5PM68: Two-time World Teamer Benji Peak

WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.759
I'll rip where I'm off, stop worrying about stupid procedures
2
00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:04.519
and do pull up.
3
00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:09.759
It's sporting of balls, making self gift Craig why are
4
00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:11.720
we having this podcast? And wanted to call the five
5
00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:15.720
point Move. I'm frustrated with the way our Greco guys
6
00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:19.879
for United States are true and because you are good athletes, you.
7
00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:21.280
Have good human beings.
8
00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:24.960
But Rona went, We've got to help him get that.
9
00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:27.879
See what I want? People know me from all of
10
00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:31.440
our results where everything comes from Five point Move. Hello
11
00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.560
and welcome to episode sixty eight of the Five Point
12
00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.439
Move Podcast. I'm Tim Hans, founder and senior editor for
13
00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:42.799
five point move dot com and happy New Year. I
14
00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:45.920
guess since this is the first one of twenty twenty six,
15
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:49.880
and look you clicked on it, you know what you're
16
00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:56.520
listening to. You understand already. The most is it's none
17
00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:02.719
other than mister fantastic himself, Benji peek Oh. Two time
18
00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.959
World team member by the way, and I don't know
19
00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:08.760
two or three time national champ. I mean, we have
20
00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.519
to mention credentials in the sport of wrestling. It's automatic
21
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.840
and compulsive for some reason. But nevertheless a lot of
22
00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:22.079
people most people are aware of the circumstances surrounding one
23
00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:25.879
mister Peak, and that is last year he ended a
24
00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.760
broken neck just about a year ago. Took a obviously
25
00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:33.799
all I mean, you know what's funny because you say
26
00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.799
it like it's not the biggest deal in the world,
27
00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:38.000
and at the time it was the biggest deal in
28
00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:43.480
the world. And you know, there were, at least from
29
00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:49.599
the outside, there's a lot of worry and consternation and
30
00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:57.239
questions and confusion. But Benji recalls the entire ordeal, but
31
00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:01.359
he's moved past it. That's most important. But still nevertheless,
32
00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:03.000
we do touch on a little bit here in the
33
00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:06.879
beginning segment, and then we move forward. Mister Peak, by
34
00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:09.879
the way, is getting prepared this coming weekend, depending on
35
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.439
when you hear this, to compete in the Grand Prix
36
00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:18.879
Zagreb Open Ranking Series tournament in Croatia. So there's gonna
37
00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.759
be stuff like that. And there's also the other headliner
38
00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:28.479
with Benji. He's wrestling now in Oklahoma, not the Olympic
39
00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:33.919
Training Center. He's with Sam Hayswinkle's new venture called Position Wrestling.
40
00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.159
So look, there's a lot to get to, lots of
41
00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.360
quote unquote unpack I can't stand that, but unpack. Yes,
42
00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.120
we're gonna unpack it, and yeah, let's just move right
43
00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:46.919
to the segment and then come back with some final
44
00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.240
thoughts here for the sake of you know, the audience,
45
00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:54.879
like what precisely happened with your neck and what was
46
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.680
the if you can come up with the clinical term
47
00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:00.680
for the injury, what was it?
48
00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:07.719
I fractured my C five and my C six on
49
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:12.800
the right side of my neck and last February.
50
00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:20.360
You know, I should know, and I don't remember anyway, uh, precisely,
51
00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:22.159
because I was just more I'm not trying to sound
52
00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.280
like a bleeding heart, but obviously I was more concerned
53
00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:28.319
with just you individually, Like I didn't care how it happened,
54
00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:29.759
but exactly how did it happen.
55
00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:34.159
I was we were doing simulation matches at the OTC,
56
00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:40.680
and I did I did a lift and the guy
57
00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:42.560
I was wrestling faced me, so I did like a
58
00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:45.039
high name. We were belly to belly and we had
59
00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.400
came down and I had scorpioned over my neck hard,
60
00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:53.360
and I instantly knew that that I had heard something
61
00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.159
pretty bad, and I just kind of laid there for
62
00:03:56.280 --> 00:04:00.759
a while and was just trying to uh just see
63
00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:01.599
how bad.
64
00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:02.360
The situation was.
65
00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:04.520
I was hoping I had like just strained my neck,
66
00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.240
or you know, maybe a disc something to do with
67
00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:09.840
my disc, wasn't you know, Or I was just maybe
68
00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:14.240
got a stinger. But uh, I mean the next day,
69
00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:17.879
I couldn't move at all. I actually went home and slept.
70
00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:20.240
The trainers were very upset. They were trying to get
71
00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:21.800
me to go to the hospital earlier. They wanted to
72
00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:24.680
put me on a stretcher right away, but I didn't
73
00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:26.279
want my friends to see me get on a stretcher
74
00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:27.600
because they wouldn't have let me live it down.
75
00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:28.680
They would have just lit me up.
76
00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:31.959
So I actually went home, slept, and then woke up
77
00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:33.920
early in the morning and went to the hospital because
78
00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:34.360
I couldn't.
79
00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:37.199
I couldn't move it all. It's pretty crazy.
80
00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:43.680
So you suspected by the next morning that like this was.
81
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:48.560
Yes, by next by the next morning, I was I
82
00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.199
had known that something was pretty bad, but again I
83
00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:55.480
still was pretty optimistic. I was like, you know, this
84
00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:58.680
could just be you know, like a disc issue or
85
00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.399
a really bad sting and I need some pain medicine.
86
00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:06.800
Like I wasn't sure exactly, but I had a pretty
87
00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:10.199
good idea that that I was I was gonna have
88
00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:11.879
to be resting my neck for a while.
89
00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:15.920
That's definitely yeah, that was definitely the case.
90
00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:19.360
Did you have like any kind of like numbness in
91
00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:20.920
like your right arm or anything like that.
92
00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:24.480
No, I had no numbness at all. Everybody kept asking
93
00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.879
me that, and I had zero numbness.
94
00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:32.839
I just had a extremely just a ton of pain. Yeah, no,
95
00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:34.240
no numbness at all.
96
00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:38.720
So and all the pain was pretty much like centralized
97
00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:39.399
in your neck.
98
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:43.240
Yeah, my neck and like kind of into my shoulder blade. Right.
99
00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:49.160
So, and so what happened, like, uh, when you got
100
00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:53.279
to the hospital, I'm assuming you got examined and then
101
00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:54.240
went into imaging.
102
00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:55.240
Yeah.
103
00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.000
Well I got to the hospital and I was telling
104
00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:59.079
him I hurt my neck, and they were just kind
105
00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:01.360
of like, oh yeah, like no problem, like we'll send
106
00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:04.439
you in the back. And they weren't like rushing it.
107
00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:06.480
They just kind of thought I was, you know, just
108
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.199
a little banged up. This guy came in just wants
109
00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.800
to make sure he's, you know, he ain't got nothing wrong.
110
00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.720
And then I get the imaging and they come running
111
00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:17.079
into the waiting room because I was kind of just
112
00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.199
waiting in the waiting room. They see what happens like
113
00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:22.560
in this little waiting area. They come running in and
114
00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:25.199
they put me in this huge brace and put me
115
00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.399
on a stretcher and take what They're like panicking, and
116
00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:30.279
I'm like what happened?
117
00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:31.480
And they're like, yeah, you've.
118
00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.199
Broken your neck in two different places and we need
119
00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:35.720
you to not move it at all.
120
00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:38.720
And it was really scary. I was like panicking. I
121
00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:42.800
was actually like once they started saying that, I was like, like,
122
00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:44.519
I start freaking out.
123
00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:49.199
Well, why couldn't they just say it, Like why couldn't
124
00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:51.560
somebody just be calm, be like listen, here's what happened.
125
00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:55.480
Yeah, you know you would think they would, but they
126
00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:57.319
were not calm at all. They made it sound like
127
00:06:57.879 --> 00:06:59.920
I had ten minutes left to live type of deal.
128
00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:01.720
It was pretty scary, but.
129
00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:06.319
You know, they they came back like a few I
130
00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:07.720
told them how I'd done it. And then I was
131
00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.319
at the Olympic training Center and they had came back
132
00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:13.120
and they're like, well, the good news is you're gonna
133
00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.839
be able to wrestle again. Like she's like, I've seen
134
00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:18.600
this injury, you know, we we've never seen it in
135
00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:20.959
someone as young as you. But I've seen it in
136
00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.360
some older people, and I've seen how well they've recovered,
137
00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:27.000
and we're not worried about how you're gonna recover. We
138
00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:28.160
think you're gonna recover great.
139
00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:30.680
As long as you wear this and you don't move
140
00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:32.720
and you you know, like they're like, as long as
141
00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:34.399
you do what we tell you to do, you're gonna
142
00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:37.079
be fine. So that was like a huge release.
143
00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:40.800
At the same time, well, you know what that was
144
00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.680
actually gonna be. One of my questions was, you know,
145
00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:48.480
was there ever a moment when you thought you weren't
146
00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:49.439
going to wrestle again?
147
00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:53.720
For like, it definitely like I thought, like right away
148
00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:57.360
like it wasn't and you know when she when a
149
00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:01.319
doctor says that, you're like okay. But but there definitely
150
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:02.920
was still a point of me where it was like,
151
00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:05.199
even after she had said that, I'm like, I don't
152
00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:07.360
know if I'm going to wrestle again, you know, because
153
00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:10.519
even with them saying I was gonna be okay, Like
154
00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:13.680
there still was a big chance like how would I,
155
00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:15.920
you know, mentally be able to do it.
156
00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:20.040
I still had to see how I recovered. Like, you know,
157
00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:23.040
anything can happen. It could over time. They could just
158
00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:25.079
be like, you know what, yeah, I know what she said.
159
00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.279
It doesn't look like that's going to be the case anymore,
160
00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.120
Like it's just not the right idea to try and
161
00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:34.360
wrestle again. So I definitely was still worried about that
162
00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:37.080
even after she had said it, but I was more
163
00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:40.080
relief that she had high hopes for my recovery.
164
00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.519
Well, the other thing is, I mean, if my mind
165
00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:49.919
went here, I would assume you were just did is that?
166
00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:53.320
It's like, I mean there was you know, if I'm
167
00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:58.879
not I'm not mistaken. You had a shoulder in high
168
00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:02.480
school and then a few years ago you had your
169
00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:08.399
shoulder right, like yeah, and it's so it's like, oh, well,
170
00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:10.919
here's one more thing for ben for Benji.
171
00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:14.480
Yeah, I would say, like that's That's definitely where my
172
00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:15.879
mind went was. It was like, you know, I've had
173
00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:19.360
three shoulder surgeries already. I had broken my foot before
174
00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:20.679
Olympic trials, like the.
175
00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:23.399
Year before, that's right, And it was just like it
176
00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.360
was like one thing after another, and then I had
177
00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.759
recovered from the foot, my shoulder was feeling good, I
178
00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:29.799
was finally healthy.
179
00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:34.200
I had gone to non Olympic Worlds wrestled there, went
180
00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:37.360
to the ranking series, went through camp, was kind of
181
00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:39.399
feeling like I was catching my vibe and then it
182
00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:42.000
was just like or catching my stride and then it
183
00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:43.559
was just like boom, a broken neck.
184
00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:44.679
I'm here.
185
00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:48.240
It's a very very serious injury. It's going to take
186
00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:49.960
a long time to recover. And it was just like
187
00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:52.399
do I want to keep Do I want to do
188
00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:55.159
this again? Like that was more where my mind was
189
00:09:56.120 --> 00:09:58.159
as well, Like it was like, Okay, I can do this,
190
00:09:58.279 --> 00:09:59.919
but this is gonna be a very long road.
191
00:10:00.519 --> 00:10:03.600
I've been doing injury after injury. Do I want to
192
00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.960
try and come back again? Too? Like there was definitely
193
00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:06.919
that side as well.
194
00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:15.240
Did you ever talk to anyone else who like had
195
00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:16.440
a similar injury?
196
00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:22.440
No? No, not at all.
197
00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:26.159
Well there was the Norwegian guy Parand's cure, who I
198
00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:28.200
do remember.
199
00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:30.480
I didn't talked to him at all, and actually we're
200
00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:33.600
pretty good buddies, but I never had talked to him
201
00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:33.960
about it.
202
00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:40.799
How long into uh, give me figure this a year ago,
203
00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:48.679
so how long how long into like yeah, getting fixed
204
00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:53.879
and uh, going into the rehab protocol? Like, how long
205
00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:57.200
into the process did you start to gain more and
206
00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:01.240
more I guess confidence assurance that you were going to
207
00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:02.159
compete again.
