Wrestling Blogs - Joe Williamson

As I sit back and think about the Russia trip, I realize that I have only scratched the surface with what I have shared with you. It was a crazy trip filled with new experiences, people, food, everything was different. These experiences started when I got off the plane in Russia. It was a great trip, but it is great to be sitting here on my couch. So here is a compilation of things that come to mind when I look back at the trip.

Mullets are in. I think about one in five people sport a mullet in Russia and these guys are usually accompanied by an attractive woman (many women have mullets too). These mullets ranged from your everyday conservative mullet to your BA rock star mullet. When I return I will definitely have a mullet.

Whistling is bad. When I was at the store with Maksim, I started whistling a sweet tune. As soon as I started, he turned around with a stern look on his face and told me to stop. Apparently whistling is disrespectful and storeowners also think that customers with get upset and not buy anything. During Russian Nationals, if people were whistling, it was like booing.

When both wrestlers fail to score and it goes to the clinch, officials drop a red and a blue ball into a bag and then draw one out. The color that gets drawn gets the leg in the clinch (turns out that this is an international rule, I have just not seen it in the US). One person told me that this was done because weighted coins were being used to one wrestlers advantage. To me it would seem easier to fix a clinch with the ball bag method.

Wrestlers in Russia do not get hurt. I did not see one injury at the whole tournament. I found out later that if a wrestler has not competed in a while, he or she must train for six months before competing. Wrestlers are trained in how to fall correctly and taught how to prevent injury. I also noticed that these wrestlers were very flexible and worked on flexibility heavily in practice.

No one drinks water. When I ordered my first meal I tried to get some water and my host looked at me crazy. He could not understand why I did not want any tea or beer. When the waiter returned, he gave me a carbonated water. I think I was dehydrated the whole trip. I saw way more alcohol being consumed that water.

Finding Internet was not a fun activity. When I approached people for some help, most of the time they did not even acknowledge my existence. I thought I would be ok when I was near a university, I mean these people are about my age and should be the type to help someone. I looked at these guys and said wifi (they pronounce it wee-fee so that is how I said it). They looked at me like I was crazy and said no. When I walked off all I could hear was them saying wee-fee, wee-fee in a high pitched voice and laughing very hard. In my head I saw myself turning around and planting one of them with a blast double, but I decided that it was not a good idea.

Well, I know there is even more to share so I might have to do this again.

Before I forget, Thanks to Craig Vitagliano, former NY state champ and Harvard wrestler, for helping me name all of the matches from Russian Nationals. You are the man.