Jr. Worlds Blog – USA finishes strong as UWW Junior Worlds wrap up in Brazil

Monday, August 17 – Finish Strong!!

That was the message that the U.S. coaches shared with the three American men’s freestyle wrestlers who were competing in bronze-medal matches on Sunday night at the UWW Junior Worlds in Salvador, Brazil.

The Americans did finish strong, putting a positive spin on a challenging few days for a team which had worked hard and set high goals as a group and individually.

First up was Stevan Micic at 55 kg. Micic had a tough loss in the first round, leading 8-2 when an inspired Indian wrestler charged back to win the match. That same Indian was down 8-0 in the semifinals against Mongolia, and charged back again, winning the bout and pulling Micic back into repechage. After a tech fall over Canada, Micic made the bronze bout against the Mongolian.

Micic started strong, with a takedown and two powerful tilts, in which he had a leg in and worked up on the head. 6-0, end of the first period. In the second, Micic continued to wrestle hard, dictating the pace and never looking passive. No points were scored and it was Micic, the winner by decision, bronze medalist.

One down.

Next up was Aaron Pico, the talented young star who also suffered a tough setback in the morning session. Pico got pushed out with one second left in his semifinal match against Azerbaijan and did not advance. Pico came back motivated for the bronze bout against Turkey. This match started poorly. In a scramble, Pico went to the mat, and after the Turks protested the call, the score came up 4-0 for Turkey. Pico closed the gap to 4-2 at the break. In the second period, Pico opened the floodgates, aggressively hitting takedown after takedown after takedown. With one final pushout, Pico had his arm raised with a 13-4 win and his bronze medal.

Two down.

At heavyweight, Stanford’s Nathan Butler had quietly worked hard all summer, testing himself, getting better. He was beating by Azerbaijan in the semifinals, drawing a talented Polish wrestler for the bronze bout. In the first period, Butler controlled the ties and the Polish athlete was put on the shot clock. 1-0 at break. Early in the second, Butler got to a high single and drove hard, getting the opponent out of bounds for pushout and a 2-0 lead. Later, Butler was put on a shot clock and surrendered a point, but as time ran out, it was Butler who had the power and focus to win 2-1.

Three for three.

Coach Slay talked about how the athletes showed their pride and truly represented the United States well with their performance. All three athletes were upbeat about their bronze victories, but you could still feel the sting of their losses earlier in the day. Everybody left the Pan American Judo Center venue with their heads held high.

Winning the last three matches with the pressure of the medal round was a lift for the American squad, which saw its team goals shattered in the previous two days. When it was counted at the end, Team USA placed fourth, with four medals. This was clearly not what this team came here to do. Yet, the bronze-medal effort brought a little bit of sunshine to a group of deserving young men who will go back home and work even harder for their next opportunity.

And we will all have the wonderful memories of the Junior World title won by the inspiring Spencer Lee. That moment is etched in stone in American wrestling history.

Monday photo: Nathan Butler of the USA has his arm raised after winning 120 kg bronze medal, the third for Team USA on Sunday night.

Saturday, August 15 - Spencer Lee’s explosive win was something to celebrate

Spencer Lee says he usually doesn’t celebrate after winning, just lets the ref raise his arm and he gets off the mat. That was not the case tonight.

After Lee torched the Iranian with a quick 10-0 technical fall in the 50 kg finals, Lee did some unusual things in his world. He flashed a big smile. He raised both of his hands to the crowd. And he jumped into the arms of U.S. Coach Brandon Slay right on the mat.

There was something special about his performance today. Although he did not explain exactly why he reacted that way, I am pretty sure anybody in the arena tonight, or anybody watching the live UWW webstream around the world, could tell you why they thought it was special. That Spencer Lee is an exciting, explosive, spectacular wrestler, and gave a performance to remember.

Lee was not only the first American to win a gold medal at the UWW Worlds this year. He set an example of how American wrestlers should compete. He goes for it. Not only can he take you down, but he will immediately turn you, once, twice or as many times as he needs to get the technical fall. His aggressive style is a joy to watch.

The stats tell the story. Five matches. Five technical falls. Outscoring his opponents 54-4. Beating two past Cadet World Champions. I am hard-pressed to remember such a dominant performance by an American at an age-group World Championships. Lee not only took apart his opponents, but he beat some very good athletes who are not used to getting trashed like that.

Lee was pleased with his wrestling, but he did talk about the four points he did give up during the day He was a bit hard on himself that one guy got two points during a scramble (in which he got four points) and another guy scored a takedown on him. That kind of attitude might explain why he is so successful. He strives for perfection.

Coming in, the U.S. coaches were confident in his ability to do well here. I am not sure even they were expecting him to have this kind of performance. He was truly the buzz of the night at the Junior Worlds, somebody that everybody was talking about.