208
00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.440
This past August, because I was still more on the fence,
209
00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:14.200
like I wasn't talking to anybody. I had really not
210
00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:17.399
talking to anybody in the wrestling world besides like my
211
00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:20.960
close friends like Peyton and you know, George and like
212
00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:23.720
a few like the wrestlers, but like I didn't talk
213
00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:25.639
to any of the coaches. I didn't talked to nobody.
214
00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:27.840
I kind of was just staying to myself about it.
215
00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.679
And then I'd say in August, I kind of started
216
00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:34.120
reaching out to the staff a little more, working with
217
00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:38.440
my pt on some more wrestling based stuff, because before
218
00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:41.200
it was more like you know, for like three months,
219
00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:43.639
it was like getting back to walking normal and running
220
00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:46.840
and like doing that kind of stuff. And then August
221
00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:49.360
hit and I started like lifting pretty heavy again, and
222
00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:53.840
I had started moving towards like wrestling rehab. So like
223
00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:55.799
August is kind of when I was thinking, you know,
224
00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:57.480
I think I can get back on the mat.
225
00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:04.080
Well, I remember, uh, you know, because obviously, like you
226
00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:08.320
and I weren't in touch, and I remember talking to Jacobson.
227
00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:12.080
I guess, I don't know, it was a couple of
228
00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:14.480
months ago or something like that, and he was talking
229
00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:18.919
about how he was wrestling you, wrestling with you, and
230
00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:22.039
I remember thinking like, oh, that's quite a test.
231
00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:26.600
Yeah yeah, me and me and Peyton were wrestling over
232
00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:32.240
Christmas break. Yeah, we wrestling over Christmas Break. I have
233
00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:34.360
to like make up rules when I wrestle him now,
234
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:41.200
so like like what like he's got he has to
235
00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:46.559
go down twice, no matter what, like stuff like that,
236
00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.080
like he I'll I get to be waitning now going
237
00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:52.399
into the match before it starts, like I gotta kind
238
00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.159
of I gotta kind of handicap the match to make
239
00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:56.000
it fun.
240
00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:01.639
He's a he's a unit right now, did you.
241
00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:06.039
Like when? All right? So, like in terms of January Camp,
242
00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.519
like how I mean, I had heard like a like
243
00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:15.279
you know certain things, you know. I don't know if
244
00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:19.120
it were I don't know who it was or what happened,
245
00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:22.960
but I heard that. I don't know if someone put
246
00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:24.919
you in a front headlock or something like that, but
247
00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.320
I remember hearing like, oh he was tested, Like no,
248
00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:29.600
you look great, like you look good and blah blah
249
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:32.399
blah blah blah blah blah, like what happened at January.
250
00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:36.840
Camp, Dude, January Camp was pretty sick. They had Yeah,
251
00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.320
January Camp was was really cool. They had some good
252
00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.919
teams and some good guys out there. But I got
253
00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:45.200
I got like my first I actually went to Portugal
254
00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:48.480
and wrestled the tournament, but it was like it was
255
00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:50.559
pretty It wasn't then. It was just like kind of
256
00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:53.600
like a practice thing, like the guys were. It was
257
00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:57.200
pretty soft overall. But my first real like overall wrestling
258
00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:02.200
was at January Camp and I wrestled some you know,
259
00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:06.200
some top ten guys in the world at that camp,
260
00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:08.600
and I, you know, it was good for me because
261
00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:10.679
I kind of was like, you know what, I'm still there,
262
00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.440
you know, and I got put in some.
263
00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:16.080
Some positions where.
264
00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:17.759
My neck was kind of tested, like I got put
265
00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:21.080
in a really tight front headlocked or in simulation matches
266
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:24.000
when everyone was watching, and did what I did in
267
00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.399
that position and came up and everyone was kind of like,
268
00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.039
you know, they kind of stopped almost like make sure
269
00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:31.080
I was good, and I was like, yeah, let's keep going,
270
00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:32.679
like no problem at all.
271
00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.960
Didn't even think in the moment, you know, like while I'm.
272
00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:38.159
Wrestling, I'm really not even thinking about my neck too much,
273
00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:41.279
so I'm starting to move past that. So it's good
274
00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:46.440
in this camp really really reassured that for me before
275
00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:48.120
I go over to Croatia here.
276
00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:50.759
That was kind of one thing I want to ask
277
00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:58.159
you is like, do you have any sort of plan
278
00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:02.799
or protocol in terms of of governing or protecting yourself
279
00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:05.480
and like let's say, por itch or something, just because
280
00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.559
like the volume of live is so high usually and
281
00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:11.440
the allotment of partners there and stuff like that.
282
00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:15.919
You know, I wouldn't say I have like any protocol
283
00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:18.600
going in. I'm kind of taking it like I'm you know,
284
00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:21.600
like it never happened in my eyes. But I'm also
285
00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:23.639
you know, I'm a little older now, and if i
286
00:15:23.720 --> 00:15:25.919
need to take a day off because you know, I'm
287
00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.240
not feeling one hundred percent, and at that camp, if
288
00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:30.840
you're not feeling one hundred percent, you shouldn't be in there,
289
00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:34.159
you know what I mean. Like it's so like, if
290
00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:35.759
I'm not feeling good, you know, I'll take a day
291
00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:37.679
and just go lift or go run or do some
292
00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:40.679
cross training of some kind and get back when I
293
00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:44.240
feel one hundred percent. So I'm just kind of taking
294
00:15:44.279 --> 00:15:47.519
it day by day over there, but I don't plan
295
00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:48.960
on having any protocol.
296
00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:50.919
I'm hoping I can go every single day I camp.
297
00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:57.519
Well, I I gotta say, like I Well, first off,
298
00:15:57.559 --> 00:15:59.519
I didn't know about the Portugal thing. I have no idea.
299
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.679
I don't know how something like that gets past me, honestly,
300
00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:03.879
and that's sound arrogant about it.
301
00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:07.919
We had a whole team go Portugal who went to
302
00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:15.399
Portugal like me, Me, George Sykes, Noah, Watchmith. Noah looked good.
303
00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.399
Actually no, it looked really good. A few other guys.
304
00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:22.080
We wrestled on a team Portugal in a dual tournament.
305
00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:23.240
We took second.
306
00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:27.159
We did pretty good when we lost them all Dova
307
00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:28.840
in the finals and they had a couple of Georgians
308
00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:32.879
on their team as well. This is well, uh, this
309
00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.759
is when this was like before Christmas, right before Christmas,
310
00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.360
two weeks before Christmas, so.
311
00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:46.639
Like right after like let's say, like a week after Finland. Yeah, yeah, no,
312
00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:50.159
I had no idea, like zero soil you said zero.
313
00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:52.639
Yeah, it was it was fun, it was cool. It
314
00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:54.720
was my first time in Portugal as well, so it
315
00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:56.679
was really pretty well.
316
00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:00.840
You know what, I remember the Portuguese coach got cool
317
00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:04.920
with Lucas at Austream Open like like years ago.
318
00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:07.640
Yeah, it was the same guy. We wrestled on his team.
319
00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:12.880
You just got done talking about OTC and so like
320
00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:18.000
to kind of play catch up here of course, like
321
00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:21.599
you're one of the uh, like you're kind of one
322
00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:27.160
of the ogs of leaving high school early to do
323
00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:31.279
greco full time, and you did this by going from
324
00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:35.160
Wisconsin to Northern Michigan. Then you're at Northern Michigan for
325
00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:38.039
I don't know, Benji well eight years seven neat years
326
00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.880
seven years, six years, Okay, Then you're at the OTC, Okay,
327
00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:50.839
and now you are with Sam Hayes Winkles new position
328
00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:57.640
wrestling team club whatever in Oklahoma? And so what is
329
00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:00.920
what is that? What was that process? Sas? Like, how
330
00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:04.319
did this happen? Like, how did Sam reach out to you?
331
00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:08.680
What was your whole thinking on it? Your perspective? Uh,
332
00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:11.519
what was like behind the decision to go from the
333
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:15.759
OTC to him? Walk everybody through because not everybody is
334
00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:20.079
I think quite yet familiar with the fact that Hayes
335
00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:23.000
Nichol's got a new team in Oklahoma.
336
00:18:24.279 --> 00:18:27.039
Yeah, so I had. I was at the OTC for
337
00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:32.440
just about a year and a half and the OTC
338
00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:34.559
was great for me, It really was, and I was
339
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.160
I loved Colorado springs a lot too, so it was good.
340
00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.920
And I really liked the Perrero as well. I thought
341
00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:43.039
Perrero was awesome. So like leaving there was a big
342
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:43.880
decision for me.
343
00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:47.599
But Sam had reached out to me a few months
344
00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:50.640
ago telling me that he was starting this Greco team.
345
00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:54.279
And you know how many times I've heard like, Oh,
346
00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:57.319
we're starting a Greco program here. It's gonna be amazing.
347
00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.799
We're gonna make sure all our athletes are taken care
348
00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:02.880
of of. Like I've heard it so many times. Where
349
00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:04.519
like when Sam first said told me about it, I
350
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.079
didn't really hold my breath. And then he had called
351
00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:08.799
me again and he was serious. He's like, you know what,
352
00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:11.160
we're gonna get you guys here. We're gonna make sure
353
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.480
you guys are taken care of. We're gonna take you
354
00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:15.640
to we're gonna pay for these trips, like we're gonna
355
00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:17.440
make sure you guys are in the best position possible
356
00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:19.880
to win. And the more he had talked to me
357
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.400
about it, I was like, you know what, this sounds
358
00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:26.680
like an awesome like this seems like perfect for me.
359
00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:28.920
And the time I was kind of looking for something
360
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.920
like this where I was gonna be able to travel
361
00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:35.200
a little more, and it just seemed like the perfect
362
00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:37.400
fit at the right time. It was more about like,
363
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.400
can I get the training partners I need there to
364
00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.960
find the success while I'm in the US, And he
365
00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.880
was able to do that for me, And uh, yeah,
366
00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:49.279
so I just I've only been in Oklahoma now for
367
00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:52.440
a month, but so far it's been awesome. And yeah,
368
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.839
I think Sam is going to be a really good
369
00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:57.880
coach for me when over these next two years.
370
00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:03.880
So did he ever like, I mean, you were you
371
00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:09.119
were you were a sun kissed athlete? Did he ever
372
00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:11.680
corner you at all? Did you have any connection through
373
00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:12.480
sun kiss Probably?
374
00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:14.160
You know, we had we.
375
00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:19.079
We had met through sun Kissed definitely at like in
376
00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.200
the whole you know, we all stay at the same hotel,
377
00:20:21.319 --> 00:20:24.839
so we'd meet there and he he had cornered me,
378
00:20:24.920 --> 00:20:27.039
I think in a couple of matches, not many, but
379
00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.279
a couple. But I'd always talk to him at all
380
00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:32.359
the tournaments, and so we knew who each who each
381
00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:35.680
other were, Like, we were pretty familiar with each other overall.
382
00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:39.880
You know what's funny is that like you I mean
383
00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:43.079
you like really freaking hit it on the head there
384
00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.440
because it's like, you know, if it were anybody else,
385
00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:49.640
it's like I'm I don't want to say I'm sick
386
00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.400
of hearing it, like because it comes off like like
387
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:56.240
a kind of being a like a pessimist, I guess.
388
00:20:56.599 --> 00:20:59.799
But it's like it's like every few months or every season,
389
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.599
every year, it's like who's starting this, who's doing that. Oh,
390
00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.000
I'm looking to start at a club, I'm looking to
391
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:08.799
start a training stare, I'm looking to do this and
392
00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:13.599
RTC that and all this, and the overwhelming majority of
393
00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:18.960
times it's just talk and it's just evaporates. It's you
394
00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:24.400
never hear anything about it again. But when I started, Now,
395
00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:27.400
obviously I have a relationship with Sam, but even still,
396
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:31.200
like the thing that I thought was different with Sam
397
00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:36.519
is that he's like got the character credibility, you know,
398
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:40.680
like for sure saying it like it's probably it's probably happening,
399
00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:43.440
because he wouldn't put the cart before the horse, you know.
400
00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.680
No, that's that's exactly You're right, You're you hit it
401
00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:49.200
on the head there. Like when when he said it
402
00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:52.319
and he like gave me his word on it, I
403
00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:55.480
was like all right, like I was, I was pretty
404
00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.519
much yeah, he had told me on it, and I
405
00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:01.279
had believed in him, So I mean that's pretty important,
406
00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:01.920
and like.
407
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:05.000
We hear it all the time. Every every year there's another.
408
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:08.160
New team that's trying to start a Greco and yeah,
409
00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:10.480
so it took me a little bit, but once he
410
00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:12.880
gave me his word, I trusted him on it.
411
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:17.000
So how I mean you said it was It's been
412
00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:21.640
awesome so far, But how how have you adjusted to
413
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:26.720
the uh, you know, the whole cowboy lifestyle or whatever
414
00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:27.960
goes on over in Oklahoma.
