Olympic Training Center Trip

Last week 15 Maryland wrestlers and I traveled to Colorado Springs, Co to participate in a US Freestyle World Team training camp held at the US Olympic Training Center.  The chance to train side by side with the nation’s, and in some cases the world’s best wrestlers.

This is a unique opportunity.  The fact that we are able to train with the team doesn’t make it unique, (almost anyone can train out there).  What makes it unique is the fact that not many programs take advantage of the chance to participate.

I have been going to the OTC for a long time and every year I wonder why more college coaches do not send their guys to train.  I have heard many excuses, but when it comes down to it, they are just excuses.  Regardless of how you feel about international wrestling, the chance to train with the best is something special.  Almost every guy we had out there had a chance to wrestle with a national team member.

Pat Strizki may have had the most exposure.  He was able to work multiple sessions with World Team Members Danny Felix (55kg/121lbs) and Shawn Bunch (60 kg/132lbs).  On the final day of training the National Coaching staff asked him to be Bunch’s partner for an individual training session.  There are not many college guys that get to train with a number one guy, so for Pat to go with two was incredible.

Hudson Taylor also had a good few days.  He wrestled with Jake Varner (the number one man at 96kg/211 lbs) a lot and also was asked to be his partner for an individual training session.  A lot of people would say its “bad” to train with a guy that you may have to wrestle for an NCAA title, but this goes to show that team USA winning medals is the most important thing right now.

Other Terps at the OTC, Mike Letts, Pat Gilmore, Rich Dipietro, Brad Nielson, Jon Kohler, Kyle John, Matt Bogusz, Josh Asper, Chris Stinnett, Ryan Gray, Dallas Brown, Danny O’Malley and Bryan Osorio.  Letts, Asper and Taylor stayed at the OTC, while the rest of us stayed in a local hotel.

Most of the time training was in the wrestling room, but they also climbed to “Incline”.  The incline is about a one mile section of Pikes Peak.  It’s an area that many of the sports that train in Colorado Springs use to help build conditioning.  Its takes between 20 and 40 minutes for most to reach the top of the hill.  Incoming freshman Bryan Osorio was the first to make it to the top.  The guys actually “ran” it in the rain, which was a little scary considering the wet ground makes it tough to climb up and get back down, but they knocked it out with ease.

Although we were there for training, we also were able to do some fun stuff.  We went to a few team dinners, went to see a movie and did some sightseeing.  The main reason for the trip was to train with the world team, but it is also a chance for our guys to bond as a team.  The trips back and forth between the hotel and the OTC, sitting around after practices and hanging out at night are very rewarding.  It was a great week and I am very glad we were able to get out there.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.