It is always special when an American wrestler wins a gold medal at a World Championships. It is great to see one of our own up on the awards podium and to hear our national anthem and see the U.S. flag raised in honor. With his gold-medal effort, the U.S. delegation was able to share in the pride of our nation and its wrestling program.

It was not just the fact that he won, but the way that he won, which makes Spencer Lee’s UWW Junior World title so special. Like everybody else, we can’t wait to see just how good this kid will be in the future, and what other memories he will make for those who see him wrestle.

Saturday’s photo: Spencer Lee raises both arms in celebration after winning the 50 kg gold medal in freestyle at the 2015 UWW Junior Worlds in Brazil.

Friday, August 14 – It’s been fun watching Becka Leathers grow into World medalist

Tonight, I was able to snap a photo of Becka Leathers getting her hand raised in victory in the 55 kg bronze medal match at the UWW Junior World Championships. The graduated senior from Choctaw High in Oklahoma had a big smile on her face. She had won the first medal for Team USA at the UWW Junior Worlds in Salvador, Brazil, the product of many years of hard work and perseverance. I couldn’t help myself as I smiled along with her.

I have had an opportunity to watch Becka develop as a top high school wrestler, going back to her freshman year when she started showing up at big USA Wrestling events for women. She first got attention at the Girls Folkstyle National Championships, held in nearby Oklahoma City, where she won gold medals in both the Cadet and Junior divisions. She was this tough girl who was a bit raw, but wrestled with confidence and energy, things she learned wrestling the boys in this respected wrestling state.

It wasn’t long before Becka started hitting the freestyle scene, competing at the Body Bar Women’s Nationals as a Cadet and then a Junior, and also heading out to Fargo in the summers to compete at the ASICS/Vaughan Cadet and Junior Nationals. Becka was getting the opportunity to expand her skills and learn freestyle, something she seemed to be picking up very quickly.

Becka is truly a product of the USA Wrestling development system for young women. She was invited to training camps at the Olympic Training Center and other locations, where she received good coaching and tested herself against other talented young women. Although she was younger than some of the girls, she seemed to fit in well with the other motivated young stars on the USA Wrestling circuit.

I have had a chance to see Becka compete in three World Championship events, first as a UWW Cadet, and the last two years as a UWW Junior. She was talented and motivated enough her first two years, but did not get the opportunity to compete in a medal match. I have also gotten to know Becka. She is a real good person, and does not mind doing interviews with me. I like her spirit and her positive approach. She has always seemed much more mature than whatever age she was at the time.

I had the opportunity to meet her high school coach who attended the major international events with her. She had some great influences in her career. She was also close to the coaches up at Oklahoma City University, the program where she will attend college as a freshman in a few weeks. I know Becka also has worked quite a bit with the USA Wrestling National Coaching Staff, both at the Olympic Training Center and other locations. Her support system has been solid for sure.

Becka has not only been competing on the age-group level. In the last two years, she has also entered the Senior level tournaments, not only on domestically but also overseas. Based on her performances in these, she has already been ranked in the top 20 in the World as a Senior wrestler, another step up the ladder in her development.

Becka had a great tournament today, winning her first two matches in dominant fashion. In the semifinals, she dropped a close 0-6 match to a very tough Japanese wrestler, who went on to win the gold. In the bronze-medal bout, she faced an Italian athlete who is also competing at the Senior level, and is on Italy’s roster for the Senior Worlds in Las Vegas in a few weeks. Becka had wrestled her before, and knew what to expect. And when the opportunity came while following her game plan of strong counter offense, Becka drove the Italian girl to her back and secured a first-period fall. This time, Becka Leathers would be heading back to the United States, and to Choctaw, Oklahoma, with a World medal around her neck.

I know wrestling fans enjoy following the careers of the top high school wrestlers in the nation, at least those competing on the boys side of the sport. Because of my job, I get to also follow the development of our top girls on the high school level. Becka Leathers has a great story and is a great young person. There are so many other young American women who are paying the price for success in wrestling and have interesting and compelling stories. I encourage you to find out more about them. You will be glad that you did.

Note: The internet is a disaster at the hotel, so this story may not be posted until the morning.

Thursday’s photo: Becka Leathers has her hand raised in victory after pinning Patrizia Liuzzi of Italy in the 55 kg bronze-medal bout at the UWW Junior World Championships.

Thursday, August 13 – Riding the highs and lows with Team USA

There is a common misconception out there in wrestling land that the Communication staff at USA Wrestling is “the media.” It is very true that we have a variety of media platforms in which to promote the sport and its athletes. However, we are more accurately press officers or public relations professionals. We are not the independent, un-biased journalists that many of us were trained to be. We are very biased. We are in favor of the sport of wrestling and we are big-time supporters of Team USA. We bleed red, white and blue.

