practice, but this is only when we have major competitions coming up. I only do it on these two days, because Wednesdays and Saturdays are devoted to cross training and rest. The idea behind only having one match in practice is to teach the guys the importance of approaching every match like it is the only one. If you lose a match in practice, it will be on your mind until the next practice. Over the weekend, all of the CKWC guys approached every match with great focus. My thought is that if we wrestled more than one match each day a practice, they can mentally slack and say to themselves, “I will do better next match.” In international wrestling, we don’t have that luxury to have a bad match and get it back the next one, because there might not be a next match. This is a hard thing to teach, but we practice this every day when we train, so they are used to focusing on the match in front of them and not the one that may come after.

After getting a good warm-up and focusing on the first match of the day, the next step is having a game plan and sticking to it throughout the match. A game plan is not something you can come up with on the fly. You have to train yourself daily to have a game plan, and this is the biggest impact a coach can have on an athlete. U.S. National Team coach Zeke Jones has provided me with every imaginable stat from the Olympic Games. It’s my job to know these stats and use them to develop a game plan for wrestling and winning matches. I would be a bad coach if I just threw practices together that did not teach and instill the game plan that is optimal for winning matches. I have the ability to throw together the most physically demanding practice ever, but if there is no purpose behind it, then it is just wasted time. There are drills and situations we do as a team every day that are meant to be embedded in the athletes’ heads so that when they are pushed during a tough match, they can instinctively do the things that need to be done. Having a game plan for matches is built over time with consistent training and sharpening of skills required to win. In order to be prepared, you have to put yourself in the most common situations and learn how to win them. Practice is not about learning moves, it is learning how to use moves and score with them when someone is defending you and vice versa for the defensive aspect of sport. A good game plan for a match is derived from a philosophy of how you want to compete and then applying that philosophy to practice every day. Take a look at the best programs nationally and internationally, and you will see the philosophy of how each program wants to wrestle. I believe this is where a coach can have the biggest impact on his athletes. That philosophy has to be preached every day in a way the athletes can understand, and it must be broken down in small parts that they can master individually. Eventually all the wrestlers will wrestle exactly the way you want them to. This is why they call it training, because it has to be done daily or the skill set will not be developed properly. I was very pleased with how Jimmy, Kellen and Kyle approached each match. They know what it will take to be the best in the world because they do what it takes on a daily basis. We will use the results from the past weekend to identify their weakness and strengths. Wednesday we go to a National Team camp in Colorado Springs, where we will have plenty of time to fine tune our game plan. By the time they wrestle at the Dave Schultz and the overseas tournaments, they will go into each match with confidence that they will win in every position, and most importantly, they will dictate which positions they get in.

The final key to having a successful tournament is knowing how to rest, recover and eat between matches. The National Team has a great support staff that helps with this aspect, and although everyone reacts differently to different foods and drinks, you can use the information from this team of experts to find out what will work best. This too has to become habit, and in making it a habit, your body will know exactly how to recover and get back up for the next match. I thought the CKWC guys did a great job at this over the weekend, but we can still improve. This is the hardest part of the sport to perfect, because you have to practice it in real time. It makes every tournament very important, and everything you put in your body should be recorded and tweaked until you find out the best combination for you and make it a habit to do the same thing every time you compete.

I am excited for the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s upcoming tournaments. The guys are looking sharp, and they know what to expect every time they step on the mat to compete. Stay tuned to my blog as I travel to Colorado Springs and all over Europe for the freestyle season.

Andy Hrovat