Turkey details

First, a big congratulations to my friend Karen and her husband Steve, who had a baby boy on Thursday!

I got some information this past week about the tournament in Turkey. They contacted the winners of each weight class and informed us that there will be a training camp at No Limits in Irvine, CA, for a week before we go to Turkey. So on Tues, August 28th, we report to No Limits and stay there to train with each other before leaving for Antalya on Tues, September 4. The tournament starts on Fri, September 7 with opening ceremonies, and then over the weekend the Sambo and freestyle, Greco-Roman, and beach wrestling competitions take place, and then the submission grappling (me) competition happens on Sunday the 9th. We return to the States on Monday the 10th.

Here, based on info from http://www.themat.com, are the winners, their weight classes, and their affiliations:

Men 62 kg under: Darren Uyenoyama (Fogtown Jiu Jitsu)
Men 70 kg and under: Ricky Lundell (Pedro Sauer Team)
Men 80 kg and under: Don Ortega (No Limits)
Men 92 kg and under: Malcolm Havens (Grapplers Edge)
Men 125 kg and under: Jeff Monson (Victory Athletics)

Women 48 kg and under: Lisa Ward (United Fight Team)
Women 55 kg and under: Felicia Oh (JJ Machado/BJMUTA)
Women 63 kg under: Tara LaRosa (unattached)
Women 72 kg and under: me

I have some questions about the camp and the trip that I’m sure will be answered next week, which is when they said they would contact us again. But in the meantime, let’s speculate!

First, it’s a great idea for us to train together and build some kind of cohesiveness if we’re going to be representing the US against other countries. But how are we going to help each other train? We’re all in different weight classes. I’m thinking particularly of the bigger guys and the more advanced belts; for instance, how could I possibly help Jeff Monson train? Have you seen Jeff Monson? Suffice it to say he’s lots bigger than me, not to mention much better at grappling. Are they going to bring in training partners for us? Can we bring our own? I mean, I’m willing to take it to “The Snowman”, don’t you worry about that. But then he’ll just grab “it” with his 125-kg hands and then “it” will be his.

Another question: Will the second and third place finishers be coming to the camp? (If so, that would partly answer my first question.)

A third question: Will we be wearing uniforms that they give us? A lot of the people who won are sponsored and would want to represent their sponsors. Not to mention their/our teams.

A fourth question: What’s the political situation in Turkey? I know they just elected a new president. I know the country has a high percentage of Muslims. I know it’s close to the Middle East. That’s about all I know.

I’ll let you know what I find out.

In other news, I slept late today after lots of training last week. I woke up at about the time (10am) I would normally be arriving to train with friends of mine; on Sunday mornings we worship at the altar of rolling around on the ground trying to choke each other. Instead of goin' to church, I spent the day puttering around, doing laundry, running errands, etc. I ran into one of my teammates at a cigar bar down the street from my apartment. He was there having a stogie and a glass of water. He has cleaned up his eating habits in preparation for the Mundial (a big gi tournament normally held in Rio. This year it’s going to be held in Long Beach. It’s in less than 3 weeks), but as he said, you gotta splurge every now and then. (I’m eating ice cream as I write this.)

I like this teammate, and not only because he’s older than me, by 6 whole months (very few people at the academy are older than me—I’m like the friggin’ den mother.) He’s about 6’2”, and some of the guys gave him the nickname Big Ugly. I told him that was a terrible nickname because he’s not that big. Big Ugly in turn nicknamed some of the other guys: Little Ugly, Mini Ugly, White Ugly, Fat Ugly. I said I should be Pretty Ugly. Big Ugly and I are working on a couple takedowns and throws. Johnny said we can’t use them in tournaments until we’ve repped them at least 100 times. I’m up to 25-30 with one of the ones I’m working on (on second thought, when you’re trying to throw Big Ugly, he seems pretty big).

Tomorrow I get up early for conditioning, work at the store, help Johnny teach the beginner gi class, and then take the no gi class. Should be a good day. Dare I say it: I like my life right now!