So when we are at a major international event, like the Olympic Games, Senior World Championships, Pan American Games or Junior World Championships, we are there to support the American athletes. And like the coaches, athletes, trainers, referees, team administrators, parents and fans, we ride the up-and-down rollercoaster of emotion right along with the rest of the team.

After three days at this year’s UWW Junior World Championships, we have had a few more downs than ups. Today’s competition featured the first day of women’s wrestling, and hopes were very high for the American side. We had two returning Junior World medalists, and two talented athletes who were looking to make their mark on the international level.

We don’t need to get too much into details, but all four of the U.S. women competing on Thursday lost matches in that first session. And just like happened to Greco-Roman on Tuesday, none of the athletes who defeated the Americans reached the finals, meaning none of our wrestlers qualified for the repechage with a chance to fight for a bronze medal. There were no American women in the medal round in the evening.

Today’s situation was truly frustrating for the U.S. athletes and the coaches. Of the four losses we had, three of the wrestlers had a lead late in the match which went away. Each situation was different, but there was a similarity. One different move, one different decision, one different call might have turned those losses into wins, and we would be reporting on some medals this evening instead of turning the attention to tomorrow. And in most cases, the athletes who beat the Americans lost very close matches and could not pull us back into the tournament. We got no second chances.

This group of women wrestlers from the U.S. is very talented. The coaches have praised the entire team for their hard work ethic and their “coachability.” They are considered good folks, the kind of young people you want around your family and those you are proud to be associated with. The same could be said about the Greco-Roman wrestlers who wrestled the first two days here in Brazil. They have paid the price and earned the right to wear the USA on their singlet and to compete against the best in the world.

What the challenges in recent days has shown is just how hard it is to be a World medalist, whether it is at the UWW Junior level, down an age level at the UWW Cadets, or up an age level at the Senior level. There are outstanding wrestlers all over the world, and many countries are continuing to improve their programs. Women’s wrestling continues to grow globally, and nations are investing more time, money and talented coaches into their teams. Things are only going to get more difficult, not easier, in all three wrestling styles.

Now things could change on a dime, if the four talented U.S. women wrestling Friday get on a run, put some wrestlers into the finals, and maybe get the American national anthem played by winning a gold and standing on top of the podium. Then the men’s freestyle team comes in, facing the same challenges and opportunities at their U.S. Greco-Roman and women’s peers have faced in their tournaments. Whatever happens, we are proud of these teams, because we know about the hard work and sacrifice that has gone into their careers, and we believe in their abilities and their futures.

Once again tomorrow, we will get up early, have some breakfast, ride over to the arena on a crowded bus, and be there to support our team. We are looking forward to celebrating some highs over the last three days of the event. Go USA.

Thursday’s photo: Forrest Molinari of the USA squares off with Canada’s Alison Carrow at the UWW Junior Worlds. After trailing early, Molinari pinned Carrow in the second period.

Wednesday, August 12 – Stoll gives the U.S. its first medal match in Salvador

There is something important about getting U.S. athletes into the medal rounds. Yesterday, the USA did not have that opportunity in Greco-Roman, but today, heavyweight Sam Stoll broke the ice and reached the bronze-medal round at 120 kg.

Wrestling is an individual sport, but it is also a team effort. Wrestlers say that if all of the wrestlers just do their job, the team thing will take care of itself. Yet, it is very helpful to the team when athletes start getting medal opportunities and get up on the podium. I have seen how momentum can be built and how success can be contagious between teammates.

This is the second time I have seen Sam Stoll at the Junior Worlds. He had a nice run at the 2013 Junior Worlds to win a bronze medal in Sofia, Bulgaria. He was the only U.S. Greco-Roman medalist in Sofia, and that gave the team a big lift. The USA has found it difficult winning Junior Greco medals, as many of our athletes are focusing on folkstyle while the rest of the world is doing Greco-Roman or freestyle full-time.

Stoll got on a roll (rhyme intended) in the morning round, getting a first-round pin over Egypt and a dominant decision in the quarters over a German. In the semis, the 2014 Cadet World champ from Georgia had a great gutwrench and ended the match against Stoll quickly. But as we left the first session, we knew we would be seeing an American on the mats during the medal rounds tonight.

Willie Saylor and I had a half hour between sessions, so we crossed the road in front of the arena to a little establishment on the beach. There was a covered area with plastic tables and chairs. We went to the counter and asked if they served food. The owner knew zero English, but handed us a menu in Portuguese. Multiple questions in English served no good, so Willie asked if he had “Pastels,” which is what he bought from a vendor in a car yesterday. The guy had another menu with Pastels, and we ordered two each. We sat and looked at the ocean, sipping Pepsis, and 12 minutes later, the man delivered some food. It was a fried pocket with meat and cheese in it, which tasted quite good. Add in three sodas, and the entire meal for the two of us was under $10 U.S. We may return if the chance comes up later in the week.

