Wrestling Blogs - Ben Askren

So I figured it was about time for another blog post. I have been on the road for a while now, almost as much as that crazy road warrior Martin, only problem is I don't have a really sweet van to sleep in. I started off my trip by going to Phoenix for the Sunkist kids open. It was nice to get to some warm weather, the tournament was so-so I had some good matches and some bad matches. I really felt my new style was coming into play which is good, it is the direction I need to move. Needless to say I wasn't happy with my finish, but it is all practice. I stuck around the Tempe area for a few days and got some training in with the Sunkist guys and played some Wii with Brian Stith. Then it was off to Vancouver with Team Sunkist. Take away some anti-American sentiment and Vancouver was an amazing city. I even got the chance to explore a little bit and go play some disc golf. One day I even took Nick Simmons and Travis Pascoe with me. Nick sank a shot from about 150 feet away, nothing but chains. The tournament also went really well. I had five matches which included a second round pin over Matt Gentry, then beat Ramico Blackmon in the Semis after losing the first period I came back to win 4-1,6-1. Then I avenged my Sunkist loss by beating Travis Paulson in the finals. It felt really good to win a tourney after getting disappointed continually in FS. Then in the challenge match I wrestled Jake Herbert(because he was the 84kg). I figured this would be a very anticipated match up per themat.com forums. Unfortunately we only wrestled on period because Jake had a bum knee from earlier in the day. But no worries We plan on training together over Xmas break, so maybe we can charge $10 a head for spectators. Then from Vancouver it was off the the Springs where I am right now. Doing some training then it is back home Saturday, but back off next week to NYAC to see if I can keep my roll going. So here I am traveling the country chasing my dream and living the good life.