When I was younger, I was a big OSU wrestling fan. I used to wear a bright orange Oklahoma State hat that was embroidered with the Cowboy’s mascot, Pistol Pete. One summer I decided to go out to their wrestling camp in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Barely a teenager, I packed my bags and flew west.

When the plane landed, my huge green duffel bag was not on the baggage carousel and was nowhere to be found.  That bag that had all of my stuff in it, and it was lost.  I had to stop by Wal-Mart to pick up toiletries and linens so I would make it through the week.  But there was still one essential item I was missing: wrestling shoes.  Somehow I met up with John Smith, who set about solving my problem.  He took me back to the locker room and rummaged through a cubby full of old wrestling stuff.  He pulled out a pair of old, beaten up Adidas and handed them to me.

“Now Rollie, these are the shoes I won the ’92 Olympics in,” Smith said with a big grin on his face, laying on a thick Oklahoma charm.  He went on, “They’re my lucky shoes, but I’ll let you wear them for the week. If they’re not still lucky when I get them back, I’m gunna hold you personally responsible.”  I was a little kid from Massachusetts, and there I was staring up at one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.  I was awestruck.

In hindsight, those shoes were clearly not actually his lucky shoes.  In fact, I highly doubt we had the same size feet; they were probably not even his.  Maybe they belonged to his third string 125 pounder, but at the time, I felt like a Catholic receiving communion from the Pope.  I strutted around in my new shoes all week with an air of lofty self-importance.  At the end of the camp, I reluctantly gave Smith “his lucky shoes” back and flew home.  The airline found my duffel bag shortly after.

While that was my first encounter with Smith, my first encounter with Gable went a little differently.  One year, I went out to the NCAAs with my dad and one of my coaches at the time, Kendall Cross.  During a break in the wrestling, Kendall and I wandered over to the fan zone.  They had all sorts of kiosks set up by different companies and organizations, but there was one station that had a bustling line of people.  We got nearer and found out that Dan Gable was signing autographs.

Kendall turned to me and mischievously suggested, “Let’s go get his autograph!”  So we stepped in line to meet the greatest icon in our sports history.  I was a little nervous about the prospect.  Now, to  grasp the irony of the situation, you need to understand the background.

Kendall wrestled for Oklahoma State in college, where he was an NCAA champion.  In competition, he went back and forth with Iowa stud Tom Brands.  This was standard Iowa/OSU rivalry, but the real drama came when Kendall beat out Tom’s brother, Terry Brands, for the Olympic spot in 1996.  Tom made the team that year and Terry did not.  Both Kendall and Tom went on to win Olympic gold medals in Atlanta.

Kendall’s style is unique in that he is incredibly flexible and funky.  Once nicknamed Gumby for his limber contortions, his style is more like water than iron.  In practice, he advocated “the path of least resistance” as a philosophy.  The Brands brothers, on the other hand, are known for their über-intense workouts and equally fierce wrestling style.  The brothers are tough as nails, and I’m sure they probably prefer the path of most resistance.  Anyway, both brothers are world class wrestlers, both are Dan Gable prodigies, and both beat Kendall but were beaten by him in pivotal matches.

After waiting in line for a while, we finally pulled up in front of Gable.  We stood lingering, facing the wrestling legend for a minute before Kendall addressed him, “Hey, this is my boy Rollie, he wanted to meet you.”

“Oh,” Gable replied, completely stone-faced.  He sat there in silence, his weather-beaten face betraying no emotion.  After a long pause, Kendall broke the silence, “Here, will you sign his hat?”  With an impish grin on his face, he snatched the orange Oklahoma State hat from my head and slapped it on the table.  Gable nodded his head, looked down at the hat, then looked up at Kendall and said, “Sure.”  His voice was astonishingly calm as he handed it back to me.  We walked away, and that was it.  Did he not see the humor?

He wrote, “To Rollie,” followed by his autograph.  I just found that hat buried in my closet and it brought me back to that moment. I decided to tell these two stories not only because they reveal any biases I might have, but they provide a good contrast between two wrestling icons.

