Written by David Shapiro '16

Wednesday, June 1, 2016:  Practice, Competing versus an Olympian and a Trip to the Sauna and Mall

A normal training routine has started for us. Everyone on the trip knows that we will wake up, eat breakfast, relax a little and then go to our first training of the day.

On Wednesday, we only had one training for the day and it was a good one. We are starting to get more comfortable with all of the Russian wrestlers. The coolest part about Wednesday's session was that Zeckary Lehman had the opportunity to wrestle a Venezuelan Olympian in a practice match at the end of the training. Zeck took the opportunity head on and did not hold back!

Later that day we spent an hour or so in the saunas around our compound. In our "hotel" they have a sauna and cold tub as well as a small bathhouse in the building next door. This was a crazy experience. The sauna went to temperatures we had never felt before, and once you left the hot sauna you were expected to jump right into the cold tub. This hot/cold therapy helped everyone with the soreness that they had been feeling. We should be going to a larger bathhouse in Moscow City on Sunday.

Following the sauna we spent the rest of the evening traveling to and wandering around a mall in town. This was one of the biggest malls we have ever seen. Essentially it had three parts to it. One section was a supermarket, the second was a mall with name brand stores such as Nike, Adidas and Lacoste. While the third store was a cheaper superstore similar to a Walmart.

Wednesday was a good day. Now we look forward to a hard day of two trainings on Thursday. Best wishes from Moscow! Go Jackets!

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Thursday, June 2, 2016 :  A Tough Day of Training and Then Listening to Music

Today was a tough, intense day of training with our Russian friends. We team spent most of the day in the wrestling room with two very intense trainings. We learned a alot of different moves and techniques that we hope to bring back to the states.

Practice is a little different in Russia as I mentioned in a previous blog. The workout starts with everyone forming a line on the wall and the person in front leads the warm-up. We learned that it is very disrespectful to pass the line leader.

After both workouts were done and dinner was consumed we spent a good deal of the evening with the Russian wrestlers, exchanging clothing and listening to music. Many of them like American artist such as; Eminem, 50 cent, Adel, ACDC and others. It seemed as though they were a few years behind America when it comes to some of the most popular artist, but it a song was very popular on the mainstream the Russians may have heard it.

Friday will consists of two more trainings as we prepare for our competition on Saturday. We hope all is well in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Go Jackets!