Wrestling Blogs - Martin Floreani

Day 4: The battle begins; Tatki Cup Tehran Iran

We approach the arena we walk through the corridors, security approaches as they look prepare to battle any crowd.
We enter the venue proceed down the yellow stair well in order to get to the dressing room…
They spot us; a flash goes of then another and another cameras audio etc…
The media has found us they are intrigued by America in Tehran.
Our two wrestlers today took the back way with the coaches Tamillow & Zadick.
Novo, Dave & I are in a paparazzi fiesta…
These people live sleep and breathe wrestling. The US team is like an interesting society that very rarely ventures into this part of the world.
I look up above the picture of he supreme ruler with a slogan peace and happiness for sport hangs on the banner…
There is a life size picture of Tatki himself that hangs in the arena.
Two elevated wrestling mats, Persian rugs cover the floor of the arena …
If there were style points in wrestling I give Iran a 10 for the setup.
I warm up with Mike Tamillow as the associated press looks on and takes pictures.
He feels tough but he is up against the eventual champion first round. The Junior World silver medalist.
We are waiting in the corridor as the Persian war drums begin to beat…
It sounds like a Native American war cry before the battle as if to give strength to their people…
Then the horn begins to below in sync with the drum.
They chant IRAN!!! IRAN!!! IRAN!!! As the horn blow and drums beat…
I look at Tamillow and say be ready to wrestle when you step out there.
The first session did not go so well.
We leave the arena…
The fun has dissipated for a moment…
Since wrestling is a thankless sport…
You do it because you love it and nothing else.
The only thing fun about wrestling is getting your hand raised…
The best thing you get out of wrestling is the journey the process that you engrain in your life everyday to become great.
It’s a way of life!!!
Zeke and Slay prepare Tamillow for the come back….
We are leaving the lobby Tamillow is focused. He comes back and takes 3rd beating a tough Iranian opponent.
In life as in wrestling you only can put yourself in the best situation to win and let the chips fall as they may. Hard work does not always translate into a win but it increases the odds.
Za did not make weight competing up at 66kg is a tough task in the heart of Persia…
We celebrate Tamillow’s bronze he represented the NYAC Wingfoot well. The Iranian coaches and a large Persian contingent also celebrate with us.
They want us to succeed we are a welcome adversary in wrestling for now.
We go to a Tearoom where we must of took 300 pictures with fans locals etc…
Maybe we are in a bubble in this city because of the comrade wrestlers have with each other globally.
I head back to the hotel.
There is a wedding reception going on.
I’m excited to see what they do for these occasions I ask the guard why aren’t there any women in the room if this is a wedding reception for the bride and groom.
He says the women also have a room, which separate from the men. With the same amount of people.
I think oh man I would be heart broken not to be in my reception without my bride there with me and my friends and love ones…
He said this is “law for public places”. I look at him and say I understand and respect your culture.
Maybe what makes us different makes us more curious about each other. But it also made me love the free world a little more and appreciate those little things.
I have uploaded more video of the tournament.
Enjoy.
Coming Soon: The Test of Wills the final Day of the Tatki Cup.

Day 3: The Heart of Tehran "The Bazar"

We arrive at the Bazar (mall)..
Security tells us to make sure to watch our valuables as in any crowed place in the world...


We are briefed to walk in packs and stop very five minutes to regroup...
Its like entering a recon mission making sure we are all buddied up...


As we proceed it must of been 300,000 people at the bazar women wearing the traditional grab very conservative....


We are dodging push carts and people as it becomes a clustered mosh pit... You think traveling through a college bar is tough in group...


Food and clothes carpets everyone selling something from their shops as we make our way through the human jungle of the bazar...

We are 10 days away from Naruhz the new year so everyone from Tehran comes to the bazar to buy something to show respect for tradtion.


We stick out like soar thumbs in this place if anything happens in minutes we could be surounded by thousands of people...

The plan works so far...


I ask our heat (securty) how many times he has been to the bazar he tells me only three times...


That did not boost our confidence very much...


In wrestling we live in a culture that breeds no fear weather your from USA or Iran, so we continue on and becoming more exploritory...


We head down various corridors that sell different itmes...
We see a Mosque we decide to stop and check it out...


As we begin to look deeper in the Mosque the locals realize we are there, a man approches...
He begins to speak to our security in Farsi he was not pleased..


You feel the situation was at a breaking point...
Our first un welcomed encounter...


After I left I thought about the situation...
Would we want someone coming into our church and filming discretly?
My answer would be no if were not granted permission...


We regrouped and pressed on...


You relize quickly we are not in the free world as that situation could have changed quickly.


Our fraternity we are all apart of "wrestling" is what is giving us this kind of access to Iran...


I thank our gracious host because they let us take a glimse of there cuture.


After the Bazar we head to a great restaurant where we recieve a warm welcome, Barboud...