415
00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:31.839
You know, it's good, but it's it got cold here
416
00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:33.799
and apparently it doesn't get cold like this, so I
417
00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:35.519
feel like the weather's kind of following me.
418
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.000
But it's been good.
419
00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:38.920
I haven't really done much because as soon as I
420
00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:42.920
got here, I've just been training for Croatia really, so
421
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.359
I haven't really got a chance to go out and
422
00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:47.480
see the town yet.
423
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:49.279
So maybe when I get back.
424
00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:53.920
Are there are listen. I'm in New Jersey obviously, so
425
00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:57.799
I'm not trying to but what are the like if
426
00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:01.960
someone want to visit like Oklahoma, Like, what are the.
427
00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:03.759
Like?
428
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.880
What are the tourist attractions? I can't I mean, I'm
429
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:11.200
not trying to be funny, like I don't know, well.
430
00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:16.119
It seems like everyone here loves Oklahoma football, Like that's
431
00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:19.000
big here is like every people come in to watch,
432
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.960
you know, the Sooners play football, and they also love
433
00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:25.960
the Oklahoma City Thunder, the basketball team. That is huge.
434
00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:27.319
That is huge.
435
00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:31.559
Like in Wisconsin, we're a pretty big football you know,
436
00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:35.000
everyone loves the Packers or Bears, you know, I mean.
437
00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:36.559
Everybody's got their football team, and.
438
00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:41.400
But like here, it's it's not it's just about you know,
439
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:46.279
the the Oklahoma City Thunder like that, that's what everyone
440
00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:46.880
talks about.
441
00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:53.319
So where Okay, what town are is? Uh the club
442
00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:55.319
and we're an Edmunds.
443
00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:58.599
So we're about like twenty five minutes north of Oklahoma City.
444
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:03.480
Okay, alright, it's a it's a really nice area, all right.
445
00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:10.079
So let's figure this out here on trip Advisor. All right.
446
00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:13.279
So there's the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.
447
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:15.119
Yeah.
448
00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:19.240
Yeah, there's Bricktown, which is weird because I actually live
449
00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:23.920
in Bricktown. Essentially, Bricktown, just east of Oklahoma City's downtown
450
00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.400
business district, is the city's original warehouse and distribution center
451
00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:32.200
turned entertainment district. You can go shopping, drink, at a
452
00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:36.160
bar dine. Blah blah blah blah blah. Oh, here's a
453
00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:42.000
good one. National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. See that
454
00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:50.559
that I think is more appropriate. Yeah, since Museum of Asteology.
455
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:54.759
Yeah no, I don't think any of those are really
456
00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:55.079
for me.
457
00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:57.799
Myriad Botanical gardens.
458
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.079
You know, I can go hit the botanical gardens.
459
00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:05.240
I think another one Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden.
460
00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:07.960
Yeah, I love the Zoo. I'll probably hit that up
461
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:08.799
once it warms up.
462
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:14.000
Science Museum Oklahoma, No, because you can go see a
463
00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:18.839
science museum. Everywhere has got that. Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
464
00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:25.119
What was your degree in Benji, I'm communications major, all right.
465
00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:29.079
So forty fifth Infantry Division Museum, So there you go.
466
00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:37.000
Military Museum, Centennial Land Run Monument, larger than life size
467
00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:42.000
sculptures are very impressive, and they have all sorts of
468
00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:46.319
people on I guess horses and things like that. Car buggies.
469
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:52.559
I guess you'd call them. Uh yeah, I don't know.
470
00:25:54.920 --> 00:25:58.279
I guess those are things to do. Okay, So, like
471
00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:02.240
you've been in Fort Worth a couple times obviously for wrestling,
472
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:03.039
Olympic trials?
473
00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:03.359
Are there?
474
00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:08.160
Nationals? Are there? You know, like in Fort Worth, like
475
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.039
I would like, well, I was like walking around like
476
00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:13.880
that little like town square beastic and I were like
477
00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:16.519
walking around there and like there were like I don't know,
478
00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:19.480
I saw people wearing cowboy hats and stuff, like do
479
00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:21.880
people wear cowboy hats in Oklahoma?
480
00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:26.279
Yeah? Yeah, it's it's pretty country out here. It's pretty country.
481
00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:29.440
I I don't know. I don't even try and put
482
00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:30.359
mine on because they're.
483
00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.440
Gonna gonna say you have one. I'm almost positive.
484
00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:35.519
Yeah, I love the rock cowboy, but like they would
485
00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:38.200
they would weed me out instantly and know I'm not
486
00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:38.920
really country.
487
00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:45.680
Why would they weed you out?
488
00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:49.400
That's what I would think in my head. I just
489
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.480
bet these guys know I'm not really country.
490
00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:54.000
Postures in general?
491
00:26:54.519 --> 00:26:57.559
Yeah, probably so well.
492
00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.119
I was telling somebody because uh, when we talked last week,
493
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:05.119
you were like telling me how like like you went
494
00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:07.880
to like the grocery store and there was like no
495
00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:09.799
meat left over, like two inches.
496
00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:12.440
Of snow and it snowed like two inches here and
497
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:15.240
they were panicking. I had gone to the store to
498
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.359
get some water bottles and there was none left. There
499
00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:20.200
was no food on the shelves. The only thing that
500
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:24.920
was in like the meat section was chicken feet. I
501
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:28.119
might as well get some steak while I'm here. No, nothing,
502
00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:30.400
not even hamburger, Like, it was just chicken feet.
503
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:32.640
That's it. It was. Yeah.
504
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:36.559
And then Wisconsin, you know it's they've they've canceled school
505
00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:39.039
for four straight days over two inches of snow.
506
00:27:39.079 --> 00:27:42.200
It only snowed one day. So yeah, it's been it's
507
00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:42.839
been interesting.
508
00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:47.640
Yeah, it is. Uh, you're leaving, I don't know, in
509
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:52.400
like a couple of days to go to a poor itch. Wait,
510
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:54.599
so like, wait, last time you were in Croatia was
511
00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:55.440
that Valomar Cup.
512
00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:00.240
No, L's time I was there for was rankings series.
513
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:01.160
Ranking series last year.
514
00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:01.880
Yeah.
515
00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:08.200
Are you like looking forward to seeing guys like from
516
00:28:08.359 --> 00:28:11.119
other places, other countries who you haven't seen in a minute.
517
00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:14.200
Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty excited. I'm excited to see uh
518
00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:16.640
my buddy Nicholas. I haven't seen him in a while
519
00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:18.319
because I haven't been at any of the tournaments. But
520
00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:21.119
he's like one of my best friends, so it's always
521
00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:22.319
good when I get to see him, and he'll be
522
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:23.480
in Croatia.
523
00:28:23.079 --> 00:28:23.880
So I'm pretty pumped.
524
00:28:24.359 --> 00:28:29.000
Oh, Nicholas Allan, Yeah, yeah, what is I mean? I
525
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.119
guess it either it matters or doesn't matter. Well, first off,
526
00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:34.400
are you staying like the entires? Are you wrestling in
527
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:35.200
Albania as well?
528
00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:37.799
Yeah, I'm hitting them both in the camp. So it's
529
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:38.799
going to be a long month.
530
00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:40.839
Well that's what I was going to ask.
531
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:41.000
Here.
532
00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.640
Are you in favor of this the way that they
533
00:28:43.720 --> 00:28:45.920
did this with the scheduling this year as far as
534
00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:49.319
like having the ranking series and such, you know, short
535
00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:50.440
proximity to one another?
536
00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:55.039
There they were, they were last year as well, if
537
00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:56.440
I'm not mistaken, but we just.
538
00:28:56.839 --> 00:28:59.799
Like this where it's like, yeah, well with the other
539
00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:03.039
one was too far, the second one was, this one's
540
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:05.440
like not far that. What I'm wondering, I said this
541
00:29:05.559 --> 00:29:08.240
to HERB today, is like what I'm wondering is what
542
00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:10.480
the carryover is? Like how many guys who wrestle in
543
00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:13.359
Zagreb not from here, but like how many guys who
544
00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:15.559
wrestle in Zagreb are just gonna be in Toronto?
545
00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:19.160
I would say, I would say about half of us
546
00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:22.440
are doing them both, is what it sounds like. I'm
547
00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:24.200
not exactly sure, but we got a bunch of guys
548
00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:26.640
coming in for that tournament as well that aren't doing
549
00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:28.039
the camp or Zagreb.
550
00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:28.599
You know, so.
551
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:33.680
Yes, but I'm talking about the foreigners, like, oh, like
552
00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:36.240
I would take like eighty percent of the people who
553
00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:38.839
are at Zagreb were gonna be in Albania.
554
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:39.640
I know.
555
00:29:39.880 --> 00:29:42.319
For some reason, some people are trying to say they
556
00:29:42.359 --> 00:29:44.599
think Albania is gonna be easier, and I think Albania
557
00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:47.920
is gonna be is gonna be tough. I think it's
558
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:50.400
gonna be tougher in Zagreb for the first time ever.
559
00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:52.880
I think it might be, but I could be wrong.
560
00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:57.799
So yeah, I guess we'll see. But I think most
561
00:29:57.799 --> 00:30:00.400
of the guys, I think everybody that wrestled Zagreb basically
562
00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:01.319
going to go to Albania.
563
00:30:02.519 --> 00:30:04.440
Yeah. Well, you know what's crazy. I said that some
564
00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:08.960
mango in the UH is Like dude, It's like, over
565
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:11.160
the past couple of years, like Albania has all of
566
00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:13.680
a sudden been a place now look to have like
567
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:15.480
tournaments like Big torn you know.
568
00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:18.759
They they must be they must be bribing or somebody.
569
00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:22.680
Somebody must be high up on the UWW ladder that
570
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:25.640
I'm not aware of, because there is zero reason for
571
00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:26.559
it to be in Albania.
572
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:30.599
There's there's no reason for it to be there. There's
573
00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:33.279
I don't. I don't get it. I don't get it.
574
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:36.799
Somebody's pushing some money, or somebody got elected onto the
575
00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:40.720
board of something. I don't know, but it makes zero sense,
576
00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:47.559
zero zero sense. They're yeah, what what is the uh?
577
00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:55.119
What is the the distance between going from let's say,
578
00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:58.759
Porridge to Toronto?
579
00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:01.240
I have no idea.
580
00:31:02.359 --> 00:31:03.400
All right, well let's find out.
581
00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:10.440
I have no clue. But Albania is not it isn't. Yeah,
582
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:15.319
I don't love it. I don't love it, but there
583
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:18.160
are also worse places to be, so it's hard to
584
00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:19.119
complain at times.
585
00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:23.200
You liked it when he was there. It's ten hours
586
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:25.400
by car, by the.
587
00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:29.920
Way, that's it, Albania to from Zagrab.
588
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:33.000
Well I put Zagrab. But it doesn't matter. It's just
589
00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:33.480
not that bad.
590
00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:37.279
Yeah, it's tunny. That's interesting. I didn't know that. I
591
00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:38.640
wonder if we're driving there.
592
00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:42.200
No, probably not, I hope not.
593
00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:44.119
No way.
594
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:49.160
Let's see how long is a flight? Flight's too quick
595
00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:51.000
to yeah, flights really quick.
596
00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:55.799
Yeah, so we'll see. It's crazy. I have no idea
597
00:31:55.880 --> 00:31:57.799
what travel looks like. I haven't even like looked at
598
00:31:57.839 --> 00:31:58.440
my flight yet.
599
00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:01.519
Oh, I get it. Interested in these things like hardcore
600
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:02.960
I don't.
601
00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:04.960
I just jump on and see where I end up.
602
00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:08.240
Sometimes, well that fits your personality type, it does not
603
00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:14.279
fit bye yeah uh yeah. Anyway, Well it's a nice
604
00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:17.920
Mediterranean country and they have a really impressive organized crime
605
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:23.480
legacy as well, Albania in case you didn't know that. Yeah,
606
00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:29.160
so you know, watching you associate with out there, it.
607
00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:31.119
Doesn't make sense, it really does.
608
00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:33.480
It's like they have like they have an okay freestyle
609
00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:36.640
wrestling team, but it's not like they're big in wrestling.
610
00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:42.440
They might have five senior greco guys and five senior
611
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:44.680
freestyle guys. I don't even think they have. They definitely
612
00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:46.680
don't have a women's team. So it's just kind of
613
00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:47.880
a weird spot to have.
614
00:32:50.279 --> 00:32:52.480
Well it is, but they also like to have these
615
00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:55.880
events in these countries that don't have prominent wrestling programs
616
00:32:56.519 --> 00:32:59.079
because and Mango actually pointed this out as well, is
617
00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:03.920
because it helps build like awareness, helps build marketing, like
618
00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:07.400
gets attention like hey, look, we're like legit. It shows
619
00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:09.519
other people in the country like you know, I don't know,
620
00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:12.160
I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just trying to.
