Written by David Shapiro '16

Following a mid-morning nap and a nice lunch of soup and chicken with and rice the entire Baldwin Wallace University wrestling team headed to its first training day in Russia. Some of our athletes who weren't as tired were able to train in the morning.

The practices are a little different in Russia, with more emphasis on technique than intensity. Wrestling in the common denominator with all the Russian athletes who are very polite. We shake hands with our partner before and after every drill. Some of the BW wrestlers got to play a "different type of basketball" during the second training session. Our hosts explained this game as a very physical version of basketball and rugby with very little dribbling. Another amazing experience is some of bigger wrestlers are getting to train with a Venezuelan wrestler who will be competing in the Rio Olympics at 97kg. He is in Russia for a short training camp while we are here.  

All of the food we have eaten has been very good. The women who work in the kitchen work extremely hard to make sure we are all fed. All food is slightly similar to America, just with a Russian twist. For example, we eat hot dogs for breakfast instead of sausage, and potato fries are a little less cooked with more grease that we are used to in the U.S.

The Russian wrestlers are extremely interested in trading clothes and are fascinated with American apparel. They specifically wanted things with the Nike and Under Armour symbols on them because these are very hard to find in Moscow.

All in all it was an exciting first day in Moscow, and we look forward to the days to come! Go Jackets!