Wrestling Blogs - Flowrestling Blogs

So it is this time of year again. Every great wrestler has a goal to win an NCAA Title and this tournament is the first major bench mark of the young 2008 season: Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite. I would say this is the first meet of the season where multiple top 10 and 20 teams bring their best squad to compete. It means something to win this tournament. It means your legit.

Im excited because we will get to see Hofstra go at it with Missouri and Michigan. Right now I would say these teams are… more »

This past weekend we officially kicked off our season at the Journeymen Northeast Duals in Albany, New York. Our Thanksgiving consisted on a 8:30am practice and a 10 hour bus ride to Buffalo. On the way there we did find a Cracker Barrel to stop and eat at. My Thanksgiving dinner was a grilled chicken salad...mmmmm sure beats a big turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy huh? We stayed in Buffalo Thursday night and left for Albany the next morning. After checking in to our hotel we had a few hours to get settled in before going to the… more »

I get questions all the time about how we were able, in one year to go from fielding just 12 varsity wrestlers to having a full Varsity and JV team.
Here is the order:

Unity within the coaching staff
Positive, Positive, Positive
They're Kids, They Want Discipline and FUN!

The first thing you need to develop is unity within your coaching staff. I am extremely blessed to have a head coach who shares the same vision and work ethic I do. Also, if you are the head coach of a… more »

It has been a weekend of firsts for the Columbia wrestling program. Our first official competition of the year, our first time with multiple champions at the ESU Open, and my first time on the "other side."

The team has been training hard since our first official practice date almost a month ago. The workouts have been intense and the guys have stepped up to match that intensity. Heading into this weekend I think we all felt the need to see how the team's hard work was paying off. The grinding workouts that the coaching staff has… more »

Sports fans know voices – Harry Carey, Jack Buck, Al Michaels, John Madden (or is it Frank Caliendo?) – we can immediately recognize those voices. For fans of amateur wrestling it’s not quite the same. You know the voices, but you may not know the names – Ed Winger, Doug Brown, Ed Aliverti … and Sandy Stevens.

You may not know Sandy’s name and you may not know what she looks like, but if you’re a wrestling fan – you know her voice. I’ll let Sandy’s National Wrestling Hall of Fame biography tell the story.
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When I traveled half way across the country to wrestle for Cal Poly I was taking a huge leap of faith, but I really didnt think twice about it or look back. It was something I was meant to do. I got there and would get beat up every day in the practice room, (except against Dave Serwitz and one or two other wrestlers :). There is one thing that I am pretty good at, sticking with something and finding a way to get better. Im not a fast learner, just ask Eric Guerrero as he tried to teach me… more »

Well today was not the typical Thanksgiving I grew up knowing. I am in Nice, France and I spent today Not eating, and losing weight so I can wrestle tomorrow. I guess I can say I didnt miss out on all of the Thanksgiving festivities because I did have part of a turkey sub from Subway for lunch. It was easy making weight over here because they had a pretty good fitness club we were able to go to. Right now I am in my room trying to be quit because Sean Bormet and Ryan Churella a sleeping. I guess… more »

I love NCAA Division III athletes (my daughter was one). They are perhaps nearest to the idealized concept of "student athlete" of all those that participate in college athletics. Without benefit of athletic financial aid, they choose to compete primarily for one reason : love of their sport.

Saturday I attended the Coe College (IA) Turkey Open wrestling tournament. You can only watch internet wrestling videos so long before withdrawal sets in. You must see live wrestling.

A small-college wrestling tournament has a different feel than a larger event like the Kaufman-Brand Open… more »

Last night i was in Dirty Jersey. I have a love hate relationship with Dirty Jersey. I love the wrestling and the energy that state has for wrestling but I dont like the dirty part so much:) But its the people like Damion Logan, Ernie Monaco and their wrestlers that are the most important part though. I was staying with Damion Logan from Premier and he is a funny and cool dude.

Anyways we decided to kick back, get a pizza and watch some movies, we ended up only watching TV though. I dont get much… more »

Another season is upon us but instead of predicting my favorites for the tournament or getting excited about the All Star Classic I find myself intrigued with the development of our sport today. This development is the progression of “wrestling styles” or the particular trends and techniques in wrestling. For my entire life I’ve heard the basic breakdowns of wrestling between an “Iowa Style” or a “Cowboy Style” but it seems that as time progresses, individuals develop their own approaches to our sport that separate them from others on the mat.
From the unique stance of Edinboro’s… more »

Today I find myself on the road again. This morning I left Ann Arbor for the big city lights of New York City. Since I last posted a blog I wrestled in the Sunkist International tournament and then at the Clansman International tournament. Sunkist did not go as I would have liked but I knew going into the tournament I was going to have to scrap. I lost in the semis to Jake Herbert in a match that went three periods and ended in a me losing the clinch. Jake is very hard to wrestle because his motion is like… more »

About a week ago I was coming back from one of my long road trips I stopped by Okie State. I was just in time to catch the end of practice.

After the Cowboy practice Coach John Smith came up to me and said 'your site is something else'. I told him "you havent seen nothing yet". For me Im tired of the site as it was 2 months ago. We have been working night and day getting ready for Flowrestlr. I know Coach Smith was talking about the site as he saw it because he hadnt… more »

I’m going way out on a limb and make some predictions for the 2007-2008 wrestling season.

1. Jake Herbert will not win an NCAA championship in 2008. Nor will he win an Architectural Digest home decorating award.




2. Mike Allen will have bigger biceps than all of the other officials at the NCAA tournament – and many of the wrestlers.



3. The NCAA champion will be located within 125 miles of Interstate 35.

4. At some point during… more »

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.… more »

For years and years wrestlers have been subject to deprived conditions where they receive little to no video coverage. We have been scrounging around begging here and begging there for just a little coverage. We repeatedly have been taught that our rewards will be given to us after we die. We have been suppressed and abused because we have had no choice. This is all changing.

There is a New Revolution, one where teams can login from anywhere in the country and watch their film. Where they can open up matches by choice to parents, alumni, college… more »

Tom Shanahan, a writer for the Voice of San Diego was once interviewing University of Minnesota wrestling coach J Robinson and asked him about his military service (Robinson served as an Army Ranger in Viet Nam). Shanahan said, “Army Ranger, that’s like a Navy SEAL, right?” Robinson glared at him and said, “Yeah, but tougher.”

We often speak of athletes as heroes because of their accomplishments in competition. I am as guilty of this as anyone. I frequently cite Dan Gable as one of my “heroes” (see my myspace profile). Next Sunday we honor America’s military veterans.… more »

The season has officially started and I feel myself going into it with mixed feelings. I am excited because this has to be the best team in CMU history talent wise. I really beleive if we wrestle at the level we are capable of we can come away with a National Championship. We have 8 returning National Qualifiers, 3 returning All-Americans, and 2 people who have been one round away from being an All-American. Pre-Season rankings have as high as 4 in the country but we know we are capable of doing better than that.

For me… more »

I have been traveling non stop since about well since it seems like a decade now. But really its been a year and a half. This latest trip started me in Austin took me through Norman and up to Stillwater. After that I went up to Mizzou and then back to Kansas City, Iowa City and then over to Chicago and up to University of Wisconsin and to Minnesota. That is when I did a clean 180 turn and went back to Chicago and then back up to Central Michigan and down to Ann Arbor. Now Im at Ohio State.… more »