The first set of U.S. women weighed in today between rounds. They moved the weigh-in into the workout area under the stadium, and put up the television monitors so coaches and media could watch the draw. The weights are a bit small, ranging from 15-17 athletes. Three wins and you are in the finals. It was the most successful weigh-in yet. We had the draws quickly, and I was able to post the weigh-in article before the Greco finals started.

I enjoy working with the Junior women at this event. I know the athletes well. I serve as Event Director for two age-group women’s events, the Girls Folkstyle Nationals and the Body Bar Women’s Nationals. I get to know the girls and their families as they go up the USA Wrestling age-group ladder, and by the time they get to be UWW Juniors, we are very familiar with each other. It helps when you try to cover them on Team USA that you have already established a good working relationship.

I know a lot of people are interested in the men’s freestyle team, which arrived yesterday in Brazil. Since we are covering the other two styles, we won’t see these guys much until their weigh-in day. I have visited with both Coach Mike Duroe and Coach Troy Nickerson, and also seen some of the guys, like Joey McKenna, Zahid Valencia and Aaron Pico. They are here and they are ready. But I won’t see them much, except at the cafeteria or in the hotel lobby. More updates to come when it is their turn.

At 6:00 p.m. (two hours earlier than last night’s final), the Greco medal round was started. They competed one match at a time, 12 bouts in a row, including medal ceremonies. Stoll was match 11 of the 12, so there was a big wait to see our big man wrestle. I was able to get ahead a little on the blog, do an interview with Hayden Tuma (who is a good interview, by the way) and get my story ready for Stoll’s match.

I went matside for the match to shoot some photos, and be available to interview Stoll and Coach Halvorson when the match ended, win or lose. Sam came out hard against a tough Turk, but as the match went on, the Turk was able to find a way to get pushouts, five in all, and defeated Stoll by a 5-1 margin. Instead of bronze, Sam placed fifth, a big disappointment for him but still our best Greco effort. After getting video interviews with Stoll and Halvorson, it was time to file the wrap story for the day. I was looking forward to seeing Sam on the podium again, but that is not how it always works out at tough competitions like Junior Worlds.

We figured out a way to get a little better internet after the finals ended, and I was able to file my story from the arena, which was pretty much empty by the time we left. After speaking with some of the event volunteers, we were able to get into a van which was there to take back some of the wrestlers who had just finished with doping control. It got us back in time to grab a little dinner before the cafeteria closed.

Here’s to a long busy night tomorrow, with interviews and stories about American women medalists. Sam Stoll got us into the medal round. Now we are looking for our freestylers, both women and men, to get us on that podium. And of course, we want to hear the U.S. national anthem a number of times when we win some gold!!!

Tuesday, August 11 – Tough day for USA, and getting things figured out at venue

Sitting in a dark arena, listening to a live band doing Brazilian music, practicing for tonight’s Opening Ceremonies. They also brought in a ton of local kids, all attired in t-shirts and loaded up with thunder sticks. They are practicing making noise and signing, in anticipation of Opening Ceremonies which start in 90 minutes. It should be a doozy of a show. Everybody seems to be having fun, and this is just practice.

Like every international tournament I have ever attended, the first day is one of adventure, trying to figure out just how everything works. As the day ends, I still have a few things to discover.

We went over at 8:30 a.m. for a 10:00 a.m. start. The bus, which was loaded to the max, went down a road that was alongside the ocean. After about 10 minutes, the bus pulled up to a sports arena, literally on a few feet off of the beach. This has to be one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen from a sports venue.

The bus dropped us off, and we went right into the workout area, which was created in a car parking lot under the stadium. To get up to the arena, we went up a flight of stairs, where we found three raised mats in an arena with about 2,000 seats in it. They did a nice job getting the venue prepared, with all of the branding the UWW now requires for major competitions.

I was able to find the press row, which was up top in the corner of the arena. The electricity worked, but it took awhile for the internet to kick in. The session started a little bit late, but once it was going, it was just like every other international meet we have hosted.

The Greco-Roman team had a difficult start, winning one of their five matches for the session. Dalton Roberts had a heroic comeback in his first match, down by a ton at the break, then taking a 10-8 lead before pinning his Bulgarian opponent in the closing seconds. That was the highlight of the morning for us. Our other three wrestlers, Travis Rice, Jon Jay Chavez and G’Angelo Hancock, were beaten in their first matches. And to make it more difficult, all four of the wrestlers who beat the Americans failed to reach the finals, knocking our entire team out of the tournament without a chance for repechage.

Willie Saylor of Flo and I decided to stay between sessions, as I had a bunch of Senior World Championships work to do, and I also wanted to catch up on some emails. Willie ended up wandering outside when he was done with his morning work, and came back with some great fried meat pockets. I think we have something to enjoy all week, if this vendor returns to his current location.

