Coming home

I landed safely in Amsterdam and will be departing for Detroit in a little bit. I can say I was a little disappointed with the lack of Internet in Turkey. I wanted to blog each day because there was something new everyday. In freestyle we finished 3rd overall as a team with 1 gold medal, 1 bronze medal and 3 5th place finishes. Yesterday was a great day for team USA as newcomer Jordan Burroughs won a gold medal at 74 kg. It is the first world gold since 2006.
I took plenty of videos and pictures and look forward to sharing them with you when I return. Thanks again for following my blog. I will do much better next time.

Coaching at the World championships ....and more!

Due to not having Internet accss the last few days, I will do my best to catch everyone up on the latest news. So far we have only medaled in 1 wt. Class. Jake Varner placed 3rd at 96 kg and returning olympic and world champion Cael Sanderson 84 kg. was upended in the 2nd round of the tournament but battled back to place 5th.

I have the awesome honor to coach another american wrestler that was competing for Ireland. His coach did not make the trip, so Roger Chandler (MSU associate head coach) and I coached Alex Dolly to an impressive 2-1 record in his first world championship at 84 kg. It was an amazing experience and an opportunity to work on my toweling skills. Lol.

Last night we went and watched oil wrestling; an 800 yr. Old sport in Turkey. It was amazing and all of the athletes were very fit and very intense.

We are beginning wrestling now, so I will attempt to tell you more at the next break. The people are amazing and very friendly. Oh yea, the food is great too!!!

A day of shopping and tourism

Yesterday I had a fabulous day of shopping and touring. I have become quite courageous and venturing out on my own. I went to the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar. Shopping at the Bazaar is INCREDIBLE! Bartering is intense and you have to walk away sometimes which was tough for me at first (I guess I'm too nice)...... Was too nice! I have it now and have become quite efficient at bartering for things, even my dinner last night. Not much can be said about the Blue Mosque other than it was amazing. Once again, I don't know where the picture button is or I would send them. I bought my wife some killer boots and have the business card from the salesman to purchase more if necessary.

So, you walk into the Bazaar and look around as much as you can then you find the deals. Once you go into the shop, you don't even talk about price, you sit and have a sweet apple tea (extremely hot) and get to know the salesman. He will tell you how strong you are and asks about your family and then will show you 25 different varieties of the one thing you were looking for. If you don't have tea with them, it is disrespectful. I wish they offered beer! Anyway, the shopping is done now and freestyle starts today with 55 kilos for the men. Nick Simmons is going to get the team started right by getting it done!

More great news......I was asked by Roger Chandler(MSU assistant coach) to help him coach Alex Dolly who is representing Ireland in these world championships. It is 9:25 am here so I am going to jump on a train and head to the venue.

More news to come

Sorry for the delays!!!

Our Greco team did not accomplish any of the goals they set for themselVes and quite honestly, everyone is disappointed. So, the freestyle team is here and went through a decent practice yesterday. I spent much of my time watching Cael Sanderson and Jordan Burroughs train. Cael is a very focused individual and impressed me by how much he can shut everything out.....reporters, cameras and fans. He has a job to do and will be a force to be reckoned with. Burroughs looked a little flat and was struggling with his footing on the slippery mats. With Nick Simmons being a Michigan boy, I was able to sit and talk with him after his workout. He was happy that he was only 1.6 kilos over and will weigh in today. I made his day because he wanted Some candy and I had a bunch of jolly ranch candies in my backpack (thanks Dacia). Josh Churella is out here as well to train with Burroughs.
I am having an amazing time and would attach pictures, but I don't know which button adds pictures, as when you log in, everything is in Turkish!!!! The women wrestle again today in 3 wt classes.

Oh yea, yesterday our heavyweight had and opportunity to win his first match and ended up getting turned with 3 seconds left. We seem to do well on our feet, but many Americans think they can win in the parterre position and that is where we are getting beat. If we are going to win world medals, we have to score points on our feet and be much more aggressive. We have to remember that we are the only country that wrestles folk style. Parterre position for every country but ours is a strength. So, my babbling was just to say this; we have to score points on our feet because we are not as good as we think we are with our mat wrestling!!!!!

Okay, fun stuff! I have learned to barter very well. I am such a nice guy that I didn't want to take advantage of anyone. Here, you must be ready to at least ask for a lower price. I have seen some amazing buildings and have made friends with our hotel staff. I am "Mr big guy". They all say "what's up" now! The train system is easy to navigate but the streets are not! We have been treated very well and I am enjoying this immensely. I would come back here for a vacation someday.

More tomorrow!

Beaz

1st day of Greco is done. 55, 66 and 96 kilos

Team USA had a rough start to the Greco tournament with only 1 guy placing. Justin Lester placed 5th at 66 kilos after a nail biting loss in the semi- finals. Justin Ruiz lost in the 1st round, but since the guy that beat him made it to the finals, he was able to re-enter the tournament at 96 kilos. Mango lost early and since the opponent that beat him did not reach the finals, Mango was eliminated. We took a cab back to the hotel and were entertained by a crazy driver spinning his car out of control and crashing right in front of us. The really ironic part was; after crashing, he couldn't get out of his car because he was surrounded by 4 pissed off German shepherds!!!!

The venue is amazing and very clean; Sabin erdem dome. It is the same place USA played turkey in the world Championships in basketball. Tomorrow we wrestle Greco again at 60, 84 & 120 kilos. We are hoping for a better day and 3 medalists. It's time to go on another street adventure and find food. Things don't start here until 11 or later at night. You need a suit, shoes, perhaps a watch, maybe a doll, some jewelry or a rug? After 11 is the best time to shop! I'll. Write more tomorrow.

Ready to rumble!!!

The guys are all warmed up and ready to go today. We have 3 athletes competing today in Greco. Mango, Ruiz and Harry (Justin) Lester. More info to come.

All checked in and fed.

After a long trip to the hotel, we are all checked in and had dinner. It was very stressful logging in here! We traveled quite a bit already and saw some sights. We had a huge dinner, exchanged our money and are ready to rest up for tomorrow. There are three weights wrestling tomorrow in the Greco tournament. Rumor is that we didn't get a very good draw in any of the wts! We are meeting right now in the lobby which is the only place I can get Internet access. We had two huge platters of meat, rice and HOT peppers. We have taken the subway everywhere and have seen some really cool stuff. Wrestling starts tomorrow at 2.

Safe in Amsterdam!!

Landed safely in Amsterdam and am awaiting the boarding process to head to Istanbul. The flight here was great, I watched big momma 3 and the wrestling movie win win. I'll check in again when I arrive in Istanbul.

At the airport

All is well so far! Plane appears to be on time so I will arrive in Amsterdam around 8 am. Wrestling starts Monday so I will have a few hours to acclimated! If I haven't said it yet, thanks for following along with me!
Beaz

Leaving tomorrow!!!!

I am very excied for this opportunity and look forward to learning more about my favorite sport.  I am going to blog everyday and try to include pictures.