Lehigh In JapanAug 10, 2013 by Willie Saylor
Lehigh In Japan - Day 5 Blog
Lehigh In Japan - Day 5 Blog
Lehigh In Japan - Day 5 Blog
Three Lehigh University wrestlers: Mitch Minotti, Laike Gardner and Mason Beckman, are in Ajinmoto learning and working out at Japan's National Training Center. They will be providing a daily blog to FLO documenting their trip and experiences. It all began from JFK airport in New York to Seattle to Tokyo-Haneda Airport.
Kusatsu Camp Day 1 (By Mitch)
We departed NSSU at 6:30 AM boarding two huge buses. Little did we know the trip was 5 hours! Thankfully Mason snagged the wifi hotspot from the house and we were able to get wifi on the bus! Clutch!
I was able to get ahead of my work for my summer class which was a huge plus. Shortly after arriving at the Kusatsu Seminar House where we are training and staying for the next week, Mason, Laike, and I immedietly changed into workout gear and headed to the gym to set up the mats and practice. The gym is basically a basketball gym which we transformed into a wrestling room by covering the floors with wrestling mats. This process took roughly an hour and drained our energy even more on top of our 6 hour commute.
We began practice with a long warm up, started drilling, and shortly after we were sparring for roughly an hour and 45 minutes. We did goes of 1 minute and 15 seconds, switching partners in the down time provided by the on/off system with freestyle and greco wrestlers.
There are two universities currently training together with us: NSSU and Gumna-perfecture. In this camp there are a lot more wrestlers than previously in Ajinomoto, it seems, and more partners for all of us to go with. NSSU is the top wrestling university in all of Japan, so you can imagine these kids are very savvy on the mat. They have a completely different style than anything any of us have ever felt while wrestling in the states, so each go is an adventure in and of itself.
Each one of us was feeling the 6-hour bus ride in our legs during the practice. Mason, Laike and I all agreed that it felt like our legs were stuck in wet cement for at least a portion of the practice. One thing that we all have agreed upon is the fact that the mentality here is much different. The practices and workouts in general are longer and they push harder much closer to big events than Americans do, which is at least partially attributed to their "warrior mentality." Practice concluded with about 15-20 minutes worth of circuit training that included exercises such as fast feet, high knees, push-ups and burpees. Afterwards, the coaches said a few words (none that we could understand) and we all headed for the showers.
After our showers, we waited in line to get some food at the in-house dining area. The food was delicious yet again, but we were thrown a curveball when chopsticks were the only utensils offered to us. We looked at each other and, realizing we had no other choice, decided we would give them the old college try! Thankfully, our peers gave us a crash course in using chopsticks and we were each good enough with them to feed ourselves within minutes. We shared a few laughs with our fellow wrestlers while eating and even watched some Japanese baseball in the common area afterwards. There are two workouts scheduled for tomorrow, the first of which is a run at 7:30 in the morning (sure beats running at 6!). We will be sure to do a write-up after our workout in the morning.
Interesting/Miscellaneous Things:
- Within our limits in the Kasatsu Forest is a bunch of hot springs and areas of things to do.
- Around the facility we have to wear these slippers which are all one size and too small for any of our feet.
- The assembly of the wrestling mats consisted of about a hundred of matress size pads placed together like a puzzle then covered with the olympic style blue red and yellow tarp.
- Spectators sat on the balcony and watched practice
- They ALL know and LOVE Jordan Burroughs
- We are in disapointment that we are missing the first episode of the final season of Breaking Bad!
Three Lehigh University wrestlers: Mitch Minotti, Laike Gardner and Mason Beckman, are in Ajinmoto learning and working out at Japan's National Training Center. They will be providing a daily blog to FLO documenting their trip and experiences. It all began from JFK airport in New York to Seattle to Tokyo-Haneda Airport.
Kusatsu Camp Day 1 (By Mitch)
We departed NSSU at 6:30 AM boarding two huge buses. Little did we know the trip was 5 hours! Thankfully Mason snagged the wifi hotspot from the house and we were able to get wifi on the bus! Clutch!
I was able to get ahead of my work for my summer class which was a huge plus. Shortly after arriving at the Kusatsu Seminar House where we are training and staying for the next week, Mason, Laike, and I immedietly changed into workout gear and headed to the gym to set up the mats and practice. The gym is basically a basketball gym which we transformed into a wrestling room by covering the floors with wrestling mats. This process took roughly an hour and drained our energy even more on top of our 6 hour commute.
We began practice with a long warm up, started drilling, and shortly after we were sparring for roughly an hour and 45 minutes. We did goes of 1 minute and 15 seconds, switching partners in the down time provided by the on/off system with freestyle and greco wrestlers.
There are two universities currently training together with us: NSSU and Gumna-perfecture. In this camp there are a lot more wrestlers than previously in Ajinomoto, it seems, and more partners for all of us to go with. NSSU is the top wrestling university in all of Japan, so you can imagine these kids are very savvy on the mat. They have a completely different style than anything any of us have ever felt while wrestling in the states, so each go is an adventure in and of itself.
Each one of us was feeling the 6-hour bus ride in our legs during the practice. Mason, Laike and I all agreed that it felt like our legs were stuck in wet cement for at least a portion of the practice. One thing that we all have agreed upon is the fact that the mentality here is much different. The practices and workouts in general are longer and they push harder much closer to big events than Americans do, which is at least partially attributed to their "warrior mentality." Practice concluded with about 15-20 minutes worth of circuit training that included exercises such as fast feet, high knees, push-ups and burpees. Afterwards, the coaches said a few words (none that we could understand) and we all headed for the showers.
After our showers, we waited in line to get some food at the in-house dining area. The food was delicious yet again, but we were thrown a curveball when chopsticks were the only utensils offered to us. We looked at each other and, realizing we had no other choice, decided we would give them the old college try! Thankfully, our peers gave us a crash course in using chopsticks and we were each good enough with them to feed ourselves within minutes. We shared a few laughs with our fellow wrestlers while eating and even watched some Japanese baseball in the common area afterwards. There are two workouts scheduled for tomorrow, the first of which is a run at 7:30 in the morning (sure beats running at 6!). We will be sure to do a write-up after our workout in the morning.
Interesting/Miscellaneous Things:
- Within our limits in the Kasatsu Forest is a bunch of hot springs and areas of things to do.
- Around the facility we have to wear these slippers which are all one size and too small for any of our feet.
- The assembly of the wrestling mats consisted of about a hundred of matress size pads placed together like a puzzle then covered with the olympic style blue red and yellow tarp.
- Spectators sat on the balcony and watched practice
- They ALL know and LOVE Jordan Burroughs
- We are in disapointment that we are missing the first episode of the final season of Breaking Bad!