Coach Davis and I rescheduled it for 4:30 on Monday, December 22. It’s at Wellesley High School, in the upper gym. I know high schools have practices and parents have work on Mondays, but I will be there for anyone who can still make it.

Hopefully it’s still a success. I guess if you look at the bright side, the less people that come, the more individual attention you get. Try to spread the word of the cancellation if you can.

Thanks, see you Monday.

—–

The first time I stepped on the mat was at the Wellesley Youth Wrestling Club, run by high school coach, Dave Paltrineri. Dave was a great coach, and he really got me off on the right foot. In sports, it is incredibly important to do things right from the beginning so you do not develop bad habits, and I was lucky to have Dave from Day One. I remember going to the high school matches as a wee little third grader and watching the big kids wrestle. My heroes were the Diamond Twins, Yanni and Dean Diamond. My dad took me to a home match once, and I saw both of them pin their opponents in back-to-back weight classes. That was why I wrestled.

When I reached high school, I was on the team with the youngest Diamond Brother, Greg. You see, all four of the Diamond Brothers wrestled for Wellesley High. There was Peter who was a state champion in 1993. Then came the twins Yanni and Dean, who hold five Division I state titles and four All-State titles between the two of them. Dean was Massachusetts’ first three time All-State champion . When Greg won states his senior year, the record books were shattered. Four brothers, four state champions.

When I got to high school, I was damn proud to wear the Wellesley singlet and represent such a rich tradition. Wellesley wrestling boasted a state champion every year from 1991 to 2006. For a while, I believe we had more All-State champions than any other school in Massachusetts. Recently though, all has not been well in the town of Wellesley. We went through a few coaching changes, and the general interest in the program has fizzled. This was explained to me the other day, when I got a call from one of the parents on the team, Steve Biondolillo.

Steve is an old friend, and was an accomplished wrestler back in the day. I worked extensively with his son David, who is a talented young wrestler on the Wellesley team. So Steve called me and asked if I could come in and work with some of the guys over Christmas Break. “Definitely.” Then he took it a step further, would I be willing to come give a clinic at the high school to raise money for the program? Hell yeah, I loved the idea.

Steve’s call not only stoked my massive ego, but it gave me hope. Most high schools in Massachusetts have embarrassingly small wrestling budgets from what I understand. I hope to repay part of the debt I owe to the sport and the program for making me what I am today. Here is what we worked out:

-We have the WHS basketball gym reserved for Sunday, December 21. The clinic will start at 1:30 pm and will run 90 minutes. Afterwards, I will stick around for a while answering questions (I will be there early too).

-Admission is $10, all proceeds go to Wellesley Wrestling. Our goal is to raise 600 dollars.

-I also threw out an idea (my only contribution to the event): why not make it a sort of alumni day too? We could kill two birds with one stone. I will be inviting Coach Paltrineri, all four Diamond Brothers, and anyone I can contact. See if we can show the world how wrestlers support our own.

So that’s the deal. Come if you want. If not, I hope everyone has a great holiday.

Every sport has an icon (Lance, MJ, Tiger, etc), and Dan Gable is ours.  As a 2 time NCAA champion for Iowa State University, the only loss of his collegiate career came in the NCAA finals as a senior - his very last match.  He went on to win the 1972 Olympics (going unscored upon), but where he really made his bones was coaching.  Under his guidance, the Iowa Hawkeyes won 15 NCAA championships in 21 years.   A Season on the Mat chronicles all this and more.

John Smith is considered by some to be the all-time best American wrestler.  He won an astounding 6 consecutive World championships and 2 consecutive Olympic gold medals.  The OSU Cowboys have an unparelled tradition of winning.  Since the advent of the NCAA meet in 1928, they have captured 34 team NCAA championships and crowned 133 individual national champions.  Kim D. Parrish tells you all about it.

Not only are these two schools bitter rivals, but their coaches are polar opposites.  Gable is a rigid workaholic and Smith is a slickster technician.  The Cowboys and Hawkeyes have battled it out many times on the mat, but I’m curious, which book is better?