We also wanted to attend weigh-ins, which moved from the hotel to the arena today. Yesterday we were able to see the draws on television screens and figure out the pairings. Today, that did not happen, so we left to wait for them to be posted on the UWW site. Willie went back to the hotel, but I decided to stay for the finals, get the draw off the internet, post up my stories and then go to the hotel.

However, the internet did not work, making the plan a little hard to finish. I was able to see the Opening Ceremony, which was as loud and as happy and as entertaining as I expected it to be. It started a little late and ended a little late, and the first matches of the Greco finals didn’t get rolling until 8:00 p.m.

I decided to head back to the hotel to try my luck with the internet there. I was able to catch a bus back to the Stella Maris, with a few other stray wrestlers and coaches. After a quick bite at the cafeteria, I resumed where I left off at the arena. The change in location did not help much. The internet in the hotel lobby let me get into our website system, but there wasn’t enough connection for anything to post. I have a weigh-in story and a blog all ready to go, but no way to get them to the world. I really have no idea when this will actually be posted for people to read. But I am getting a chance to enjoy some karaoke in another language, with songs I don’t recognize, going on in the lobby this evening.

Here’s to a better day for Team USA on Wednesday, and also a better day for me in trying to figure out how to best make things work.

Monday, August 10 – Greco weigh-in day and women’s team arrives

The coaches for the UWW Junior Greco team do whatever they can to keep the team sharp and fresh. Part of that is a morning walk, where the team gets together and goes off to check out the local surroundings. It is a physical activity but not strenuous. The walk is great for team bonding, gives the group an awareness of their surroundings and best of all, keeps them from get stagnant.

There is a lot of hanging out at most international wrestling events. Teams often get in a few days early to acclimate, and also to get down to weight. The high volume workouts from earlier in the summer have now shortened as the wrestlers taper down in order to peak. You often see a lot of wrestlers sitting around, killing time, waiting the last little bit before they can weigh in and turn the focus to competition. The morning team walk is one way to make sure the wrestlers aren’t just hanging around being lethargic. They need to be ready when it is time to step on the mat.

I was able to join the morning walk for the first time today. Once they group was pulled together, Coaches Halvorson and Dominguez led the team down the beach. At the start, the group came together for a picture, standing on a big rock with the ocean around them. Some of the guys took individual shots for their Facebook and Twitter. Then it was time to head down the beach to see what was there.

We came upon a stream which flowed in from the city and emptied into the ocean. It was wide enough that it would be a healthy jump to get over. We decided to cross it right at the spot where the stream hit the ocean. Because of the tides, there was a short few seconds where the water was reduced. A couple of guys timed it right and got across without getting their feet wet much. Most of us, myself included, timed it wrong and got our shoes soaked. It became a barefoot walk for many of us from then on.

The walk was short, and the coaches brought the group together, and set up an 11:00 a.m. practice at the workout facility. It was a great way to start the day.

The second U.S. team arrived today, the women freestylers. In the early afternoon, Coach Halvorson suggested that we go down and get the credentials and keys for the women’s team, which was arriving in the late afternoon. He had done it for Greco and saved the team some time. We went down to the registration area and it was empty. After convincing the volunteers to help us, it took over an hour, filling out the forms, getting the keys organized and securing the credentials. There were some things to fix. They put Coaches Archie Randall and Emma Randall in the same room, thinking they were related, which they are not. We paired Archie with Sam Schmitz, which was how it should have been.

Anyway, when the bus carrying the women to the hotel pulled up, I was able to hand them their room keys and their credentials, skipping the registration process. They were appreciative, after a trip which included some very long layovers during an entire day in travel. The team looked tired, and the coaches sent them off to their rooms to rest, have dinner and get their feet back under them.

Four of the Greco wrestlers weighed-in tonight – Roberts, Rice, Chavez and Hancock. Today’s weigh-ins were held right here at the hotel, which is very convenient for the athletes and teams staying here. They put all the coaches into one room with television monitors showing the draw, so we would not be in the way during weigh-ins. It took a bit longer than normal, because Lithuania had travel problems and was given a little extra time. We took photos of the brackets with our phones and did the pairings on our notepads. The USA drew two Bulgarians, a Swede and an Azerbaijani in the first round. I think a good early round could pay off with a chance to battle for some medals.

The hotel weigh-in meant that we will not get a chance to see the venue until the first day of action. We usually like to scout out the arena in advance, to see where the workout areas are and what to expect. For me, it is a chance to see how the internet works at the arena, where the media seating is and where the warmup mats will be. It’s a judo arena, and we hear it is nice. We will have figure it all out when we get there Tuesday.