621
00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:15.119
Well, nobody comes to watch it, so that always sucks.
622
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:18.200
I mean they not think about that at all.
623
00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:25.559
Uh yeah, well I just me personally just as like
624
00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:28.039
a you know, from the outside of the fish bowl.
625
00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.279
I just would think it'd be better to have if
626
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:33.319
you're just like it's like they push Hungary all the
627
00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:37.440
way to like the summers now, and like I just
628
00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:41.079
would rather go from like Zagreb to Budapest or something.
629
00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:44.880
Yeah, me too, I love Budapest.
630
00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:47.559
You mentioned George. How's George Syke's doing.
631
00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:54.039
George is doing good. He's doing good. He's he he's
632
00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:56.960
doing really good. He's been training really already's been wrestling well.
633
00:33:57.319 --> 00:34:00.559
He's down a ton of weight, like he looks like
634
00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:04.079
super athletic again. I'm telling you he's gonna be down
635
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:05.400
at eighty two kilos.
636
00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:07.440
He's walking what's he walking around at?
637
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:11.480
He's like to eighty eight kilos now. He was weighing
638
00:34:11.480 --> 00:34:14.239
one hundred and seven kilos and he's down to eighty
639
00:34:14.280 --> 00:34:17.280
eight kilos. Like, he's been really working hard and sticking
640
00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:17.840
to his diet.
641
00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:18.599
He's been doing good.
642
00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:19.440
Good.
643
00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:22.320
I'm excited to watch him Wrestless year. He's coming to Albania.
644
00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:24.400
Oh, that's awesome.
645
00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:27.880
Albani has got a lot of guys that don't have,
646
00:34:28.679 --> 00:34:30.840
Like Albania is gonna have a bunch of guys for
647
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.719
the US that you don't see at these tournaments as much,
648
00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:35.079
So that'll be interesting.
649
00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:36.800
There's a few guys.
650
00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:39.400
Where I was, it's gonna be like their first real
651
00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:41.840
big tournament, So it'll be interesting.
652
00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:48.760
Well, it's important because like, far too often, what we're
653
00:34:48.840 --> 00:34:53.280
doing in our country's program, and you know, the national
654
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:58.199
coach certainly understands my point of view on this is that,
655
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:03.760
and I understand why, but we invest, reinvest and double
656
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:07.440
down on investing on let's say the ones and twos
657
00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:13.599
and you know, tertiary threes, right, But it's like we
658
00:35:13.800 --> 00:35:17.599
complain that we have a lack of depth, like as
659
00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:19.440
far as like if you go ahead and you imagine
660
00:35:19.480 --> 00:35:22.960
for a second, like take fine, take top two in
661
00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:25.400
some way classes in our country, you can even say
662
00:35:25.480 --> 00:35:28.320
top three, but take top two. A lot of times
663
00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:31.719
there's a pretty significant drop off between let's say the
664
00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:34.000
top two guys are top three guys in a way
665
00:35:34.039 --> 00:35:37.239
class and then everyone else. It's not like the number
666
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:40.679
four or five guy is really too often is not
667
00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:44.199
really going to threaten one or two, not really okay,
668
00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:46.599
And it's like, well, what happens. Well, it's like, well,
669
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.960
the guys who consistently make teams or at least in
670
00:35:50.039 --> 00:35:53.119
the argument, and they're on national team, they're going to
671
00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:56.079
get the same pretty much the same opportunities the very
672
00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:58.599
next season too. They're gonna be on the Winter Tour,
673
00:35:58.719 --> 00:36:00.239
they're gonna go here, and they're gonna be at this
674
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:01.800
camp and do this and that and this and that.
675
00:36:02.360 --> 00:36:05.760
And it's like, well, the guys who are like, you know,
676
00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:09.440
fringe contenders and are just trying to establish themselves, they
677
00:36:09.559 --> 00:36:13.079
need opportunities too. They don't get the funding, and a
678
00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:15.239
lot of them don't even have the club support anyway,
679
00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:18.360
but they're certainly not getting national team funding. And it's like, well,
680
00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:20.599
there's got to be stuff for them to do as well,
681
00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:23.440
Like they've got to have like their own chances to
682
00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:26.719
at least train and compete overseas, even if it's different,
683
00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:30.559
Like my idea was Tier one and Tier two, like
684
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:33.400
if you could ever have like, let's say, two separate budgets, which,
685
00:36:33.719 --> 00:36:39.039
by the way, I understand sounds kind of I don't know,
686
00:36:39.119 --> 00:36:42.239
like pie in the sky a little bit. But it's like, okay, fine,
687
00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:44.119
you're ones and twos they'll go to a place like
688
00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:47.360
let's say Zagreb, or they'll go to the other branking
689
00:36:47.480 --> 00:36:51.719
series and whatever. But then you're tier two athletes who
690
00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:54.880
haven't made national team yet, or maybe they've made national
691
00:36:54.960 --> 00:36:57.119
team but they haven't really kind of threatened to make
692
00:36:57.159 --> 00:37:00.239
a world team. Those guys you sent to like say
693
00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:03.000
tier two style kind of like more like events, you know,
694
00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:05.519
like if they like on a year, like if they
695
00:37:05.559 --> 00:37:09.920
had Paula Salu and Petrov or something like that, you know,
696
00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:12.639
like and the only reason why I say Petrov is
697
00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:14.519
because Petrov has kind of fallen off a little bit.
698
00:37:14.519 --> 00:37:17.760
It's basically Bulgaria's version of Dave Schultz memorial, but like
699
00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:22.039
it's we need to kind of spread the wealth a
700
00:37:22.119 --> 00:37:23.840
little bit. And I'm not saying that in like some
701
00:37:23.960 --> 00:37:28.840
sort of communistic socialistic sense, but just in terms of, well,
702
00:37:29.559 --> 00:37:32.519
we complain about a lack of depth, right, we complain
703
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:36.039
about it, but we're also the same you know, two
704
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:37.920
or three usual suspects in each way class, so the
705
00:37:38.039 --> 00:37:41.079
only ones really kind of traveling and competing. It's like
706
00:37:41.239 --> 00:37:43.599
last year at the World Team trials, it's like ninety
707
00:37:43.719 --> 00:37:48.199
percent of that as that participation list that was their
708
00:37:48.199 --> 00:37:51.000
first tournament the season, it's like they're not really doing much.
709
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:54.159
Yeah, but like a lot of those guys, they a
710
00:37:54.239 --> 00:37:58.280
lot of them bitch about not getting you know, getting
711
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:01.679
to do this stuff, or they want these opportunities and stuff.
712
00:38:01.719 --> 00:38:03.679
But when we have opportunities in the US, they don't
713
00:38:03.719 --> 00:38:07.960
even come to them. That's the biggest problem is it's
714
00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:11.199
like if they were all coming to all these camps
715
00:38:11.239 --> 00:38:14.039
and we were filling everything up, and it was you know,
716
00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:17.239
it was tough to even you know, get the ones
717
00:38:17.320 --> 00:38:19.079
and twos into the camp because we had so many
718
00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:21.360
lower guys. We'd probably be like, you know, let's get
719
00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:24.159
more guys involved, but that's not even happening.
720
00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:26.760
It's not happening. And sometimes you got to make a
721
00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:35.039
way for yourself, you know, like you like everybody'd be like, oh,
722
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:37.880
I'm not going I can't go to this trip.
723
00:38:38.119 --> 00:38:40.280
I can't even I can't afford to go to these
724
00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:42.960
tournaments and NYC won't help me. And then it's like
725
00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:45.760
next thing, you know, they're in Mexico on vacation and
726
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:50.480
it's like, well, you probably could have went to throw
727
00:38:50.679 --> 00:38:53.480
Masters this year, I bet, but instead you wanted to
728
00:38:53.480 --> 00:38:54.280
go to Puntakana.
729
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:58.119
With your girlfriend, so like, that's that's a problem. That's
730
00:38:58.159 --> 00:39:02.000
a real problem. Sometimes you gotta do it for yourself.
731
00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:05.280
And then it read the rewards after, you know, maybe
732
00:39:05.320 --> 00:39:07.440
the guys see, oh, this guy's going overseas, he's trying
733
00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:11.480
to do this stuff. Next thing, you know, you're on
734
00:39:11.559 --> 00:39:14.360
the funding, you're getting on NYC, you're getting help, you're
735
00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:17.800
getting reached out to, like they want you to come
736
00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:20.400
to the camps. I don't know. That's just what I think.
737
00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:23.519
Listen, No, you make a great point. That's part of
738
00:39:23.559 --> 00:39:26.440
the problem as well. That is definitely part of the
739
00:39:26.519 --> 00:39:32.320
problem as well. That that said, there should be like
740
00:39:32.440 --> 00:39:35.679
some kind of avenues open budget wise, if we could
741
00:39:35.719 --> 00:39:39.440
ever have it to where it's like identify guys like
742
00:39:40.599 --> 00:39:43.320
from like let's say four to seven or something and
743
00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:45.320
here and there, and it's like, hey, listen, like, you know,
744
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:47.239
would you be interesting going to this because we can
745
00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:49.960
fund it, you know, and then you at least put
746
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:51.960
people on the corner to where like if they say no,
747
00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:54.239
then it's on them, you know what I mean.
748
00:39:54.480 --> 00:39:56.519
I guess we'll see.
749
00:39:57.280 --> 00:39:59.880
I don't think it's not happening anytime soon. I really would.
750
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:07.719
I'm worrying about it. Gosh, you're right though, man, Like
751
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:12.559
I look, if there is one complaint that or I
752
00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:14.800
shouldn't even say it's a complaint. It's not a complaint.
753
00:40:15.400 --> 00:40:21.079
But if whenever I talk to like, you know, guys
754
00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:24.639
from the past, older retired guys, guys who are in there,
755
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:28.159
you know, I don't know, like fifties and sixties dudes
756
00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:30.840
who've been done for like a long time. If they
757
00:40:30.920 --> 00:40:35.480
have one critique of the current generation, it is that
758
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:41.360
they are two dependent upon others, too dependent on coaches,
759
00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:47.039
two dependent on help, too dependent on resources, instead of
760
00:40:47.239 --> 00:40:50.320
having more of a like, well it looks like I'm
761
00:40:50.360 --> 00:40:52.480
going to have to do it myself sort of attitude,
762
00:40:52.760 --> 00:40:53.400
you know what I'm saying.
763
00:40:54.639 --> 00:40:57.760
No, it's it's a huge problem, and it's just like
764
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:02.639
I'm I'm just sick of listening to everyone complain about it,
765
00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:04.800
to be like that's that's where I'm at with the
766
00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:08.320
old situation, Like it's a problem, but I just wish
767
00:41:08.360 --> 00:41:11.000
they wouldn't they wouldn't all complain about it, and then
768
00:41:11.039 --> 00:41:14.039
when they have opportunities they don't take them, Like there
769
00:41:14.159 --> 00:41:15.960
was a time you know, I don't know.
770
00:41:16.800 --> 00:41:20.400
Say it, just say it, Just stay the set.
771
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:23.679
It's a touchy subject because like we've all, like everybody's
772
00:41:23.719 --> 00:41:25.239
been there. There's not one guy that's on the senior
773
00:41:25.320 --> 00:41:28.719
ladder that didn't have to you know, pull money out
774
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:32.559
of their pocket to go somewhere or you know, make
775
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:35.599
phone call after phone call to get to a camp
776
00:41:35.679 --> 00:41:39.159
or get invited to a tournament or go over like
777
00:41:39.320 --> 00:41:41.559
I don't know, and it's just like people don't do it.
778
00:41:42.840 --> 00:41:43.679
They just don't do it.
779
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:46.440
So dude, I remember there was a time when Lynnland
780
00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:49.159
had to turn people away and tell them that they
781
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.840
can't come because their capacity, like everything was pretty much
782
00:41:53.159 --> 00:41:56.840
fairly well full to the point where guys were you know,
783
00:41:56.960 --> 00:42:00.239
some guys felt like, uh by a perception that they
784
00:42:00.280 --> 00:42:02.599
were like being left out on purpose and things like that,
785
00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:05.400
but that wasn't the case. It's just that the buy
786
00:42:05.480 --> 00:42:08.480
in was so high, and it's like you fast forward,
787
00:42:09.239 --> 00:42:12.880
I don't know, ten years or so, and now it's
788
00:42:13.159 --> 00:42:15.480
like you have to twist some people's arms too.
789
00:42:16.440 --> 00:42:22.039
Yeah, come train, Yeah, I don't know.
790
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:26.119
Whatever. Hey, let me ask you a question. You're very
791
00:42:26.199 --> 00:42:29.400
close friends with Spencer Woods. Is that not correct?