I walk through the door they say Obama and they see Mike Novo and call him Roony from the Manchester United futball team...


Food was great..
We head back to the Olympic Hotel...
We have a team meeting to be briefed on the tomorrows competition...
We begin to prepare...


Coming soon
Tatki Cup

Day 2: Inside The House of Wrestling

You pull into the guarded gates as they open. The guard at the door says "Salem" We jump out out of our ten seat van like mercenaries dropped into a new world.

We have just arrived at the wrestling facillity called the "The House of Wrestling".


I proceed through the glass doors as I greet all the old Persian warriors with Salem (hello) as we proceed to the corridor of their practice facillty which can hold 1500 people.


There are four full sized mats Fila mats....

The banner on the wall says welcome to the "Islamic Republic of Iran"...


If look to the left at the highest peek you see the pictures of the supreme leaders...
You realize that we are in strong tradition an identity that has stood through time the only Theocracy in the world.


We begin to work out and drill they watch the techniques of the great americans... With pictures in their heads of the legends that they competed against...

Dan Gable,John Smith, Bruce...

The main corridor features pictures of Zeke and Bruce on podiums of the World and Olympic championships showing their pride in beating the USA.


We are welcome adversary here because of our tradition.
There are pictures of the best Iranian wrestlers going back a hundred years world title after world title and olympic champions.

They want us here to compete, learn and build better relations with the USA.

After practice we proceed with our normal wrestling ritual to keep our sweat going the steam room.


In the back corridor there lies a hot tub which is about 125 degreess you could not stay in there more than 30 seconds.


We meet with the wrestling powers of both sides after practice as the rest of the team heads back to the Hotel...


Our team leaders and coaches and their coaches Federation heads and delagtes...
You feel the energy.

This meeting will make or break some of the things we wanted to accomplish as it was a friendly chess match on a global scale when it comes to the discussion...


The head of the federation begins to speek...

In Farsi he says " Americans are tough when you beat us its because we are tired and when we get tired you are stronger"


This form of flattery is common in the Iranian culture...
Its called "taroof". This flatery and false modesty is used to make the other person feel good and to preserve a degree of social harmony...


Clever tactic as Persians have ruled the world for hundreds of years.
They just beat the 1 # team in the world Russia.
Taroof was used against the Russians as there was a false sense of security going into the match against the Russian team filled with hubris being ranked #1...

The meeting goes very well... CNN was at the meeting and filmed our practice and attened our meeting..


The coaches and delagtes were gracious host and that not only was interested in Iran getting better but the USA as well...

Which was a magnanamous gesture. The cross pollination is good for both sides.


We head to the bazar "mall" Its an out door/indoor collection of shops where there are hundreds of thousands of people... Some of us went the day before but to day we are going to the main bazar..

Which is in the heart of Tehran...

I'm given a friendly warning from a wise Persian not to bring my USA Warm-up on this trip...
It only take one person to make this adventure for the sake of sport turn into...


We drive though Tehran as if we are in some kind of movie... Ten million people live in Tehran so you can imagine the traffic and driving ...I live in NYC the taxi drivers do not compare to people who drive in the heart of Persia... There are stop lights.. But they don't mean much...
We drive into on coming traffic run red lights as if trying to evade.


You want a thrill drive or be driven in Tehran. The Most traffic accidents and conjestion in the world. i feel the adrenaline when rush through me as I exit the van.

Thankfully its against the law to drink alcohol.


On our journey to Bazar we see a building called the freedom tower it changes color at night. the Freedom tower was named in honor of the Shaha of iran pre 1979...


When the US landed Appollo 13 on the moon. President Nixon gave the Shah particles from the moon as gift.

To be continued...
Coming soon

Inside the heart of Tehran

I have have uploaded a bunch of videos from my trip on Flo..
Enjoy

Noel, Welcome to my Land! Now sit back and soak in the hospitality and the smiles!

Day 1 The Flight to Persia

From NYC I took a 6 hour flight to Frankfurt. From Fankfurt we caught a connecting flight to Tehran after a 7 hour layover...


Lufhansa air is the most efficient way into Tehran I'm told.



For security reasons, Lufthansa changes the gate of the flight to Tehran. There was no explanation.



My boarding pass listed one gate, the overhead monitor list no gate at all. The actual gate is somewhere else...



We are breifed 1 hour before take off where our gate is going to be .
As we board the plane everyone notices our team USA warmups. We were greated with the unversal language a smile...



I had the privelage to sit next a Persian man I will call Mr M.
Mr M was very pleased that we were coming to Tehran... He was very welcoming he spoke english. Half way through our conversation he said "we like Obama" and he began to call me Obama for the rest of the flight as a term of endearment towards the US.


The Iranians are just as much curious and intrigued with the USA as we are with them...
I could feel the curious eyes looking in appreciation the we took this adventure for the sake of sport...




