Like I promised, I will review the two books I am currently reading, A Season on the Mat and Cowboy Up. The former is about the Iowa Hawkeyes and legendary coach, Dan Gable, and the latter about the Oklahoma State Cowboys and legendary coach, John Smith. Before I get to the review, I want to [...]
UPDATE: I just heard from the Wellesley coaches, it turns out the school administrators canceled any and all activities at the high school for tomorrow. This weather sucks (I drove home from Philly last night).
Coach Davis and I rescheduled it for 4:30 on Monday, December 22. It’s at Wellesley High School, in the upper gym. [...]
I am currently knee-deep in the muck of final exams, and as always, wrestling provides a good outlet for stress. Anyway, the other day I started reading two very interesting books. At the recommendation of fellow blogger and wrestling fan, Jim Brown, I went out and bought A Season on the Mat by Nolan Zavoral [...]
You know that feeling when you’re in the shower and the water is too hot so you turn the knob a little bit, but then it’s too cold? You struggle back and forth with increasingly less torque, but you can never get exactly the right temperature. That’s how I feel all the time.
To me, the [...]
Over the years, I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by truly great people who have taught me many lessons. My mentors have come in all shapes and sizes, and there are a few things I’ve tried to remember to make the most of them.
Seek out the best
The best way to learn is from those [...]
“Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.” - The Eagles, Take it easy
I’ve been watching a lot of film of Saitiev lately, and I dig his style. Buvaisar Saitiev is a Russian wrestler who is arguably one of the best and most dominant wrestlers of all time. His résumé reads [...]
The other day, I was watching one of my all-time favorite matches, and I made a few mental notes. The match is Kendall Cross (USA) vs. Shamil Umakhanov (Russia) in the 1997 World Cup. Kendall is a very entertaining wrestler, and he takes his art form to a high level.
Maintain your composure under fire
Early in [...]
Here is a quote from a book called Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. The book itself has nothing to do with wrestling or even athletics, but I found this passage particularly inspiring. He illustrates better than I can the concept of Jumping Levels through his image of a mountain. Matt Valenti (2x NCAA Champion) [...]
Hudson Collins, a friend and teammate of mine from Blair, has a message. I told him I would gladly welcome any “clear, cogent piece” he wrote, and he went above and beyond my expectations. When he says he has worked with world class coaches, I give you my word, that is not an exaggeration. If [...]
As wrestling and school get cranking in full gear here, I have less time to sit and write. But, like any good teammate, I will not abandon my readers (if there are any). My main focus right now is that of a wrestler and a student—not a writer. Henry David Thoreau once famously wrote, “How [...]
I just discovered a new blog called The view from section GG, which is written by a wrestling fan out of Iowa named Jim Brown. He has an interesting piece about football players wrestling. In the article, he quotes Stephen Neal (4x NCAA All-American, 2x NCAA Champion, World Freestyle Champion) as saying, “Wrestling develops skills [...]
A lot of high school wrestlers ask me this question: What should I be doing in the preseason? In college, our preseason training is very structured, however high schoolers often lack this element. Here are my ideas on the matter; they are by no means the only or the best ideas out there, just some [...]
I just started rereading one of my all-time favorite books, The 33 Strategies of War, by Robert Greene, and I came across this quote:
“Enemies also give you a standard by which to judge yourself, both personally and socially. The samurai of Japan had no gauge of their excellence unless they fought against the best swordsman; [...]
Posted in Quotes, Strategy |
As I move back into school this year, it brings me back to a harder time: the beginning of my sophomore year. My roommate, Thomas, and I had to completely repaint and fix up our new room, which was debris-laden and disgusting at best. Due to an error in the housing arrangements, we were forced [...]
“…Anyway, personal challenges of that degree. Personal challenges that you alone accept, and are willing to carry out in a public arena in front of friends and foes alike, can often times be the precise moment when an athlete will “jump levels” (to use your John Smith quote, flowrestling.com). The confidence that can be gained [...]
With my precious summer winding down, I’ve been seeking refuge on Cape Cod for the past few days. My grandparents have a peaceful waterfront property on the Childs River, which feeds out into the Vineyard Sound. Sitting around this morning, I felt the need for an adventure. I grabbed my Yellow Lab pup, Brando, [...]
There was a day when it was noble to die on the field of battle, clutching your sword until your last breath sputtered out. In ancient Norse mythology, only those who died bravely in battle were sent to an afterlife in Valhalla. This was the warrior’s ideal end—not a thing to run from, but to [...]
When I started wrestling in third grade, I had no idea how much my life would change over the coming years. I came home from my first practice and told my dad, “This is what I want to do.” That day was so consequential to the rest of my life that I can’t even picture [...]