792
00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:32.559
Yeah, Spencer is one of my I would consider one
793
00:42:32.599 --> 00:42:33.320
of my best friends.
794
00:42:34.360 --> 00:42:37.559
So what is it like for you when you watch
795
00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:39.639
him and Peyton wrestle each other.
796
00:42:41.159 --> 00:42:45.320
Yeah, dude, that one sucks. I hate that one. I
797
00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:46.079
hate that one.
798
00:42:47.039 --> 00:42:49.599
And I got even closer with Spencer once I moved
799
00:42:49.639 --> 00:42:51.440
to Colorado because he lives there, Like we were really
800
00:42:51.480 --> 00:42:55.800
close before, and then I got close with him, even
801
00:42:55.880 --> 00:42:56.280
closer with.
802
00:42:56.320 --> 00:43:00.400
Him while I was living out in Colorado. So yeah,
803
00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:01.519
it really sucks.
804
00:43:02.679 --> 00:43:05.119
At Olympic trials, it was a little easier for me
805
00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:08.880
to sit in Peyton's corner because Peyton was wrestling with me.
806
00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:11.920
Every day, but it still was, like, man, it was
807
00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:16.920
really it was really hard. I yeah, I don't I
808
00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:17.440
don't like that.
809
00:43:17.559 --> 00:43:20.039
I wish I wish they were at different weight classes.
810
00:43:20.360 --> 00:43:22.760
I would do if there was anybody that I wish
811
00:43:22.840 --> 00:43:25.039
was had a different weight class, that was Spencer and Peyton.
812
00:43:26.840 --> 00:43:28.679
Yeah, I mean, look at it's just something that just
813
00:43:28.840 --> 00:43:31.639
is just common in our sport at every level, you know,
814
00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:37.840
like we we formed type relationships with you know, and
815
00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:40.440
plus Peyton's like a little brother almost right.
816
00:43:41.480 --> 00:43:44.360
Yeah, I'm so close with Peyton just his whole family,
817
00:43:44.519 --> 00:43:48.039
So it makes it, yeah, super difficult.
818
00:43:48.119 --> 00:43:49.440
It's a super difficult match.
819
00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:53.559
I honestly don't even the one where they watch wrestled
820
00:43:53.559 --> 00:43:56.400
in Vegas. I didn't even watch it until after. I
821
00:43:56.559 --> 00:43:57.599
like just turned the stream off.
822
00:43:57.639 --> 00:43:59.679
I wasn't in Vegas. I was just watching on my phone.
823
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:00.840
I just turned it off.
824
00:44:00.880 --> 00:44:03.719
I actually went back and rewatched it after, so I
825
00:44:03.800 --> 00:44:04.920
was like, I don't even want to watch this.
826
00:44:05.679 --> 00:44:06.920
That was really where I was at.
827
00:44:08.280 --> 00:44:11.400
Yeah, I could picture that, and I know, like, yeah,
828
00:44:11.480 --> 00:44:13.199
I could picture because I know how I mean, I
829
00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:16.599
knew that you were close with Woods and that you
830
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:20.960
obviously have that you know, tight years years years long
831
00:44:21.079 --> 00:44:25.719
relationship with Jacobsen, who, to your credit, even when he
832
00:44:25.920 --> 00:44:30.199
was a shrimp at sixty kilos, like you were trying
833
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:32.440
to convince anyone who would listen, like how good he
834
00:44:32.559 --> 00:44:32.960
was going to be.
835
00:44:33.960 --> 00:44:36.480
Yeah, yeah, I always knew Peyton was going to be.
836
00:44:36.679 --> 00:44:38.280
Peyton's the man. He was always the man.
837
00:44:39.039 --> 00:44:39.679
It's kind of took.
838
00:44:40.039 --> 00:44:43.400
Yeah, he's a beast, dude, he is a beast. I
839
00:44:43.559 --> 00:44:46.639
was telling the story recently. I think I might have
840
00:44:46.679 --> 00:44:50.039
told Herbert, but he is a true story. So when Aiden,
841
00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:53.840
when Aiden Nutter got to like, well, I think it
842
00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:56.000
was a I don't know if Aiden's first semester or
843
00:44:56.079 --> 00:44:59.320
whatever it was. It was twenty one, so like Peyton
844
00:44:59.320 --> 00:45:00.960
had already kind of been there a minute, and then
845
00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:03.239
Aiden was there and I was like, okay, well, you
846
00:45:03.320 --> 00:45:05.800
know it would be cool, like let's do like let's
847
00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:09.760
do a piece on like Jacobson and Nutter little Nutter
848
00:45:10.039 --> 00:45:13.840
like kind of being at Northern now and you know whatever.
849
00:45:14.039 --> 00:45:17.320
So I go and I do this thing right, and
850
00:45:17.519 --> 00:45:21.559
I started, like it was like Christmas time twenty twenty
851
00:45:21.639 --> 00:45:23.440
one is when like I started putting this on like
852
00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:26.360
the like the Doo Doo do list, And so this
853
00:45:26.440 --> 00:45:30.239
is a true story. It's so embarrassing. Well it was embarrassing,
854
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:36.320
but I had Peyton's phone number, right, and so it's
855
00:45:36.360 --> 00:45:42.960
like the morning after Christmas, December twenty sixth. And this,
856
00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:46.119
by the way, this is all to illuminate Peyton's work ethic.
857
00:45:46.880 --> 00:45:51.000
But it's like the morning after Christmas and it's nine
858
00:45:51.039 --> 00:45:55.320
am New Jersey time, so that's like eight am Wisconsin time,
859
00:45:56.119 --> 00:45:58.920
and so I'm like, it's probably safe, like that kid's
860
00:45:58.920 --> 00:46:02.119
probably up. And so I was just calling to like
861
00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:08.480
schedule the actual call to record him, and instead it
862
00:46:08.719 --> 00:46:13.559
wasn't his phone, like it was like either his house
863
00:46:13.760 --> 00:46:18.760
number or his like mom's phone or something I don't remember,
864
00:46:18.920 --> 00:46:22.239
but like I go, I call this number and it's
865
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:25.280
like eight am, Wisconsin time, and his mom picks up
866
00:46:26.239 --> 00:46:28.400
and like so now I'm like super embarrassed because like
867
00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:32.880
I'm a married father of you know, two kids calling
868
00:46:33.840 --> 00:46:36.679
to speak to some like whatever Peyton was in two
869
00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:40.880
when eighteen nineteen years old or whatever. And I'm like,
870
00:46:41.039 --> 00:46:44.440
oh whatever, like, oh hi, missus Jacobson, Yeah, this is
871
00:46:44.639 --> 00:46:47.599
uh Tim from five point Move And she's like, oh,
872
00:46:47.679 --> 00:46:51.159
hi whatever. But after I get over that, she's like
873
00:46:51.360 --> 00:46:53.400
I say, like, yeah, you know, can I you know,
874
00:46:53.880 --> 00:46:56.880
was Peyton there? You know whatever? And she was like,
875
00:46:57.599 --> 00:46:59.800
oh no, well Peyton's gone. He went to the gym
876
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:02.960
this morning, like he's been there for a little he's
877
00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:04.719
been there for a while, but he should probably be
878
00:47:04.840 --> 00:47:07.840
home like within the next hour or two. It's like, dude,
879
00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:11.400
that kid was up. My takeaway was like that kid
880
00:47:11.559 --> 00:47:16.320
was up the morning after Christmas like working out like
881
00:47:16.599 --> 00:47:18.559
at like six forty five am.
882
00:47:19.599 --> 00:47:22.400
Yeah. He's a he's a monster. He's got he's got
883
00:47:22.440 --> 00:47:23.719
one of the craziest work ethics.
884
00:47:24.880 --> 00:47:29.239
He'll make anybody feel lazy, Like he literally could make
885
00:47:29.440 --> 00:47:30.599
anybody feel lazy.
886
00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:33.079
It is incredible. Dude's just a beast.
887
00:47:33.880 --> 00:47:36.320
He's like, that's the only word for Peyton is just
888
00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:41.079
he's He's just a beast. Nothing phases him. He's just
889
00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:43.679
it's nothing phases him.
890
00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:45.159
Yeah.
891
00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:48.760
What was it like, uh watching him get his U
892
00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:49.920
twenty three world medal here.
893
00:47:51.679 --> 00:47:53.800
I mean, it was pretty It was pretty hype.
894
00:47:54.199 --> 00:47:58.159
It was really hype because I mean he's been working
895
00:47:58.239 --> 00:48:00.400
for forever for that, Like we were talking about it,
896
00:48:00.519 --> 00:48:02.280
like going into it, I'm like, dude, you can do
897
00:48:02.400 --> 00:48:04.920
it this year. And he you could tell he felt
898
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:07.480
super confident going in. But then the best part was
899
00:48:07.559 --> 00:48:12.719
he was actually flying. He flew from the World Championships
900
00:48:12.920 --> 00:48:16.239
to uh uh, North Dakota and I picked him up
901
00:48:16.239 --> 00:48:18.159
in North Dakota and we went hunting for a week.
902
00:48:18.920 --> 00:48:21.159
So it was like as he got off the plane,
903
00:48:21.199 --> 00:48:23.480
I was waiting for him at baggage claim and he
904
00:48:23.599 --> 00:48:26.480
came out like all nonchalant, and then he had the
905
00:48:26.559 --> 00:48:28.440
medal around his neck and he had like pulled it
906
00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:29.320
out like it was a chain.
907
00:48:29.400 --> 00:48:31.760
It was so funny. It was so funny.
908
00:48:34.199 --> 00:48:36.119
Yeah, you guys are in a good spot. We had
909
00:48:36.159 --> 00:48:37.320
a good young group.
910
00:48:38.119 --> 00:48:40.400
Yeah, we got a killer young squad, like the young
911
00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:44.840
guys are, they're they're really talented right now, They're really
912
00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:45.760
really talented.
913
00:48:47.880 --> 00:48:49.920
This is I mean, look at I know that obviously
914
00:48:50.119 --> 00:48:53.679
you're I would think obviously that you know, you're of course,
915
00:48:54.519 --> 00:49:02.199
you know, focused and concerned with your own individual goals
916
00:49:02.320 --> 00:49:09.000
and things like that. But you know, I gotta think
917
00:49:09.159 --> 00:49:15.599
like you're I think that you're probably looked at even
918
00:49:15.719 --> 00:49:20.760
with having gone through uh maybe even especially actually gone
919
00:49:20.800 --> 00:49:24.199
through uh, you know, the injury over the past year,
920
00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:27.719
But like, uh, do you like got to be looked
921
00:49:27.719 --> 00:49:30.400
as a leader in our program at this point? No,
922
00:49:31.079 --> 00:49:32.039
do you feel like one?
923
00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:33.519
I do?
924
00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:34.199
I do.
925
00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:36.199
We got a lot of older guys on the team
926
00:49:36.280 --> 00:49:39.000
though that that kind of keep the seniority over me
927
00:49:39.079 --> 00:49:42.800
at times. But I'm definitely I'm definitely like the biggest
928
00:49:42.840 --> 00:49:43.840
hype man on the squad.
929
00:49:43.920 --> 00:49:45.000
Everybody kind of knows that.
930
00:49:45.239 --> 00:49:48.079
I would say it's me or Max Black, for sure,
931
00:49:48.199 --> 00:49:51.559
but we're I try and keep everyone hyped up, and
932
00:49:52.239 --> 00:49:54.320
the newer guys that are coming on, I try and
933
00:49:55.360 --> 00:49:57.159
you know, kind of show them the ropes the best
934
00:49:57.199 --> 00:50:01.119
I can. But I I definitely wouldn't say I have
935
00:50:01.239 --> 00:50:03.159
this seniority rank on the squad for the moment.
936
00:50:03.199 --> 00:50:05.280
Well, you don't in terms you're twenty five years old.
937
00:50:05.400 --> 00:50:09.159
I get that. Yeah, but like you're you're very supportive
938
00:50:09.199 --> 00:50:13.480
of like everybody. You're obviously very vocal, and you're also
939
00:50:13.519 --> 00:50:16.760
a top athlete, and you've been around like even though
940
00:50:16.760 --> 00:50:19.280
you're only twenty five. The thing is is that, like
941
00:50:19.360 --> 00:50:22.039
you've been like a major part of the program for
942
00:50:22.960 --> 00:50:24.800
what now, Like I mean, if you count when you
943
00:50:24.880 --> 00:50:30.639
started even at Northern, like that's twenty seventeen. So like
944
00:50:30.800 --> 00:50:32.719
it's not like you just got here and you're like
945
00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:36.920
being presumptuous like everybody knows you. Like I would think
946
00:50:36.920 --> 00:50:39.599
that young guys probably would like certainly listen to here.