I knew on this flight that It maybe a week before I can have a glass of wine. So I had a glass or two... I noticed the other Iranians also doing the same the women on the flight did not wear head garbs on the way over either...




With 45 minutes left in our flight... Mr M asks me to take off my headphones he wanted me to hear what was about to be said over the loud speaker.. the captain comes over the loud speaker once we arrived in Iranian air space...



The metamophisis begins before the plane lands...
Passangers are given a warning to leave behind minature bottles of Jack D, Beer etc.. before leaving the plane...
T


he second announcement is "By the decree of the government of Iran all female passangers are required to have there heads covered".
The German stewards also announces "for your own interst we ask you to put on a scarf before leaving the aircraft."..



We must remember this is a religous custom even thought diffrent from ours its importnat to respect the customs as I eneter Persia...




Mr M looks at me with a friendly smile and says this is what we must do because its law...
He said it almost like a kid telling his friend he has be home before dark even though he wanted to continue to play outside.




We arrive in the airport the scene was very welcoming all over the papers in Tehran they new the US team was coming.


The Iraninas beat the #1 ranked team in the world the Russians in the world cup a day earlier.



When we arrive we go though security where we get finger printed and our security escorted to our bus....
T



he whole time eveyone is very happy we are there but we are also breifed that we are not allowed to wear shorts in public.. We can not extend a hand hug etc... to any female...




Its 2am so we are all jet lagged as we drive to the Olympic complex on the Qom highway...



We are two weeks away from the Iranian New year Nowruz so the country is exited about the wrestling bringing in the new year...



The air is crisp and clear mountains to the North desert to the south...



We made it now its show time...



Coming soon


Inside "The House of Wrestling"
The facillatity were the Iranian national team trains and we have our first workout.....

Mario, I agree. Noel shows us that anything is possible if you believe. Good Luck Champ!

Noel Thompson continues to prove that nothing can hold you back if you really want it. it doesn't matter where you are from it matters where you at and in what direction your headed in.

The wrestler is a man of character. A wrestler is tenacious. A wrestler never gives up and knows that in the blink of an eye the tides can turn therefore we keep the pressure on!
Doing it with a smile
Mario C

hi This might sound funny but I got funded to do an alternatives-to smoking health education program here in NYC focusing on young adult Muslims of diverse immigrant backgrounds! So... if you know of any here (or meet any in Iran who also speak English well) I would be interested in sportsmen who speak Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, Bangla, Russian, Albanian and Bosnian-- to name the main ones. Also would not have to only have Muslim Americans, that is just the main focus. I would like to make some Youtubes that dramatize the negative effective on smoking--either seriously or comically. This Flowrestling site loooks like a great tool for building awareness... and using video effectively.
Feel free to send anyone you know to :
P. Adem Carroll http://www.muslimsagainstsmoking.wordpress.com

Best of luck on your trip! from my time in Turkey I know who passionate Turks are about wrestling-- I guess same is true about Iran!

Have a great time guys. Wrestle hard, and be safe. Looking forward to seeing the photos, and reading the stories.

Show those Iranians what the Red White and Blue is all about!!!

Safe travels...
Go USA

USA starting lineup for TAKHTI CUP Tehran Iran

60 kg/132 lbs. – Mike Zadick, Solon, Iowa (Gator WC)
60 kg/132 lbs. – Shawn Bunch, Columbus, Ohio (New York AC)
60 kg/132 lbs. – Coleman Scott, Stillwater, Okla. (Gator WC)
74 kg/163 lbs. – Zack Esposito, Stillwater, Okla. (Gator WC)
96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Mike Tamillow, Colorado Springs (New York AC)
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Tervel Dlagnev, Cedar Falls, Iowa (Sunkist Kids)

It is truly amazing to see how much our wrestling community can benefit from this rip to a country that has had an enormously longer history with this sport. Go for all of us and give us the real deal on everything you are learning. Thanks.

Wrestling in Iran is probably the second biggest sport in the Nation. Our trip is equivalent to the 90's Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan showing up to the arena... The wrestling community there is fired up about the US coming...


This trip is about wrestling... Not many individuals in the US get a chance to have the experience ie... tell the story about Iran...

USA always welcomes a friendly match...The Persian's (Iraninan's) are tough and good athletes with a long tradtion in wrestlering like us.

I remember the Wolrd Championships were in NY in 2003 how much the Iranian fans cheered with intensity for their wrestlers. They have great pride in their wrestling.


The World Cup is in Iran two days before the Tatki Cup so the best wrestlers in the world will be there. .

US Freestyle did not get invited to the World Cup this year.. So on this trip we as a nation have allot to prove to the wrestling world.

We want to show the world that the USA is a top contender and that we eat sleep and breathe wrestling here..

And we will be ready as nation come 2012 Olympics


Train Hard!!!


NT