Well, the bulk of the year's competitive goals have come and gone with my exclusion from participating in the Olympic Trials. That was my only goal this year. Not to place in the Nationals, or win a tournament, but just to get to the Trials. Of course, placing top 7 in the Nat'ls gets you there as well, but I was hedging my bets, so to speak.

I trained hard. But unfortunate for me, hard work isn't always the smartest work. In order for me to compete at the level I need to, I have to surrender myself to more high-level training, and that is going to be a lot of hard work. Greco-Roman wrestling, as it exists today under the current format, is highly specific and specialized. It is bereft of many traditional characteristics of wrestling the way we in America come to know it. And although I love the sport, it is cruel and unforgiving in that respect. It is almost like a game, a really advanced one, and in order to play, you have to know and understand the rules, and whats more, be able to employ them to your benefit. I haven't become proficient at either. Not yet.

I will continue to train, and to set new goals. I am not giving up. I do not know how many more tourneys I have left in me, maybe none, maybe a couple of hundred. But I am going to keep on supporting and pushing Greco, because even in my disagreement with the current rules structure, I believe in it. Us Greco guys have no choice but to stick together. We aren't appreciated or celebrated, and the only people that come to tourneys as spectators are familes and tournament organizers. In NJ, its even less. No one cares to take Greco as their sport after college, hardly ever anyway. Its either freestyle, coaching, or nothing. Well, Greco in this country needs more participants, more interest. I hope to help any way that I can.

And please support my friend Nate Engel (55 kg-Sunkist Kids) and his journey to make the Olympic Team. Visit his site by looking under my top friends (55 kg!!!!!!), click on his photos section, and ordering info is on there. Every little bit helps with funds for traveling and training, and Engel has been nothing but a good dude to me during all of this, as his words and support have been paramount. I hope to reciprocate. Good luck Nate!