Lehigh In JapanAug 14, 2013 by Willie Saylor
Lehigh in Japan - Day 8 Blog
Lehigh in Japan - Day 8 Blog
Lehigh in Japan - Day 8 Blog
Three Lehigh University wrestlers: Mitch Minotti, Laike Gardner and Mason Beckman, are in Ajinmoto learning and working out at Japan's National Training Center. They will be providing a daily blog to FLO documenting their trip and experiences. It all began from JFK airport in New York to Seattle to Tokyo-Haneda Airport.
August 14th - Defending Guts and Hot Springs (by Mason)
Day 4 of the Kusatsu camp only included one workout, which was a wrestling spanning from 2-4 in the afternoon. We arrived in the wrestling room with sore bodies, but after the 40 minute warm-up of jogging, streching and drilling, we were ready to go. We started out by doing 1-minute goes on the mat. I think we all agreed that freestyle mat wrestling is about as painful as it gets. Defending guts is absolutely no fun!
We took a quick break after the par-terre portion of practice and started doing matches. I got the opportunity to wrestled Kenichi Yumoto, who was a bronze medalist in Freestyle 60kg in Beijing, for one of my matches. Needless to say, it became very apparent very quickly why his career was so successful. He was fast, strong, and technically sound in absolutely every position. Mitchell and Laike were shaking their heads a bit as I walked over to them afterwards, saying that he looked like a machine. I can safely say that he was one of the 2 or 3 best wrestlers that I've ever grabbed ahold of!
After a few matches, we ended practice with a series of 10 goes that lasted 1 minute each. We shook hands with the coaches and grabbed a shower and some dinner while we waited for Greco practice to finish up behind us.
After the Greco wrestlers finished their workout, a couple of them showed us the way to a hot spring that was about a 15 or 20 minute walk away. We made the trek up the mountain and through a small town and arrived at our destination to find that it was quite a beautiful place!
Steam rolled off the natural hot spring and greenery enclosed the area. The 5 of us hopped right into the water and let it relax and refresh our bodies for the next 20-30 minutes. As soon as we stood up and exited the spring, we all remarked at how much better our legs felt. It was almost as if the water in the spring had magic healing powers!
We made the trip back down the mountain and even stopped at a few shops as we walked through town to purchase a few mementos of our time here at Kusatsu.
Upon arriving back in the building where we are staying we all laid down and rested our legs for tomorrow. Mitchell and Laike will have 2 workouts tomorrow, but I have to leave after the morning run to make it home in time to attend my dad's wedding. Due to my early departure this will likely be my last blog post. I hope you have all enjoyed reading about our time over here and will continue to tune in to read about Laike and Mitchell's final days overseas!
Three Lehigh University wrestlers: Mitch Minotti, Laike Gardner and Mason Beckman, are in Ajinmoto learning and working out at Japan's National Training Center. They will be providing a daily blog to FLO documenting their trip and experiences. It all began from JFK airport in New York to Seattle to Tokyo-Haneda Airport.
August 14th - Defending Guts and Hot Springs (by Mason)
Day 4 of the Kusatsu camp only included one workout, which was a wrestling spanning from 2-4 in the afternoon. We arrived in the wrestling room with sore bodies, but after the 40 minute warm-up of jogging, streching and drilling, we were ready to go. We started out by doing 1-minute goes on the mat. I think we all agreed that freestyle mat wrestling is about as painful as it gets. Defending guts is absolutely no fun!
We took a quick break after the par-terre portion of practice and started doing matches. I got the opportunity to wrestled Kenichi Yumoto, who was a bronze medalist in Freestyle 60kg in Beijing, for one of my matches. Needless to say, it became very apparent very quickly why his career was so successful. He was fast, strong, and technically sound in absolutely every position. Mitchell and Laike were shaking their heads a bit as I walked over to them afterwards, saying that he looked like a machine. I can safely say that he was one of the 2 or 3 best wrestlers that I've ever grabbed ahold of!
After a few matches, we ended practice with a series of 10 goes that lasted 1 minute each. We shook hands with the coaches and grabbed a shower and some dinner while we waited for Greco practice to finish up behind us.
After the Greco wrestlers finished their workout, a couple of them showed us the way to a hot spring that was about a 15 or 20 minute walk away. We made the trek up the mountain and through a small town and arrived at our destination to find that it was quite a beautiful place!
Steam rolled off the natural hot spring and greenery enclosed the area. The 5 of us hopped right into the water and let it relax and refresh our bodies for the next 20-30 minutes. As soon as we stood up and exited the spring, we all remarked at how much better our legs felt. It was almost as if the water in the spring had magic healing powers!
We made the trip back down the mountain and even stopped at a few shops as we walked through town to purchase a few mementos of our time here at Kusatsu.
Upon arriving back in the building where we are staying we all laid down and rested our legs for tomorrow. Mitchell and Laike will have 2 workouts tomorrow, but I have to leave after the morning run to make it home in time to attend my dad's wedding. Due to my early departure this will likely be my last blog post. I hope you have all enjoyed reading about our time over here and will continue to tune in to read about Laike and Mitchell's final days overseas!