This entry was posted on 3/6/2007 10:15 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
I got back to Ithaca this morning at
around 5:00 am after about 34 hours of traveling and I was exhausted to say the
least.I felt relieved to be back in the
United States and in Ithaca after a terrible trip.Murphy's
Law was definitely in effect during this trip to Uzbekistan.My trip began with a delayed
flight in Syracuse, NY which forced me to be redirected from JFK through Paris, France to Istanbul, Turkey for my final flight
to Uzbekistan.In the process my baggage was lost;
luckily I brought a spare change of clothes and some practice gear with
me.There were only two U.S. people (Ben
Wissel and myself) competing on this trip, so we didn't have a scale and making
weight was a hassle without it.I was
able to check my weight twice in two days.We also had to seek workout partners since Ben (84 kg) and I (60 kg) are
too far apart in weight to workout.We're
able to find work out partners from the Korean national team and it was nice to
wrestle with two of their 60 kg wrestlers.My coach didn't know how the tournament was being run and I wrestled my
first match a few minutes after receiving my luggage at the tournament site.I didn't have any time to warm up or get
ready for the match but won 1-0, 0-3, 3-0 against a guy from Kazakhstan.I didn't wrestle well but was
able to pull out the win on a passive call in the third period.I got hurt in my second match while wrestling
a guy from Macedonia and was unable to continue the rest of the tournament.I won the first period 2-1 and got hurt when
he hit an arm throw in the second period.I landed on my head and blacked-out, but awoke to find out I had been
pinned.I probably had a minor concussion.I was in a lot of pain and couldn't wrestle the
rest of the tourney.I could've wrestled
back for third since the guy from Macedonia made it to the finals (he won 1st).I didn't
understand anything the Russian doctors were telling me so I'll need to see one
this week.The entire trip I felt out my
game plan, it was an unorganized last minute trip that lead to disaster on the
mat.I'm upset/frustrated after having a good run
at the Dave Schultz to having everything go wrong.I need to focus on getting healthy
and preparing for U.S nationals & World Team Trials.
Seems like you're learning an awful lot about international travel in a very short time span. Hope you recover quickly from your last trip abroad.
You might be interested to know that Russian authorities are investigating a large outbreak of food poisoning associted with a banquet in Krasnoyarsk. "Gross negelect of hygenic practices", I think the article said.
My comment in the blog associated with that tournament was only partially in jest. Be especially careful as you continue your international wrestling experience so that it will be one you'll cherish.
3/9/2007 5:03 PM
Billy Wood wrote:
Hey Trav~ We (coach Rob and I) heard about your injury from your Mom. Take it easy. I know that is a hard thing for you to do sometimes. Always the over achiever yeah. We will see you at Vegas. You should have come with us to Ukraine seeing as Mike failed to make weight. Disappointing. Later, Billy Reply to this
3/12/2007 1:09 AM
Bill wrote:
Travis, we also heard about your injury. Take care of your health, it's the most important thing. This international wrestling is very interesting. In the pictures from the opening ceremonies, the stands were full (of mostly large, almost all males), and the pagentry was like a playoff game or championship tournament in America. The arena was magnificent, and looked as if it was built for wrestling. Hang in there! Reply to this
Hope you are better from your konk on your head and are training hard for the U.S Nationals & World Team Trials. I’m hoping to get to see you wrestle in Las Vegas in a week or so. I figured if I entered into the veterans division that I can get a floor pass and then watch your matches close up. Anyway, I’m pretty excited because the last tournament I participated in was the ILH JV championships in 1976 (31 years ago). My wife has reservations about the trip with my broken back, broken neck, torn shoulder, broken fingers and arthritis. My brother was happy for me and already made claim to my 2006 Chevy Colorado crew-cab truck and even recommended a few attorneys to make me a will.
I think you can consider yourself very fortunate to have loves ones who have faith and confidence in your abilities. As tough as it is to be away from home, they are on your team and share with you your dream to be the best in the world.
Local update: As you may already know … (1) Punahou, (2) Kamehameha, and (3) St. Louis. I’m glad for Matt Oney and his program, I’ve always had to scratch my head and wonder why they haven’t had a few more State team titles. They seem to be doing all the right things in the off season, they attend all the clinics, are active in Team Hawaii, and their coaching is excellent. I think an added bonus to their program the past few years is their State Championship Judo Team. I think together, they have a chance to build a dynasty. Their team is very young and they got a good crop of young kids coming up including your cousin Patrick. In the final count … we lost to Punahou by 33 points. Punahou stepped up where they had too and had a few critical calls go their way. We had a legitimate shot at taking the title. We felt in came down to about three critical matches that went bad for us. We lose 8 seniors this year and will have to rebuild.
Carla lost her bid for her 4th championship. She’s taking it pretty hard as it was a goal she made 6-years ago and has been working hard ever since. I felt pretty sick too and wanted to jump off the Pali. Maybe, that’s why I’m entering into the veterans national … my way of hara-kiri! In a couple of days, I’ll take my two girls up to a National Girls tournament in Michigan. The day after I get back, I’ll fly up to Vegas. Hopefully, I’ll get to see Coach Billy Wood or Coach John Robinson before I leave … don’t know any of the rules for Greco or Freestyle. Otherwise they’ll think I’m an idiot when I get on the mat. Good luck in your training … by comparison, I’m practicing my “Shaka” sign so that when I get suplayed, I at least look good flying in the air. It’s requires a similar arm motion to chugging a beer … which will be my therapy, if I land on my head.
4/9/2007 1:53 AM
Bill wrote:
Travis, please let us know what you saw up in Vegas this weekend. The guys in your bracket are all guys you've played before.
As for Uncle Dave, please send us a copy of the obituary from the Las Vegas papers (or the commitment paper from the local psychiatric ward)! Reply to this
Well there were a lot of match ups that didn't go as planned
because Lightner, Cross, and I didn't compete. Since our weight class is
so deep there are actually several guys I haven't wrestled. I've never
wrestled Lightner, Zadick or Cross and haven't wrestled Bunch in freestyle
yet. There's not much to say about the weekend other than I wish I was
wrestling in the tourney. I also spent a good amount of time coaching our
junior level guys on Friday. As for Dave, I believe he had a rough time, he
sustained a broken finger and some bumps and bruises by the time I arrived in
Vegas.
