| 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. |
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Day 1 Russian Nationals
Back to Civilization
After three days in the country we are back in Yakutsk. We left two days ago beginning with a ferry ride across the sixth largest river in the world, the Lena river.
We were greeted in the village Maya by a group of elders who sang to us and gave us a blessing. We then went and wrestled a very tough team. After the dual we continued onto the village of Amga which took quite a long drive on a gravel road. We were greeted again by local officials and then taken to the city hall to be addressed by the mayor. After that we went to a summer camp for kids where we spent the next two nights. This was in the village of Bitun.
We had a practice the next day where we rolled around with our host team. We then wrestled the team from Amga. This was a great dual. First, we were the first Americans to visit this village so there was a real buzz in the gym. The gum was packed and the crowd was well educated.
We spent most of today returning to Yakutsk. While we really enjoyed having such a unique experience it is nice to return to the city. One of the things that is striking about the experience so far is how proud these people are and how hard they are working to welcome us. It is truly an honor to be apart of it.
Sent from my iPhone
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