947
00:50:40.400 --> 00:50:44.280
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they definitely do. They definitely, Uh, they
948
00:50:44.360 --> 00:50:45.840
do listen to me for the most part.
949
00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:49.559
But I know my role.
950
00:50:49.880 --> 00:50:52.039
I know my role on team, and I worry about
951
00:50:52.079 --> 00:50:54.400
myself for the most part. But there is a time
952
00:50:54.480 --> 00:50:59.239
and place where where I speak my mind or try
953
00:50:59.280 --> 00:51:02.280
and tell these guys is, you know, like when we're
954
00:51:02.320 --> 00:51:04.119
going on a trip what they need to start looking
955
00:51:04.159 --> 00:51:06.440
out for and what's going to happen when we get there.
956
00:51:06.519 --> 00:51:09.400
So I try and I try and stay in my
957
00:51:10.039 --> 00:51:11.119
my role. The best I can.
958
00:51:12.599 --> 00:51:16.639
Are you good at like, are you good at comforting guys?
959
00:51:17.719 --> 00:51:19.280
No? No, I'm not the comforter.
960
00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:22.119
Definitely, they don't come to they don't come to Benji
961
00:51:22.239 --> 00:51:22.719
for comfort.
962
00:51:22.840 --> 00:51:25.679
That's that's that is, that's the truth.
963
00:51:26.480 --> 00:51:32.679
But when they want to hear the real honest, when
964
00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:34.920
they want the honesty, I would say I'm probably the
965
00:51:34.960 --> 00:51:41.920
guy they come to. Yeah, I'm definitely not the shoulder guy.
966
00:51:43.559 --> 00:51:46.079
But uh yeah, I'm not the carrot guy. I'm the
967
00:51:46.119 --> 00:51:47.199
stick guy for sure.
968
00:51:47.199 --> 00:51:47.559
At time.
969
00:51:47.639 --> 00:51:51.960
Oh I like that. That's a pretty good one. Hey,
970
00:51:52.079 --> 00:51:56.280
so what do you think about don here what they're
971
00:51:56.320 --> 00:51:56.880
doing so far?
972
00:51:58.639 --> 00:52:00.719
You know, I like what they're doing. I actually went
973
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:01.039
out there.
974
00:52:01.079 --> 00:52:02.480
I was one of the first guys that kind of
975
00:52:02.480 --> 00:52:04.800
went out there to take a peek at what they
976
00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:08.239
had going I like what they have going there. It's
977
00:52:08.559 --> 00:52:10.800
it's gonna be one of those things where, like a
978
00:52:10.880 --> 00:52:13.599
lot of people already have an opinion on it or
979
00:52:13.639 --> 00:52:17.239
a voice of what they think, but it's it's one
980
00:52:17.239 --> 00:52:19.280
of those situations where it's like it's gonna take time.
981
00:52:19.360 --> 00:52:21.119
If you take an opinion of what it is now,
982
00:52:21.280 --> 00:52:23.400
it's it's not gonna be the same, you know, in
983
00:52:24.559 --> 00:52:27.320
in three years. I think they're they're on the right path.
984
00:52:27.400 --> 00:52:29.960
They just they got to get a couple of superstars.
985
00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:34.400
I really think that's like it's hard to get guys
986
00:52:34.440 --> 00:52:36.519
to go there without a few superstars. I think they
987
00:52:36.599 --> 00:52:41.039
need to invest a little more into that. But they
988
00:52:41.119 --> 00:52:43.800
got a good thing. I I really I like Christiansen
989
00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:46.159
a lot. I like the brack uh Tommy Brackett a lot.
990
00:52:46.199 --> 00:52:47.760
I thought he was a great dude to pull in.
991
00:52:47.960 --> 00:52:49.920
So I think they're on the right track. I like
992
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:50.800
what they got going there.
993
00:52:51.559 --> 00:52:53.719
They've done such a great job of bringing kids in
994
00:52:54.320 --> 00:52:57.880
so far. Yeah, but I really like and I love Christiansen.
995
00:52:58.199 --> 00:53:02.199
I totally do totally what I'm really You know how
996
00:53:02.239 --> 00:53:04.920
we were talking before, how you always hear, oh, they're
997
00:53:04.920 --> 00:53:07.159
gonna do this, this team's gonna do that, this guy
998
00:53:07.239 --> 00:53:09.159
saying that he's gonna bring this team in stuff like that,
999
00:53:09.360 --> 00:53:11.280
and don't getting wrong. This was a little different because
1000
00:53:11.360 --> 00:53:15.320
like Cheney and then you know, Justin were like involved
1001
00:53:16.440 --> 00:53:19.239
in helping make this happen as far as don't adding
1002
00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:23.000
Greco and stuff. But I figured it would probably take
1003
00:53:24.760 --> 00:53:27.920
They've got a lot of guys already, Like I figured
1004
00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:30.880
that was gonna take like a, then the number of
1005
00:53:30.960 --> 00:53:32.639
dudes they have and I don't know the exact number,
1006
00:53:32.639 --> 00:53:34.960
but the number of kids they have already, I did
1007
00:53:35.039 --> 00:53:37.559
not think that they would have until like maybe at
1008
00:53:37.599 --> 00:53:39.280
the end of year or two, going into year three.
1009
00:53:40.320 --> 00:53:42.840
Yeah, No, they're doing a They're doing a good job
1010
00:53:42.880 --> 00:53:45.079
of getting guys. I I didn't think that was gonna
1011
00:53:45.079 --> 00:53:47.360
be a problem though, just knowing Christensen, like I knew
1012
00:53:47.400 --> 00:53:49.239
he was gonna he was gonna be a guy that
1013
00:53:50.039 --> 00:53:54.920
that was able to pull numbers. But you gotta they
1014
00:53:55.440 --> 00:53:57.599
in order to get those better guys to not go
1015
00:53:57.760 --> 00:54:00.719
to Northern because they're they're just He's gonna lose the
1016
00:54:00.760 --> 00:54:04.840
top talented Northern. It feels like until they can instead
1017
00:54:04.880 --> 00:54:06.639
of going for the mass numbers, they're just like, you
1018
00:54:06.719 --> 00:54:08.639
know what, Now they got the squad, they got the
1019
00:54:08.679 --> 00:54:11.440
guys they need to go land, you know, two or
1020
00:54:11.519 --> 00:54:15.360
three really solid guys, big names, and then I think
1021
00:54:15.400 --> 00:54:18.639
people will follow. So I have high hopes for them.
1022
00:54:18.880 --> 00:54:21.480
I really think they're gonna be good. It's gonna take
1023
00:54:21.519 --> 00:54:24.239
some time, but I think they're gonna be good.
1024
00:54:26.159 --> 00:54:27.039
How about your own team?
1025
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:31.599
We got we got an we got an interesting squad
1026
00:54:31.679 --> 00:54:34.960
here in Oklahoma, dude, it's I tell you what I
1027
00:54:35.400 --> 00:54:36.360
interesting squad.
1028
00:54:36.599 --> 00:54:40.320
Wait a minute, though, I wrote like I just went
1029
00:54:40.400 --> 00:54:42.400
out like and and kind of like I've made this
1030
00:54:42.599 --> 00:54:45.960
joke before, but it's like I just did the Spencer
1031
00:54:46.320 --> 00:54:49.440
Army Report thing, and it's like, well, it's like Armies
1032
00:54:49.519 --> 00:54:53.079
kind of like the Dodgers, you know. Right now, it's
1033
00:54:53.119 --> 00:54:55.159
like a lot of top guys. If they want them,
1034
00:54:55.199 --> 00:54:58.039
they get them. They've got the resources, they've got coaches
1035
00:54:58.039 --> 00:55:00.719
and staff and all this other stuff. And it's like
1036
00:55:02.199 --> 00:55:05.079
you look at your team and your team is like
1037
00:55:05.159 --> 00:55:08.159
starting to I mean maybe not the Dodgers yet, like
1038
00:55:08.280 --> 00:55:13.199
as far as like overall numbers, but you've got a
1039
00:55:13.239 --> 00:55:14.360
lot of good guys already.
1040
00:55:15.199 --> 00:55:17.719
Ours is another Ours is another spot where it's like
1041
00:55:17.920 --> 00:55:20.800
it's gonna take a little bit of time. I think
1042
00:55:20.840 --> 00:55:23.599
we're gonna we're gonna have a really good team quick.
1043
00:55:24.599 --> 00:55:28.079
But at the moment, we have one of those teams
1044
00:55:28.119 --> 00:55:31.480
where like people are like gonna be a little confused.
1045
00:55:31.079 --> 00:55:31.880
At for a little bit.
1046
00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:36.239
But like my main training partner right now is Brett Bach. Yep,
1047
00:55:37.480 --> 00:55:39.840
I'm telling you this dude's gonna be good. Yeah, he's
1048
00:55:39.840 --> 00:55:42.840
a bulbog and I wouldn't say that. I don't just
1049
00:55:42.960 --> 00:55:46.360
say that stuff like he's gonna be good. He has
1050
00:55:46.480 --> 00:55:49.880
never had like a real training partner for Greco. Like
1051
00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:52.119
he's been a good wrestler in general, but he hasn't
1052
00:55:52.159 --> 00:55:57.719
had like a true training partner. And I think over
1053
00:55:57.800 --> 00:56:00.880
the month, the past month we've been wrestling together, he's
1054
00:56:00.960 --> 00:56:06.480
made crazy improvements, like I think he's gonna be I
1055
00:56:06.519 --> 00:56:08.880
think he's gonna be really tough to beat by April,
1056
00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:12.440
and in a couple of years he's gonna be a mainstay.
1057
00:56:12.679 --> 00:56:14.360
I can feel it. I can feel it when I
1058
00:56:14.400 --> 00:56:18.280
wrestle with him. He loves to learn, like he's he's
1059
00:56:18.360 --> 00:56:18.599
all in.
1060
00:56:18.960 --> 00:56:23.440
He works his butt off, like yeah, high praise for Brett.
1061
00:56:23.639 --> 00:56:27.119
He's definitely a goober. He's a goofy goober for sure,
1062
00:56:27.159 --> 00:56:28.400
but he's uh.
1063
00:56:29.920 --> 00:56:31.440
Yeah, I like him a lot. I think he's gonna
1064
00:56:31.440 --> 00:56:31.679
be good.
1065
00:56:33.440 --> 00:56:37.239
I guess this is probably I don't know if it's
1066
00:56:37.280 --> 00:56:43.920
a dumb question and not considering, but is there anything
1067
00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:47.639
else that you're gonna do anywhere else you're going to
1068
00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:52.039
go before trials after coming back from Albania.
1069
00:56:53.440 --> 00:56:56.360
No, I think I'm gonna hunker down here and kind
1070
00:56:56.400 --> 00:56:59.760
of just take what I've learned from Albania, whether it's
1071
00:56:59.840 --> 00:57:02.519
the tournament or what's going on in camp and my
1072
00:57:02.599 --> 00:57:06.119
matches at camp, or you know, just how I'm feeling,
1073
00:57:06.239 --> 00:57:08.880
and I'm gonna take that that month and a half
1074
00:57:08.960 --> 00:57:09.840
two months to just.
1075
00:57:12.079 --> 00:57:12.559
Just stay here.
1076
00:57:12.639 --> 00:57:15.920
Like they got camp in March, and we're not gonna
1077
00:57:15.920 --> 00:57:19.119
send our guys there. Sam's already told us we're not
1078
00:57:19.119 --> 00:57:20.719
gonna go there, which I think is a good move,
1079
00:57:21.039 --> 00:57:24.360
you know, So we're gonna stay and train and we're
1080
00:57:24.400 --> 00:57:25.239
just gonna get ready for that.
1081
00:57:27.320 --> 00:57:31.400
Probably last question, you said matches in camp, Right, do
1082
00:57:31.519 --> 00:57:36.159
you grade yourself differently depending on the circumstance, like, you know,
1083
00:57:36.559 --> 00:57:39.880
whatever live goes you have in camp compared to like
1084
00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:42.760
how you do in matches, Like do you grade yourself differently,
1085
00:57:42.920 --> 00:57:45.119
like as far as like well I did this and
1086
00:57:45.159 --> 00:57:47.920
this against this guy and this guy in camp, but
1087
00:57:48.039 --> 00:57:49.880
then in tournament I did this and this and this
1088
00:57:50.039 --> 00:57:51.920
and but that was the tournament. Like do you grade
1089
00:57:51.920 --> 00:57:54.679
yourself differently depending on whether it's a tournament or if
1090
00:57:54.679 --> 00:57:55.679
it's a training camp?
1091
00:57:57.000 --> 00:58:00.639
Yeah, yeah, because there's they're so different in in the tournament.