At the big World events, the first team into the city is like the scout team. They have to go through all of the challenges to figure out where everything is and how it all works. Once they learn it, then they pass that information on to the next two teams which arrive a few days later. This year, Greco goes first at Junior Worlds, and all of us are part of that scout team. Helping the women’s team save some time at check-in felt really good, and showed how teamwork within Team USA is very valuable. Freestyle shows up tomorrow, and the entire U.S. delegation will be in the house. It’s time to start wrestling.

Day three photo – U.S. Junior Greco-Roman team poses alongside the Atlantic Ocean during a morning walk in Salvador, Brazil.

Sunday, August 9 – Crowded morning workout and move to new hotel on Day Two

It’s winter in Brazil. The sun went down real early last night, before 6 p.m. and did not come up until around 6 a.m. this morning. There is a breeze down at the beach, blowing the palm trees around. On a Sunday morning, it is quiet here, with just a few people down walking along the shore. The early risers at the hotel are having their buffet breakfast, with eggs and meat and fruit and a variety of breads. It is a mixed crowd in the dining hall, wrestlers and coaches from Azerbaijan and Iran and Korea mixed in with Brazilian couples who are on vacation here and already in their beach garb. Team USA is not up and stirring early, but after our travel day yesterday, who is to blame them.

The sun came out this morning, so the view of the ocean from the pool at the hotel is stunning. Jon Jay Chavez and Hayden Tuma said the team took an early walk on the beach, and said it was real nice. There were a lot of the locals there, kicking soccer balls and enjoying the day. The hotel lobby was filling up, as more teams began arriving and going through the check-in process.

The morning workout was a bit of an adventure. Coach Halvorson had signed up for the workout room at 11:00 a.m., and told the team to be there at 10:45 a.m. When the guys started arriving at the Atlantico Convention Center, which is right next to the Sol Bahia Hotel, we realized there might be some issues. The workout area was in a convention meeting room, with one mat and a check scale. When we were scheduled to start, there was a team from Azerbaijan and others from countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Croatia. We counted almost 60 people in the room, most of them on the mat. Add to that, when we arrived, so did the entire Japanese women’s team.

Coaches Halvorson and Dominguez called the team over, and a decision was made to try to get in a workout. Halvorson started them on warmups, while Dominguez went over to talk with some organizers about the situation. An idea was to see if they could take us to the other hotel now, rather than in the afternoon, and try to organize a workout there. However, coach Dominguez found out that we could not leave here before 3:00 p.m. He also discovered that there was nobody who could come over and ask athletes to leave the room, meaning the effort of signing up for a time was a bit futile.

I returned to my room because I had forgotten my notepad, and in the few minutes that took, the Americans had moved into the middle of the mat. Coach Halvorson, who is a true veteran of these international situations, said “we just took it over.” Our guys were starting their drills, while literally dozens of other wrestlers were jogging and warming up while circling around them. With all the people in the room, it was extremely hot, so the wrestlers looking to sweat off some weight were having no problems at all.

I was planning on doing short, unedited video clips to make a small video of the workout, but with the noise and congestion, that plan was abandoned. I snapped a few pictures of the scene, but it was quite dark. I think I have one I can use. This was as Spartan as you can get for a workout. I found it real interesting that Jon Jay Chavez and Hayden Tuma were able to hit some big throws on each other, slamming down to the mat with so many other wrestlers running so close to them.

As the USA started to work out, the Japanese men’s Greco-Roman team showed up and took over a corner of the mat for calisthenics. The Japanese women took over a slice of the mat on the other side, doing gymnastics tricks and active stretches along the edge of the mat. Team USA went down on the mat for some par terre work. As this occurred, there were at least 50 wrestlers on the mat, with three different workouts going on, along with some stragglers from other nations.

This is not an uncommon site at some international events. It made me think about all of the room we now have with eight mats at the Bill Farrell Training Center in the Springs, and how blessed we are with our daily training facility.

The coaches had the USA guys do some hard pummeling, making sure they got some physical wrestling in. Coach Halvorson wanted them working out for at least 30 minutes, and that is exactly what the team was able to do. I was hoping to interview a few guys after practice, but with the noise, the dark setting and the activity level, I talked with Coach Halvorson and we decided to do it at 2:30 p.m. at the hotel, before the team left to check in at the Stella Maris.

I was able to interview all eight team members within a half hour, making sure to get the ocean in the background so people could see our slice of Brazil. We brought our bags outside the lobby then we waited more than 30 minutes for the big bus to come and take us to a new hotel. Initially, it looked like the USA and Italy would be on the bus, but when it started loading, Germany and Azerbaijan also came aboard. Every seat was filled and the aisle was jammed from front to back with people standing.