As of this point (again, I just started reading) I must say Cowboy Up is a little bit more thorough and enjoyable, but I will give them both a fair chance.  When I have time, I will write a full review of both of them on this blog.  In every other sport, there are tons of epic biographies and historical works, but wrestling typically falls short.  This confuses me because we have the stories, the characters, the plots, the downfalls, the climaxes, the heartbreaks, and the triumphs.  Maybe these two books will be the redemption…

To me, the season is a never ending process of adjusting and tinkering. I meet minor setbacks on a daily basis and try to overcome them. I make many mistakes and have many flaws, and I try to correct them. Most of all, I try to never stagnate in the recesses of complacency.

A wrestling season is a dynamic organism – it changes and grows – and if you’re not growing, you’re dying. If you have a bad match and you fail to learn from it, it becomes a string of bad matches. If you slip into routine and go through the motions every day, the season moves on without you.

Sometimes you must work harder, other times you need recovery. You will never feel 100%, but it is a constant struggle to find the ideal middle ground. It is almost always elusive and unattainable, and this frustrates some people. I do not mean that you will always be scalding hot or ice cold, but that it is a constant flux. You bounce back and forth, seeking harmony, and in the process you get closer.

You must come to terms with this – there will be hard times, bad days, and flat matches – all you can do is keep pushing and try to steer the course. And if you work hard enough, some day you may be able to find the perfect goddamn temperature in the shower.

Note:  Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, I’ve been very busy with school and wrestling. More to come soon.

Seek out the best

The best way to learn is from those who have “been there”—someone who has already navigated successfully through the peaks and valleys of life’s journey. These are the best kind of mentors. Many people claim to be experts, but almost nothing can compare to first-hand experience. No one reaches triumph without tribulation, so odds are whatever it is you are struggling with, someone has been in your shoes before and succeeded. Follow their lead.

Learn from everyone

Just because someone doesn’t have a Nobel Prize or Olympic gold medal, doesn’t mean they can’t be a mentor. Everyone has a nugget of wisdom to offer, the hard part is finding and extracting it.

Two summers ago, I worked landscaping with a bunch of tough, blue-collar guys. During the day, we busted our asses hauling timber and seed bags, and on the lunch breaks we did push-ups. Not only did I get stronger that summer, but I learned a lot from the guys. They worked hard all day and never complained. I still admire that.

You can find inspiration in the most unexpected places, from the most unexpected people. It’s always good to get a different perspective. Keep in mind that everyone has their own area of specialty.

Observe what not to do

Although I believe everyone has something to teach you, not all lessons are positive. Sometimes the best thing a person can offer is what not to do. If you learn from the mistakes of others, you can avoid repeating them yourself.

In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius reminds, “Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today inquisitive, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men.” This is a recurring topic and he constantly tells himself to rise above and learn from these nuisances.

Some of my best lessons have about come this way. People will make mistakes, they will be lazy, they will wrong you. If you don’t make a note of it, you may find yourself walking down the same dark alleys. The sooner you identify what you don’t want to be, the sooner you will get to where you want to be.

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 like an inventory list of Fort Knox. Nine-time world champion, including three Olympic gold medals.

I tried finding a specific match that best captures his style, but couldn’t decisively pick one. Here is a man who won the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta at age 21 and is still going strong in 2008. He’s been around the block and stood the test of time. What can we learn from his battle-tested methods?

Take it easy

When Saitiev steps out on the mat, his head is clear. Beneath the Iron Curtain of his scruffy beard and rough exterior, he is calm and ready to go. You can see it in his style, his shoulders are relaxed and he breathes easy. His arms dangle casually by his side and his feet are light as a feather. In matches—Olympic finals included—he appears ghostly tranquil, as if composing a symphony.

I have a friend, Sean Harrington, who calls this “The Freedom”. He argues that many wrestlers get tense and nervous before matches, and lose their Freedom. Have you ever had that match where you are completely in the zone, on point, at the top of your game? You feel loose and open, and get lost in the moment. Afterward, it’s almost incomprehensible—as if you were possessed by some wrestling demon. And you dominate. That is wrestling at its best, that is The Freedom, and Saitiev has It.

