Day 1 Russian Nationals

Today was a wrestling fan's dream come true.  We got VIP seats to the Russian National Championships that are being held here in Yakutsk.  Sam Adamov, our host, really had to pull some strings to first get us free tickets for a tournament that is selling out for $300 per day, then get us priority seating on top is amazing. Today's tournament featured the 55kg and 84kg weight classes.  The 55kg weight class in particular was very exciting.  I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that there were several wrestlers from Sahka that did well today.  If you go to Flowrestling.org you should be able to see many of the matches we are watching. After the prelims, we headed back to the dorms for lunch and training!  At the end of the session, we were given a lesson on hopsigai (Hop-sig-guy?).  The kids had a lot of fun with this and I think are having a blast.  I do think we're all tired at this point, and of course missing home and our families.