We rode for quite a while along the shore, with the ocean to our right, and downtown Salvador to our left. I enjoyed looking out at the ocean, but I was more interested in the buildings and people in the streets. The place was like a beach town, with restaurants, bars and stores lining the road. The buildings were older and a bit worn down in some cases, but they were truly packed with people at 4 p.m. today.

We arrived at the new hotel, the Stella Maris, which was bigger and more modern than the other place. Our coaches were smart by sending Coach Halvorson ahead of the team on the first bus with some other teams. By the time we all got here, Halvorson had all of the room keys ready. There was very little wait for the Americans, while the other teams had to go through another lengthy check-in. We waited in the workout room at this hotel, which had two mats down and much more room for athletes to do exercise and drop their weight.

The hotel has a larger pool area than the other one, and you can walk right past the pool and onto the beach. A few of the guys on the delegation had a chance to walk down the beach before it got dark at about 5:45 p.m., and they enjoyed it.

When we got there, we also had a chance to meet the Team Leader, Elison Dantes, a Brazilian who was a wrestler at Oklahoma, and was back living in Brazil. I had a chance to talk with him, and shared some stories about the people he both knew, such as Jack Spates, Michael Lightner, Byron Tucker, Richard Immel and others. Elison also had a judo background and said the venue, which houses judo most of the time, was going to be nice. He said he wanted to stay in the USA, but came home to help his father run their farm, a successful business growing fruit for the international market. He should be a nice asset for the team this week as we figure out the different things we need to do here.

I am trying to post the videos from today’s interviews, but the connection is slow right now in the room. They may not all get posted until the middle of the night. (You can check them out on our YouTube Channel). I have come down to the hotel lobby, and it looks like the video is loading faster, so this may be where I do much of my work this week. There is a nice breeze rolling through tonight, so at least it is pleasant. I have posted more stories and videos from the lobby than from my room on many foreign trips.

Tomorrow, the team is taking a walk together in the morning and I am going to try to join them to get a little more familiar with our surroundings. Preparation time is over, because the first set of weigh-ins are here tomorrow in the early evening. All of the training this summer will be put to the test when the first whistle blows for Greco on Tuesday morning.

Day two photo: The USA Greco team trains in the center of a very busy mat during their morning workout at the hotel.

Friday, August 7/Saturday August 8- Crazy travel challenges kick off U.S. Greco trip to Brazil

The wrestling community is getting excited that we are just a month away from the start of the Senior World Championships in Las Vegas on September 7. Training camps are entering their final phases, and the buzz is starting to build.

However, there is another tough World Championships before Vegas, the annual Junior World Championships, held this coming week in Salvador, Brazil, a coastal city north of Rio de Janiero (meaning closer to the equator). I checked out the weather for the week ahead, and every day it was expected to be about 80 degrees, with a low of about 70 degrees. There are a few days where rain is predicted.

The Junior Worlds feature 17-20 year old athletes. History shows that athletes who excel at the Junior Worlds go on to win World and Olympic medals on the Senior level. In some cases, athletes who do well at Junior Worlds are already ready to win at the Senior Worlds. I remember one year when I watched Iranian Greco-Roman star Hamid Souryan win the Junior Worlds, then a few weeks later win his first Senior Worlds. Often in the women’s division, there have been athletes who have won medals at the Junior and Senior Worlds the same year. This event is tough.

I am travelling down to Salvador with the Junior Greco-Roman team. It is always more interesting to be with a group travelling overseas rather than going by yourself. I am joining Junior World Greco coaches Mark Halvorson of California and Zac Dominguez of Nebraska, the eight athletes on the team and trainer Terry Grindstaff. I have been on a few international trips with Coach Halvorson, and I know Coach Dominguez first as a tough Greco wrestler and now as a talented coach.

This is an experienced team. Hayden Tuma is on his fourth age-group World Team and Jon Jay Chavez on his third. Sam Stoll won a Junior World Greco bronze medal in 2013 when he was in high school in Minnesota. Now a college wrestler at Iowa, Stoll is back in 2015. Josiah Seaton is on his second straight Junior World Team.

We arrived in Colorado Springs airport well in advance, and the plane that was scheduled to take us to Houston came into the gate on time. They unloaded the plane, and then many of us got a text from United telling us the flight would be delayed one hour. That was OK, because our layover in Houston was 2 ½ hours, and we would still have plenty of time.

Apparently, they were short one crew member. The gate agents later told us that the delay would be much longer, because they needed to wait for the crew member to get to the Springs from Denver. We would now arrive in Houston at 9:04 p.m. Our flight to Rio de Janiero is set for 9:30 p.m. That seemed like an impossible connection.

Coach Halvorson said that he talked about this scenario with the team in camp, to expect challenges like flight delays and other travel issues. The athletes handled the bad news well, just relaxing and finding ways to entertain themselves as we tried to determine our fate. This would be the first of many tests to their patience.

