Assorted Thoughts Overseas

By Katie Downing

When you win Cadet, Junior, University or Senior Nationals, USA Wrestling sends you to represent your country at the world championships wherever they are in the world that year.  When you earn ranking at the senior level, USA Wrestling sends you on winter tours to get international competition experience under your belt.  As a freshman in college six years ago, I went on my first winter tour to Tourcoing (that’s Toor-kwa), France.  I was the new kid on the block for that trip.  I went again this year.  I don’t know exactly when this happened, but somewhere along the way between Tourcoing trips, I became the old one of the group! 

So I was closer in age to some of the refs and coaches than I was to my teammates, but that was ok.  I enjoyed seeing my teammates’ nerves and excitement for experiencing foreign territory for the first time.  I realized how many things I had come to expect from international trips that just a few years ago surprised me.  I listened to the other wrestlers on the trip talk about each new thing they discovered that was different on the trip than the things we are used to in the States.  It seems like everyone smokes, even when there are signs against it.  Some trips it’s good to bring your own toilet paper because it’s a blind draw whether or not public places will have it.  You can’t eat dinner in some towns until 7pm because none of the restaurants will serve food until then, and you can pretty much expect one meal to take over an hour because dinner is social time and service is on a laid back schedule.  It seems like everything else in the town shuts down around 7.  No one looks twice at the presence of a dog or two in stores or restaurants.  There is less personal space in hotel rooms, elevators, busses, and pretty much anywhere you’d find a group of people.  Just because you find a gym or wrestling room, you can’t always expect to find a locker room or showers anywhere.  Hospitality is almost a sport-just try to turn down food or drink offered to you by someone at a hotel, restaurant, or social get together of any kind.

Some things are the same everywhere.  Wrestlers greet each other with two-on-ones or bear-hugs rather than a quiet “hello” pretty much everywhere you go.  In mat rooms everywhere, kids will wrestle anyone that will humor them for as long as you care to stay out there with them, and they will find ways to amuse themselves during tournaments however they can.  One little girl who thought it was hilarious to make grownups chase her down made it all the way to the center circle of the mat while a match was in progress before an adult could grab her.  I’m not sure if the wrestlers even saw her because they didn’t stop wrestling. 

I urge all young wrestlers to take into consideration international tours when you are setting goals.  Don’t limit your dreams to the national scene.  Aim to win an age-group nationals that has a world championships, and aim to earn a spot in senior rankings so that you can experience an international competition.  It’s amazing that just by doing what you love, you can also see the world a bit and experience things first hand that many never even hear about in their neck of the woods.  Go out and take in the culture and society in whatever town or city you travel to.  Learn how other people live.  Have fun with other wrestlers.  Go shopping for things you can’t buy in the States if that’s your thing.  You don’t usually get too much extra time on USA Wrestling trips to just be a tourist, but there is always time to experience the new place.  Don’t ever forget though, that winter tours are business trips.  You’re there to represent USA Wrestling and to make America #1 in the world in wrestling.  All tourism, shopping and socializing take second priority to doing everything it takes to get yourself ready for competition, and to dominate every time you step on the mat for USA Wrestling.

I encourage all wrestlers to jump on any opportunity to practice or compete against other wrestlers outside your own state, region, or country.  You can learn in five minutes from an opponent what it would take hours for a coach to show and explain.  You can learn styles and techniques you’d never see in your area just by feeling it when you drill with a foreigner.  On the other hand, I encourage wrestlers to get out on the mat with foreigners as soon as you can because you’d be amazed what it can do for your wrestling and competition performance when you’ve already wrestled in practice and you realize that your opponents are wrestlers no different than you once you step on the mat.  It can be intimidating to know that a certain opponent is from a certain country, and it’s important to know that sometimes the country they are from doesn’t mean as much as you’d expect.  As soon as they step out on the mat with you, they are just a wrestler, and it makes them no tougher because they are from a different country.  You can be confident that if you’ve climbed the ranks in US competition, you can step out on the mat with anyone in the world.