1092
00:58:01.480 --> 00:58:05.920
It's more like I would say, in a tournament, I
1093
00:58:05.960 --> 00:58:08.000
feel like we focus more on like.
1094
00:58:08.039 --> 00:58:10.800
The techniques that were happening, like, oh, you were in
1095
00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:14.840
bad position, you know, and these spots when you had
1096
00:58:14.880 --> 00:58:16.599
your underhooks and in camp. But you can kind of
1097
00:58:16.679 --> 00:58:20.800
feel like, I don't know, if this guy felt way
1098
00:58:20.840 --> 00:58:22.639
stronger than me, maybe I need to work on my strength,
1099
00:58:22.760 --> 00:58:24.599
or my cardio wasn't the best. It's not as much
1100
00:58:24.599 --> 00:58:27.079
about the wrestling as it is like your overall fitness.
1101
00:58:27.480 --> 00:58:29.840
That's kind of where I stand on it. Or I'm
1102
00:58:29.880 --> 00:58:33.239
getting hired in these positions, or I'm getting snapped down
1103
00:58:33.320 --> 00:58:37.280
in a tournament is more like, man, my match IQ
1104
00:58:37.639 --> 00:58:39.840
is out the window, or I'm getting off balanced a
1105
00:58:39.920 --> 00:58:43.000
lot and these like That's more what I'm thinking overall.
1106
00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:44.519
But you can take a lot from both of them.
1107
00:58:44.840 --> 00:58:47.800
Practice matches are great, they have their own thing, and
1108
00:58:48.280 --> 00:58:50.880
tournament matches with the lights on, they're a completely different thing.
1109
00:58:50.920 --> 00:58:52.559
But you can pull a lot from both of them.
1110
00:58:55.519 --> 00:58:58.199
If you had to. I don't know. I'm not going
1111
00:58:58.280 --> 00:59:01.480
to make you use a ten scale, I guess, but
1112
00:59:02.039 --> 00:59:07.559
considering the recovery considering I mean, I guess we'll count
1113
00:59:07.639 --> 00:59:11.119
the Portugal thing that I had zero clue about until
1114
00:59:11.159 --> 00:59:17.480
you mentioned it then there's January camp and practices in Oklahoma,
1115
00:59:17.679 --> 00:59:22.199
and now you're going to Croatia, like you're you said
1116
00:59:22.239 --> 00:59:25.679
that you had started to in August like lift pretty
1117
00:59:25.719 --> 00:59:29.840
heavy and all that. Like where would you put Like,
1118
00:59:30.039 --> 00:59:34.199
is your physical like strength, your physical viability the same
1119
00:59:34.280 --> 00:59:38.480
as pre injury ors are you even physically stronger at
1120
00:59:38.519 --> 00:59:38.920
this point?
1121
00:59:40.519 --> 00:59:45.239
I'm a lot smaller, Like just I'm pretty Like before
1122
00:59:45.480 --> 00:59:49.199
i was weighing like eighty eighty one ish and I
1123
00:59:49.280 --> 00:59:51.119
was cutting down to seventy two, so i was cutting
1124
00:59:51.159 --> 00:59:53.960
a lot of weight. And now I'm weighing like seventy seven,
1125
00:59:54.119 --> 00:59:56.880
so I'm not cutting as much weight anymore, and I'm.
1126
00:59:56.719 --> 00:59:57.320
A little smaller.
1127
00:59:57.320 --> 01:00:02.199
I'm not as strong, but like physically I would say,
1128
01:00:02.800 --> 01:00:06.719
but I'm pretty. I don't know the word I feel.
1129
01:00:06.960 --> 01:00:10.639
I feel really good right now. It's hard to it's
1130
01:00:10.679 --> 01:00:13.159
hard to explain. But yeah, I've definitely lost some size
1131
01:00:13.760 --> 01:00:19.519
from the injury, but I still feel really good, feel
1132
01:00:19.519 --> 01:00:23.039
one hundred percent, feel like everything's kind of trending in
1133
01:00:23.079 --> 01:00:23.719
the right direction.
1134
01:00:23.920 --> 01:00:28.239
So so that's probably just temporary, you know, Yeah, I.
1135
01:00:28.239 --> 01:00:30.000
Think it'll be temporary. But I kind of like where
1136
01:00:30.039 --> 01:00:32.360
I'm at right now, Like I really don't mind it
1137
01:00:32.760 --> 01:00:33.920
for at least this year.
1138
01:00:35.119 --> 01:00:36.639
I kind of like where my weight's at, and I
1139
01:00:36.840 --> 01:00:40.480
like not having to focus as much on cutting weight
1140
01:00:40.559 --> 01:00:42.280
and I can focus a little more on the wrestling part,
1141
01:00:42.360 --> 01:00:47.679
which I think is honestly been really nice. It's been
1142
01:00:47.800 --> 01:00:49.159
really nice because I feel like a lot of times
1143
01:00:49.199 --> 01:00:52.000
I'm getting hurt is when I'm when I'm cutting that
1144
01:00:52.239 --> 01:00:53.840
you know, that huge amount of weight. So I think
1145
01:00:53.880 --> 01:00:56.760
this could actually be better for me. We'll see, we'll
1146
01:00:56.800 --> 01:00:59.000
see feel it out here in a couple of weeks.
1147
01:00:59.639 --> 01:01:01.800
Is that it advice that you give to younger athletes.
1148
01:01:03.280 --> 01:01:05.199
No, No, I'm opposite.
1149
01:01:05.320 --> 01:01:07.440
I think I think when you're young, everyone's like, oh,
1150
01:01:07.519 --> 01:01:09.199
don't tell the young kids to cut weight, and don't
1151
01:01:09.199 --> 01:01:10.960
tell them to do this. You gotta do whatever you
1152
01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:13.360
gotta do to win, because you will hate this sport
1153
01:01:13.440 --> 01:01:18.199
if you're not winning. I am an advocate of if
1154
01:01:18.239 --> 01:01:20.639
you can, if you can stay up and wait and
1155
01:01:20.800 --> 01:01:23.360
still win a lot of matches and don't cut weight
1156
01:01:23.440 --> 01:01:25.320
because cutting weight sucks. But if you have to cut
1157
01:01:25.400 --> 01:01:28.320
weight to win, cut the weight, cut the waiter, you're
1158
01:01:28.320 --> 01:01:30.400
gonna end up quitting because the sport is too hard.
1159
01:01:32.199 --> 01:01:34.360
You won't hear nobody else say that, but nobody else
1160
01:01:34.480 --> 01:01:35.119
is being honest.
1161
01:01:35.559 --> 01:01:36.159
That's a fact.
1162
01:01:37.639 --> 01:01:39.639
People are like, bump up, you just go up weight,
1163
01:01:39.679 --> 01:01:41.320
and then they end up losing and their kid hates
1164
01:01:41.360 --> 01:01:43.880
the sport and they're like, well that sucks. And it's like, well,
1165
01:01:43.920 --> 01:01:47.679
anytime you're losing every single weekend, you're gonna hate. If
1166
01:01:47.719 --> 01:01:50.920
you cut some weight, you're a little bigger, probably.
1167
01:01:50.679 --> 01:01:52.800
Gonna like it a little more. I don't know. It's crazy,
1168
01:01:53.320 --> 01:01:56.960
crazy concept, but that's that's how I personally feel.
1169
01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:03.639
Okay. And that was two time World team member Benji Peak,
1170
01:02:04.599 --> 01:02:10.599
mister fantastic as I like to follow him, and yeah,
1171
01:02:10.679 --> 01:02:18.719
two time World team member, multi time national champion, and
1172
01:02:19.679 --> 01:02:23.000
you know, I look at I don't want to get sentimental.
1173
01:02:24.320 --> 01:02:27.280
You know, I could have said this to him, and
1174
01:02:27.360 --> 01:02:30.679
in the past I did text him these things or
1175
01:02:30.960 --> 01:02:39.480
whatever not that text him these things. But I hope
1176
01:02:39.519 --> 01:02:44.519
everybody understands the kind of toughness Benji Peak is comprised of. Okay,
1177
01:02:46.440 --> 01:02:49.199
because yes, is he crazy. Yes he's a little crazy.
1178
01:02:50.760 --> 01:02:57.239
He's hilarious too, but he's crazy. But he has put
1179
01:02:58.039 --> 01:03:02.000
together a body of work in conjunction with his results
1180
01:03:03.599 --> 01:03:06.199
that if you look at it like as a whole,
1181
01:03:07.920 --> 01:03:10.760
he's one hundred and ten percent. There's no one tougher
1182
01:03:10.880 --> 01:03:16.320
than him. There's no one tougher than him. Okay, he's
1183
01:03:17.119 --> 01:03:22.079
come back from I mean, yes, okay, the recency bias,
1184
01:03:22.239 --> 01:03:25.559
the broken neck for crying out loud, a broken neck,
1185
01:03:25.599 --> 01:03:29.199
and it's like, yes, the way he describes it. And
1186
01:03:29.280 --> 01:03:31.920
he's saying how the doctor told him, like, look, you're
1187
01:03:31.960 --> 01:03:35.880
gonna wrestle again, and like that's you know, okay, but
1188
01:03:36.039 --> 01:03:38.000
you like he and he he said he did not
1189
01:03:38.199 --> 01:03:40.719
know for sure, because you don't know how these things
1190
01:03:40.760 --> 01:03:42.840
are gonna go. It's one thing to hear a doctor
1191
01:03:42.920 --> 01:03:45.760
say something. Doesn't mean it's always going to turn out
1192
01:03:45.840 --> 01:03:50.280
that way. But it's not just that, it's just, you know,
1193
01:03:50.360 --> 01:03:52.320
it's only a few years ago, I want to say,
1194
01:03:52.360 --> 01:03:56.000
twenty twenty two, you know, tore his shoulder up and
1195
01:03:56.119 --> 01:04:00.519
that was, needless to say, a giant, big deal. And
1196
01:04:01.800 --> 01:04:03.920
the way he's left it out on the mat like
1197
01:04:04.400 --> 01:04:07.360
his first series in twenty one, I guess it was
1198
01:04:08.679 --> 01:04:15.760
against Pat Smith and he lost that series. Benji did,
1199
01:04:17.400 --> 01:04:22.119
but he just I mean, he emptied his reserves and totality,
1200
01:04:22.719 --> 01:04:28.280
which for someone like Pat Smith that's you know, that's automatic.
1201
01:04:28.360 --> 01:04:33.039
That's how Pat Smith had been as a competitor. But
1202
01:04:33.159 --> 01:04:35.039
it's what it takes to just compete against them most
1203
01:04:35.079 --> 01:04:37.320
of the time, and Benji hadn't really been called upon
1204
01:04:37.400 --> 01:04:43.480
to do something like that. And then you keep going
1205
01:04:43.760 --> 01:04:49.039
and it's, you know, Benji's match versus kicking off in
1206
01:04:49.119 --> 01:04:52.800
the Olympic Trials Challenge tornament final or whatever it was,
1207
01:04:53.360 --> 01:04:56.199
or at least was that what it was, the challenge
1208
01:04:56.199 --> 01:05:02.559
tom and semi final, sorry, semi final. And I mean,
1209
01:05:02.599 --> 01:05:04.760
if you look, Benji came back from that shoulder injury
1210
01:05:07.679 --> 01:05:11.039
and had a well of the season the next you know,
1211
01:05:11.159 --> 01:05:13.079
that next season, which is why I'm talking about that
1212
01:05:13.159 --> 01:05:14.800
at row with the kicking off match and all this.
1213
01:05:15.719 --> 01:05:18.559
But it's like, you know, a kid has bounced back
1214
01:05:18.639 --> 01:05:22.079
from three shoulder shoulder surgeries if I can speak English,
1215
01:05:23.719 --> 01:05:28.360
the broken neck, and he's an animal. He's an animal.
1216
01:05:29.559 --> 01:05:31.400
So off the air if you want to call it
1217
01:05:31.480 --> 01:05:33.960
off the air, will be dorks and say off the air.
