Wrestling with the Sands of Time

This Friday and Saturday I was working a table at the Midwest Nationals at Illinois Wesleyan University here in Bloomington, and it was quite a sight with 18 mats spread throughout a fieldhouse and a gym.  Why didn't I wrestle at the tournament?  This past spring I somehow managed to detach a retina, and so my wrestling career may possibly be over, but there's no way I'm not going to continue to be involved with the sport, so I volunteered to help with the madness that ensues when over 700 wrestlers and their families convene in one place.  Not having wrestled since February,  I was itching to get out there and compete as I watched the matches.  The training is tough, but you certainly miss it once it's gone.  For now I'll just have to see what the retina specialist says in August.  More on that later.

One highlight of the weekend was the clinic run by Dan Hodge, the only person to ever hold a national title in wrestling and boxing simultaneously.  After Dan, who is still a formidable opponent at 79 years old, demonstrated some technique, we witnessed his unbelievable grip strength when he performed his famous feat of crushing an apple with one hand.  Try it, I'll bet you can't do it.  One way that Dan used to strengthen his forearms was taking a bunch of newspaper and crumpling it up with one hand, then squeezing the wad smaller and smaller "until his arms cried out for mercy."  Take a section of today's Sunday paper and give it a go; start with just a few pages and as you get better, do more at a time.

For me one of the best ways to get motivated is to read quotes from famous athletes or successful people, and so from now on I'll be throwing out some words of wisdom every so often.  After the Friday session was done, the tournament director took all the volunteers out to a local pizzeria, and the menu had all sorts of witticisms on the front and back cover.  Yeah, I know, pizza is my kiss of death when it comes to eating healthy.  Nevertheless I had a good time networking with some wrestlers and coaches who have decades more experience than myself.  One quote that stood out to me was: "If you want to leave footprints in the sands of time, don't drag your feet."  Powerful words; I'll let you chew on that for a while.

Leave footprints,
Jeff