Dominate your world

Part of being a champion is never being satisfied—it is not enough to just win. Saitiev has an insatiable appetite for victory and dominance, and he shows this trait in two ways:

-Unlike most people, he wasn’t happy with just one Olympic gold medal. He competes for the love of competition, not fame, money, or glory. Well, maybe glory.

-He doesn’t aim to edge opponents out narrowly. In an infamous preliminary match at the 2003 World Championships, he wrestled Jean Diatta of Senegal. Diatta takes him down in the beginning of the match, and Saitiev wastes no time in punishing him for this misdemeanor. Back then, if you got a technical fall you could opt to continue wrestling, and he does just that. The final score was 34-2.

There are no easy matches at the World Championships, and most coaches would advocate finishing preliminary matches quickly to conserve energy. Not this Russian.

Satiev vs. Diatta, 2003 World Championship, 74 kg

Develop a comfortable routine

According to Wikipedia, Saitiev recites the following poem before every match:

“I don’t think being famous is very attractive. That is not what lifts you up. You don’t have to build an archive. You don’t have to panic over your number of volumes. The object of a masterpiece is giving yourself away.” -Boris Pasternak, My Sister – Life

I’m not saying everyone should recite a poem, in fact, I find that excessive. But the prematch routine is a deeply personal matter—everyone does it his or her own way. Make sure you have a comfortable routine so you are calm and ready when you step to the line. Come game day, all the training you’ve done is past, and all you can control is the present. Warm-up and stay focused.

Poise is being comfortable and confident in a routine you’ve done many times before. When he steps on the mat, Buvaisar Saitiev knows he is ready.

———

Noted wrestling reporter, Jason Bryant, has brought to my attention an error.  He points out that Diatta only scores 1 point on the first takedown, and that Saitiev in fact scored 39 points.  Apparently the folks at FILA messed up the score because it clearly says 34-2 on the scoreboard at the end.  I do not care enough to go through the video and tally the correct score.  Bottom line: it was A LOT to a little.

]]> http://masswrestling.com/rollie/archives/behind-the-iron-curtain/feed http://masswrestling.com/rollie/archives/notes-to-self http://masswrestling.com/rollie/archives/notes-to-self#comments Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:58:52 +0000 Rollie Peterkin http://masswrestling.com/rollie/?p=178 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 the match Kendall gets thrown to his back, giving up 3 points. In a world class match, that is a big deal. A lot of wrestlers would become disheartened, but Kendall holds his ground. He comes back and winds up winning the match 7-5.

It’s easy to lose your head under those circumstances. I had a match once where I got thrown to my back early on, and I tried to go for big moves to make up the difference. I wound up giving up a major decision in one of the worst matches of my career.

So next time you give up a few points, don’t panic. Stop, refocus, and get after it. Patience is rarely mentioned in the same sentence as wrestling, but a little patience can go a long way.

Don’t hesitate

One my favorite parts of watching Kendall wrestle is that he wrestles impulsively. In our culture, a lot of emphasis is placed on preparation and planning, but in wrestling, over-thinking can kill you. During a match, you make thousands of micro-decisions every few seconds. If you sit there and think through a position, it’s usually too late, you’ve already lost it.

Indecision and hesitation are not your friends. Practice making quick, decisive decisions.

Let feel dictate (trust your gut)

Kendall is the absolute master of this. Many wrestlers are constrained by the limited number of moves or positions they are familiar with, and they dare not venture outside their comfort zone. You can see in this match that Kendall is not bound by this—he frequently puts himself in new and unique positions to open up scoring potential.

Not one of the points he scores is from a classic “move.” Well, ok, the high gut-wrench is a move, but no one else in the world can do it like Mr. Cross.

Don’t be afraid to score points

My friend once said of Kendall, “He isn’t afraid to give up 9 points to score 10.” I liked the way that sounded and have always remembered it. Remember, it is better to win 10-9 than to lose 0-1.

