Wrestling Blogs - Mike Tamillow

I got a day pass into Olympic village the next day. I wake up at 7 A.M. and jump on a 7:30 bus with the Mexican team. They are speaking spanish the whole ride and I can understand a little but not very much. When I get to the village we are all a little confused about which way Mexico's building is. Finally we get to the building. It takes a while to go anywhere in Olympic village since it is so spread out. When I have to meet up with Larry I'll call him from outside the village and have to wait at least 10 minutes if he leaves that second. It usually ends up being about 20 because he's Mexican (not to stereotype but he told me that one). We get a bit to eat then relax a little. He takes me around the Village and shows me all the facilities. All of these things take up time. Time just disappears it seems sometimes. So by 10 we are about ready for a workout. There is a great workout facility with mats that a shuttle bus runs to. However, if I take it I get stuck outside the village and can't get back in. So the first workout we do is in the grass. We find a spot in the Village big enough to work in. I've practiced in grass and it's a pretty good surface. It's hard enough and unlikely you'll get hurt. What we do is similar to a thing called improvisational movement I learned in dance. I guess it was developed by a wrestler/dancer anyways. When we do it the rule is we are always in contact with each other and that contact is always effective - Meaning we are not just touching to touch but we are putting pressure against each other, using one anothers contact to create our motion. It actually brings out the best in larry's technique because it forces him to close the gap and deny me space to work while he becomes comfortable without space. It is the Iowa style, constant contact and pressure and work off that. Larry complains a little that he's not comfortable in it, but I tell him he needs to get comfortable doing it because it is actually making his technique better. We are both dying from the heat and humidity, It is really exhauting. I try to keep him going for about ten or fifteen minutes drilling, then review a few things that might be of use. We hit the showers because it probably wouldn't have been helpful to stay any longer. We are going to find another alternative in the future.