I called USA Wrestling’s office to try to get help, and Jaimie McNab got our travel agent involved from that end. Coach Dominguez got on the long line to talk to the gate agent, who was changing flights for those missing connections. The idea was to see who could fix things first and best.

When we got to the gate agent, we were told that we couldn’t get out until tomorrow. That was not good news for some of the wrestlers needing to whittle off some weight. We were told to work with the travel agent, which had more tools at their disposal.

However, after there was no movement from the travel agent’s side, the coaches started talking again with the gate agent. A decision was made to get on the delayed flight, hoping to pick up time in the air, and if needed, get stuck in Houston rather than spend the night in Colorado. Jaimie seemed OK with that strategy, so the decision was to get our journey started and see what we could work out as we went.

They decided to board the plane early, so it was ready when the missing crew member got on board. We were able to push off the gate 15 minutes before the posted departure. However, once off the gate, it took forever to take off. We sat around for a while, then they sent us to the farthest runway possible, all the way down near Peterson Air Force Base. Time was ticking away. In my mind, we lost almost all of the 15 minutes we saved getting off the gate quickly. Now it was up to the pilots to fly as fast as they could to Houston. And they did a great job.

The pilots got us into Houston at 8:30 p.m. with 30 minutes before boarding ended. We were in Terminal B and had to get to Terminal E, quite a distance. Once off the plane, most of the team started running, with Coach Halvorson somehow staying up with them. They were the first group to get on the train which took them to the other terminals. Travis Rice and I just missed that train but got the next one. When we got to Terminal E, of course our gate was way at the end. We broke a sweat, but we made it on time. However, big man Sam Stoll and Coach Dominguez had their carry-ons gate-checked and had to wait for them. Coach Dominguez hailed down one of those handicap carts that drive through the terminal, and were driven directly. They were the last to get to the gate, but still on time. Luckily, our flight to Rio de Janiero was also taking off a bit late. The gamble paid off.

The nine hour flight down south was OK. I don’t sleep much on planes anymore, so did some reading and watched a great movie, American Sniper. Got a little nap, and we landed at 9:00 a.m. Rio time. The first ones off the plane were Travis Rice, Nick Corba and I, and we got on the first of many long lines for customs. We had two-and-a-half hours layover, normally way more than needed. But not today.

They had seven passport controls for Brazilians and just three for foreigners. And that line took forever. The rest of the team was way behind Nick, Travis and I. We got to baggage claim at least a half hour before the U.S. delegation got through and caught up to us. We were lucky that the bags made the connection in Houston. However, when everybody had their bags, there was an even longer line just to exit customs (for those with nothing to declare). We literally spent two hours on long lines in customs, with time ticking away on our connection.

When we got out, we had to try to find where to drop off our bags then get to the gate for the flight on TAM airlines to Salvador. There isn’t a checked bag drop-off like in American airports. We didn’t know where to go. Mark Halvorson talked with a porter, who decided to help us. He took us exactly where we needed to go, up three flights of escalators, then got us to the front of the line at the counter so we could make that connection. After all our bags were taken and new boarding passes printed for everybody, he led us to where we go through security. We paid him $20 tip, because without his help, we were able to board the plane on time for the last leg to Salvador. We knew we were in the right place when we met some Finnish women wrestlers at the gate, and their coach who is originally from Hungary.

Once on the flight, Coach Halvorson and I were joking about the day, trying to decide if it were good or bad luck. We decided good luck, because we were battling 1.000 on making every connection, in spite of the big hassles. We called our travel day “Winning Ugly.”

Of course, once on the plane and off the gate, we sat for more than an hour before they let us take off from Rio. I caught another hour of sleep. We arrived in Salvador an hour later than scheduled, but if things went the other way, we might still be in Colorado, or Texas or Rio. There were people waiting for wrestlers in the airport from the local organizers, and after a little bit, they got us on a bus, driving on crowded streets, ultimately going alongside the Atlantic Ocean.

We ended up at the Sol Bahia Hotel, where we were able to get credentials and hotel keys. The local organizers were friendly, with a young lady who spent a year in California speaking excellent English. Because the credentials don’t have our photos on them, there were no more long lines for us. We are on a hill overlooking the ocean, but not really near the city. We will be staying here only one night, then they are going to transfer us over to the Stella Maris Resort.

There are some mats here in the hotel, but the first organized workout will be in the morning. Coach Halvorson was going to get the team to walk into town a bit, to keep them active and awake. The idea is to stay awake no matter how tired you are, to go to sleep at a normal time. Although we are only one hour ahead of New York City time, we have been awake more than 24 hours, so there is some acclimation we need to do. I just want to get through ---dinner and then crash hard.

Day one photo: A woman in traditional Brazilian garb poses with Travis Rice, Dalton Roberts and Coach Mark Halvorson at the airport in Salvador, Brazil.