hephaestion2014's blog

Had a great group meet. Kind of felt that I had turned a corner.

Did I get lots of taps and win every match, avoid lots of mistakes and become King of the mats?

Nope. Made some silly mistakes, tapped a fair few times and was pleased when at the end of a round that I had survived by not submitting.

So where's that corner that I am supposedly meant to have turned?

Normally at a group meet, in each match, if I did get the opportunity to be on top, id have been lost and tried to stay in defence.

Not this time. Yes, I made mistakes and ended up in armlocks etc, but because I was trying to do something new. I was on the attack :)

That sounds like probably a silly thing to say. I know a lot of you are all on the attack from the beginning. I haven't been. I have not been that comfortable or confident. Not this time. Okay, I suffered for it as left myself open for attacks but that's because I wasn't trying to maintain that deadlock of defence.

The good thing about group meets is that there are always lots of different levels, different skills and different ways to wrestle. Particularly at Barnet, there are lots of guys who are very experienced and learned, so when they say that you are doing better or you have learnt some stuff, actually my chest puffed up a bit with pride.

I guess, I hope that in maybe at some point in the future, ill never be as wise as them but hopefully ill have some knowledge and tips to impart to some newbie and make them feel as welcome down the path of wrestling as I have.

Right, now off to soak in a hot bath. The glorious aches :)

(Also had some great advice from Small Gladiator: Don't talk yourself down.

A lot of the guys I have met have had training in martial arts or combat sports, have lessons and do it far more regularly then I do. Each meet, each match is a lesson for me. So I need to stop comparing myself unfairly and unflatteringly against others and be proud in what I can do. )