A day late but special reflection on 1 year of training for Veteran’s Worlds. Some things I’ve found: Your resume means little at this level. What matters is what type of shape you are in, how committed you are and how much you care. All three of those things are within your control. Having been an elite wrestler in the past helps but doesn’t guarantee success. You cannot be competitive off the couch. This is not an old man softball league. These guys are serious and very good. It is very hard to find a proper training setup, especially if you’re not a coach. Finding training partners is hard. Finding training partners you age, weight, skill level who have similar schedules and are willing and able to train is a very difficult task. I spent at least 6 months trying, begging, cold calling people. It is easy to give up right there. Not many coaches are willing to take a Veteran’s level wrestler in. People think Veteran’s wrestling is weird and a joke. Not just strangers but your friends and family. Basically everyone was like um .. ok .. whatever makes you happy. I can count on two fingers the people who were like yes, good idea, you should do this. That meant a lot to me and continues to mean a lot to me. Many of these issues fade over time. Talk is cheap. It is easy to say you want to do something. When you show you’re serious and committed through your actions, opportunities present themselves. All of the wrestlers at this level that I have met are elite humans. Some are elite wrestlers, some are not. But all are elite - and very successful - people. There are at least a million retired wrestlers walking around in America. There are 15-20 in Colorado Springs right now at the World Team training camp. You walk a rare path you encounter rare people. It is critical to have patience. I’m not sure if there is any other sport where you develop rust like wrestling. The physical demands are great. It took me a very long time to be in good enough shape to even practice enough to get better at wrestling. I had to lose a lot of weight. I still need to get much stronger. Everything hurts for the first two months. Neck, back. If you’re not on a mat regularly, these wrestling muscles atrophy. I can wrestle 5 days a week now. I wrestled for four hours today. Wrestling for 90 minutes this time last year would have put me in a wheelchair. Leave the ego at the door. I won three freestyle state titles in New Jersey and was not a scrub. There are a million things I do not know. There are positions where I don’t know what I am doing or where to go. I am constantly asking for help from anyone willing to give it. I’ll take advice from high school kids. Many of my friends were incredible wrestlers or coaches and I am constantly badgering them. This was not a continuation of anything. It was a restart. I looked like a moron when I first got back on a mat. I look like less of a moron right now. There is nothing worse than being a proud loser. I won approximately zero matches this first year. The first actual match I wrestled in more than a decade I got absolutely torched. Pretty much embarrassed. If you think you are going to be a World Champion off the couch because of what you’ve done in the past, you are going to get your ribs broken. It is easier to get better quickly as an adult. I know what is right and wrong and I can feel it. I usually know that it was wrong, what about it was wrong and what the solution is. If I dont, I am surrounded by people who can help me. The smartest person is the room is always an idiot. It is fun. It is not fun out of the gate. You have to white knuckle through some shit before it can become fun. Winning is fun but passionately perusing aggressive goals is the root of what makes it all fun. If you do not find it fun, it will be a miserable experience. You won’t get better and you will be bitter about getting your ass kicked.