1218
01:05:34.000 --> 01:05:37.519
But when Benji and I weren't recording, I was, you know,
1219
01:05:37.559 --> 01:05:39.719
I had been spitballing this previously. It's like, you know,
1220
01:05:40.679 --> 01:05:43.800
he's so much fun and he also looks at the
1221
01:05:43.960 --> 01:05:47.480
sport as a sport. He can. He's someone who can
1222
01:05:47.559 --> 01:05:50.119
talk about Greco Roman wrestling as a sport and not
1223
01:05:50.719 --> 01:05:55.480
everyone associated with it can do the same. And so
1224
01:05:55.920 --> 01:05:58.599
at one point I had thought, you know, I should
1225
01:05:58.800 --> 01:06:02.280
if I could some how manage it, it would be
1226
01:06:03.119 --> 01:06:05.280
it would probably be fun if I can involve Benji
1227
01:06:05.320 --> 01:06:07.559
in this type of thing a little more. So I
1228
01:06:07.639 --> 01:06:09.840
go and I mentioned this to him when we weren't recording,
1229
01:06:10.079 --> 01:06:16.360
and he was mutually interested. He doesn't lack for hubris,
1230
01:06:17.000 --> 01:06:19.480
in case he hadn't noticed, so he was like, oh, yeah,
1231
01:06:19.559 --> 01:06:22.360
give me an hour, you know, or whatever. So we'll
1232
01:06:22.360 --> 01:06:27.199
see how that goes, how that might work. The ironic part,
1233
01:06:27.320 --> 01:06:30.559
or coincidental part, I guess is that I had had
1234
01:06:30.639 --> 01:06:34.639
a very similar conversation with Kamal a couple of years ago,
1235
01:06:35.760 --> 01:06:39.239
or a season ago, or whenever it was, because Kamal
1236
01:06:39.400 --> 01:06:43.519
is so good at this too. He's good at relating
1237
01:06:43.719 --> 01:06:48.199
the athlete experience and relating it to the fans and
1238
01:06:48.320 --> 01:06:52.199
involving the fans, involving those who are on the outside
1239
01:06:52.960 --> 01:06:56.559
of the periphery, and maybe there's a way to combine
1240
01:06:56.599 --> 01:07:03.000
those two elements. Kamal and Benji somehow or I don't know.
1241
01:07:03.119 --> 01:07:04.639
I got to think about it. I got, you know,
1242
01:07:04.800 --> 01:07:09.119
see what we can potentially do as time allows for
1243
01:07:09.400 --> 01:07:13.559
all three of us involved. But that might be something,
1244
01:07:13.679 --> 01:07:18.639
it might be something going forward at any rate. But
1245
01:07:18.760 --> 01:07:24.119
like look at Benji, people probably forget. I don't know
1246
01:07:24.400 --> 01:07:29.960
how many of you listening are casuals, probably a fair amount.
1247
01:07:30.920 --> 01:07:33.920
And I don't know who's going to remember this. I hopefully,
1248
01:07:34.360 --> 01:07:37.679
I hope you know. I can't talk. I shouldn't be
1249
01:07:37.719 --> 01:07:40.440
allowed to talk. That's that's kind of what it is.
1250
01:07:40.599 --> 01:07:47.840
But anyhow, for those who might remember back during the pandemic,
1251
01:07:49.159 --> 01:07:54.079
it's called five years ago now Bill Coley, who was
1252
01:07:54.199 --> 01:07:57.639
Benji's youth coach. Obviously a lot of people should know
1253
01:07:57.639 --> 01:08:02.679
who Bill Colly is. Ringers an enormously important developmental Grecro
1254
01:08:02.760 --> 01:08:06.880
Roman coach in the United States. He ran what was
1255
01:08:06.960 --> 01:08:08.840
called the Ringers Showcase. I think he did one or
1256
01:08:08.880 --> 01:08:13.519
two of them, and at one of them called early
1257
01:08:13.639 --> 01:08:15.480
twenty one, twenty twenty one, I think.
1258
01:08:15.360 --> 01:08:15.639
It was.
1259
01:08:17.159 --> 01:08:21.479
Benji Peak and Austin Nutter did the play by play
1260
01:08:21.560 --> 01:08:26.439
slash commentary for it, and they were awesome. They were terrific,
1261
01:08:27.000 --> 01:08:29.760
And I'm not even saying that from a like some
1262
01:08:29.920 --> 01:08:32.560
sort of bias because I have relationships with these gentlemen,
1263
01:08:32.760 --> 01:08:35.760
or because of a Greco Roman bias or anything like that.
1264
01:08:35.920 --> 01:08:40.840
They were great. They were great, they were engaged, they
1265
01:08:40.880 --> 01:08:45.840
were excited, they were exciting, they were explanatory. They're telling
1266
01:08:45.880 --> 01:08:49.920
the viewers what's going on and all this, and it's like,
1267
01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:52.600
you know, these are some of the kinds of personalities
1268
01:08:52.640 --> 01:08:54.680
we have in the Greco program, and part of what
1269
01:08:54.840 --> 01:08:58.000
five point at least has tried to do is to
1270
01:08:58.159 --> 01:09:04.399
kind of illuminate those a little bit more. But Benji
1271
01:09:04.479 --> 01:09:08.399
does a great job. And look again, just how tough
1272
01:09:08.520 --> 01:09:11.640
can you be? I mean, I just don't see how
1273
01:09:11.640 --> 01:09:14.560
you can be tougher than them. And so we'll see
1274
01:09:14.960 --> 01:09:18.439
how this trip goes for him, and you know what,
1275
01:09:18.560 --> 01:09:23.680
everybody else, because it's a strange sort of dynamic insofar
1276
01:09:23.960 --> 01:09:27.560
as you're having a group of athletes who are going
1277
01:09:27.640 --> 01:09:29.000
to be in Europe for a month, and not that
1278
01:09:29.079 --> 01:09:31.239
that's so nuts, it's just the fact that there's two
1279
01:09:31.319 --> 01:09:35.039
Ranking Series tournaments, not back to back like in consecutive weekends,
1280
01:09:35.159 --> 01:09:38.399
but those are the two tournaments they'll compete in in
1281
01:09:38.479 --> 01:09:40.880
a row, most of whom will train in Porch in
1282
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:45.800
between them. And I think Kamal is the only wrestler
1283
01:09:45.800 --> 01:09:49.960
who's going to compete in Zagreb go home and come
1284
01:09:50.079 --> 01:09:52.119
back if I'm not mistaking that part of the plan
1285
01:09:52.239 --> 01:09:59.039
for him, But why either way? Either way? And then well, yeah,
1286
01:09:59.079 --> 01:10:02.439
we'll briefly touch upon the roster. I think I know
1287
01:10:02.560 --> 01:10:06.600
it by heart. So let's go fifty five kilograms. Only
1288
01:10:06.680 --> 01:10:12.119
one guy, and that's Brady Koontz Pratdy Kontz, who is
1289
01:10:12.199 --> 01:10:15.319
one of three wrestlers on this delegation who is a
1290
01:10:15.479 --> 01:10:18.399
Sam Hens Hayeswinkle guy. Now Brady Kontz is also part
1291
01:10:18.439 --> 01:10:25.560
of Position Wrestling. Sixty kilos is the return of Dalton Roberts,
1292
01:10:28.039 --> 01:10:31.720
multi time World Team member, national champion, Olympic Team Trials champion,
1293
01:10:32.720 --> 01:10:35.560
reigning World Team member, the one and only Max Black,
1294
01:10:36.680 --> 01:10:40.279
and World Team Trials runner up Zane Richards, who last
1295
01:10:40.359 --> 01:10:42.560
year was second at the World Team Trials to Max,
1296
01:10:43.479 --> 01:10:46.279
and that was his first senior Greco tournament. And he's
1297
01:10:46.359 --> 01:10:50.760
locked in. And so that's sixty kilos, sixty three kilos.
1298
01:10:51.000 --> 01:10:54.399
Il dhar Hafe's off or half he's off, or however
1299
01:10:54.479 --> 01:10:57.279
you like to say it. Il Dar two time Olympian,
1300
01:10:57.439 --> 01:10:59.920
ninety time World team member. I guess or whatever between
1301
01:11:00.119 --> 01:11:05.399
USA and news Becka stan And sixty three also has
1302
01:11:05.439 --> 01:11:09.039
ret peak no relationship to Benji other than both were
1303
01:11:09.079 --> 01:11:11.359
at the OTC at the same time and both are
1304
01:11:11.399 --> 01:11:14.000
now with Sam Hayes Minkel, so retpeak. This is his
1305
01:11:14.159 --> 01:11:20.159
first major league appearance in the Big Time Zagreb Rankings
1306
01:11:20.199 --> 01:11:24.880
Series Tournament sixty seven Austin Nutter and Auto Black Auto
1307
01:11:24.960 --> 01:11:27.279
Black of course, U twenty three World Bronze, Austin Nutter
1308
01:11:28.079 --> 01:11:35.399
twenty nineteen Junior World Bronze, seventy two, Benji Peak, Alex
1309
01:11:35.479 --> 01:11:41.319
Sancho seventy seven is just Camal eighty two, Becca Miloshphieley
1310
01:11:42.119 --> 01:11:47.119
and Jesse Porter eighty seven, Peyton Jacobson and Zach Bronegele
1311
01:11:47.239 --> 01:11:50.279
Peyton Jacobson U twenty three World Bronze. Of course I
1312
01:11:50.279 --> 01:11:51.880
should if we're gonna keep doing this, I guess I
1313
01:11:51.920 --> 01:11:54.199
should have said Becca twenty twenty four U twenty three
1314
01:11:54.239 --> 01:11:58.079
World Silver. I mean this is nuts. And then ninety
1315
01:11:58.119 --> 01:12:04.399
seven is just Michael Foy one thirty heavyweight Colton Schultz.
1316
01:12:06.079 --> 01:12:09.640
Three Age group World medals, including a U seventeen gold,
1317
01:12:10.239 --> 01:12:13.159
two time U twenty World bronze eight in a tau
1318
01:12:14.800 --> 01:12:20.720
and one mister Courtney Denzel Freeman, who's also you know,
1319
01:12:20.880 --> 01:12:24.319
on the cusp of potentially being UFC Heavyweight Champion one
1320
01:12:24.359 --> 01:12:29.039
of these years, but he's Grecro Roman wrestler slash MMA fighter.
1321
01:12:33.039 --> 01:12:35.720
It's no secret I would prefer he for this station
1322
01:12:35.880 --> 01:12:40.720
of his life focus on just Grecro Roman wrestling, but
1323
01:12:40.880 --> 01:12:44.640
he says he can't because he needs to me his
1324
01:12:44.760 --> 01:12:48.600
brain gets to board. So either way, that's your roster
1325
01:12:48.720 --> 01:12:53.239
for Zagreb. We'll see how this carries over to Tirana, Albania,
1326
01:12:53.399 --> 01:12:58.319
the Muhammad Malo Tournament, and then away we go. I
1327
01:12:58.520 --> 01:13:03.680
was going to do a whole thing on the updated
1328
01:13:03.840 --> 01:13:12.119
Olympic qualifying procedures that UWW just released, and it's exhaustive
1329
01:13:13.960 --> 01:13:18.319
and it's a hot mess. And prior to me to
1330
01:13:18.560 --> 01:13:21.560
my recording this segment here, I was on the phone
1331
01:13:21.560 --> 01:13:23.319
with Dennis Hall and we were both going hey wire
1332
01:13:23.399 --> 01:13:30.199
over it, mainly in disagreement and confusion. So yeah, I'm
1333
01:13:30.239 --> 01:13:34.079
gonna save it just because I don't want this segment
1334
01:13:34.159 --> 01:13:40.079
here to wind up a half hour, but just you
1335
01:13:40.159 --> 01:13:43.479
can read it for yourselves. But basically, what UWW is
1336
01:13:43.560 --> 01:13:47.640
doing is prioritizing twenty twenty seven stuff over twenty twenty
1337
01:13:47.680 --> 01:13:51.239
eight stuff, the actual year of the Olympics. So have
1338
01:13:51.399 --> 01:13:55.000
fun with all that, and yeah, let's move on to
1339
01:13:55.239 --> 01:14:00.640
social media concerns. Social media concerns, to follow Benjie on
1340
01:14:00.880 --> 01:14:04.960
Instagram because I'm not doing Snapchat and I'm not touting
1341
01:14:05.199 --> 01:14:10.359
TikTok either. It's either Instagram and X or that's it, okay,
1342
01:14:10.760 --> 01:14:16.359
So Benji Instagram, Benji Underscore Peak, p e a K
1343
01:14:16.880 --> 01:14:21.079
Benji Underscore Peak. Dennis Hall. You can follow Dennis Hall
1344
01:14:21.079 --> 01:14:26.920
on Instagram as well. That's Dennis Hall Underscore UD And
1345
01:14:27.119 --> 01:14:30.600
for the sake of tradition, to follow Dennis Hall on
1346
01:14:31.439 --> 01:14:36.079
x you can do so at Dennisall WGW. And for
1347
01:14:36.239 --> 01:14:39.319
USA GREK and Roman news and athlete perspectives, please go
1348
01:14:39.560 --> 01:14:43.000
to five point Move dot com and as always, follow
1349
01:14:43.039 --> 01:14:46.000
along on X A vibe to the number five PT movie.
1350
01:14:46.199 --> 01:14:49.720
That's it for episode sixty eight. Everybody, thanks for listening,
1351
01:14:49.880 --> 01:14:51.199
and we'll see you soon.