Rise to the occasion

This match against Umakhanov was at the World Cup. It was Kendall’s last match before retirement. It was hosted by Oklahoma State University, his alma mater. And it was in front of his hometown Stillwater crowd. That’s a lot of pressure. He steps it up and gets it done. Git rrrr dunnnnn, as they say in Oklahoma.

“If we think of the struggle as a climb up a mountain, then we must visualize a mountain with no top. We see a top, but when we finally reach it, the overcast rises and we find ourselves merely on a bluff. The mountain continues on up. We now see the “real” top ahead of us, and strive for it, only to find we’ve reached another bluff, the top still above us. And so it goes on, interminably.

Knowing that the mountain has no top, that it is a perpetual quest from plateau to plateau, the question arises, “Why the struggle, the conflict, the heartbreak, the danger, the sacrifice. Why the constant climb?” Our answer is the same as that which a real mountain climber gives when he is asked why he does what he does. “Because it’s there.” Because life is there ahead of you and either one tests oneself in its challenges or huddles in the valleys in a dreamless day-to-day existence whose only purpose is the preservation of an illusory security and safety. The latter is what the vast majority of people choose to do, fearing the adventure into the unknown. Paradoxically, they give up the dream of what may lie ahead on the heights of tomorrow for a perpetual nightmare—an endless succession of days fearing the loss of a tenuous security.”

When I was first asked to do a guest entry on Rollie’s Blog I was initially flattered. Later, when I realized people would read this, I was apprehensive about the prospect. I asked Rollie what I could possibly contribute. He responded by asking, “What knowledge do you have that is of value to others?” He then went on to remind me that I was an English Major and that writing well should not be as hard as I expected. Ironically, his advice and reassurance showed me the common bond between being a great writer and a great wrestler. A voice. Your voice.

When I first took higher level English classes in high school, my teacher told me that I was too uniform and dry in my prose. In order to elevate the level of my writing, I needed to find my own voice. I was very frustrated with this concept. How does one discover his or her “voice?” Several years later, I finally realized that a “voice” is not discovered. Instead it is developed—by reading others’ great writing and constantly critiquing one’s own.

This leads me to the goal of finding one’s wrestling “voice.” I am the first to admit that I have been in the sport a relatively short time—five years this October. Yet I have been incredibly lucky in that short span. From the time I started, I have been surrounded by some of the best athletes and coaches in the country, if not the world.  Each one had his own unique style which seemed to suit his personality. Each time I worked with a new coach, I wanted to do exactly what he did. It made sense to me that my imitation of his style would eventually lead to similar success for me. It didn’t. No doubt, I have made great progress in the sport, but I was frustrated that I was not achieving my goals, even though I did as I had been instructed.

Not long ago I realized my problem. Although I had some of the best coaching and had learned so much, I had yet to develop my own “voice” in the sport. As I said before, all of my coaches had different styles. Some were flexible and funky, some had incredible athleticism and explosiveness. I now realize that I would have been much better served picking up what felt the most comfortable and natural, as opposed to starting over each time and changing my style with each coaching change.

So here is my knowledge that may be of value: in order to mature as a wrestler and to develop your own style, you need to be open to new techniques and philosophies, all the while sifting through the information and picking out what will best fit you. Just listen to some of the higher level guys interviewed on www.flowrestling.org. They have a rare level of understanding about their craft, one which can only derive from years of evaluation and experimentation. One interview which comes to mind is John Smith’s, entitled “The Scientist.”

In wrestling, like writing, this development and evolution will lead you to a greater understanding of your discipline and, ultimately, your own unique voice.

True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance,
As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

~Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Criticism”

Hopefully my results on the mat this year will speak for themselves.  I will do my best effort to keep passing along anything I can, but with less frequency.  I have a strong belief in quality over quantity, and I don’t want to bog readers down with the trivalities of my life (“Today I worked out, it was really intense!!!”).  Keep checking back for updates.