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| 2006 World Team Camp...; The "Jake Clark Experience" | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 23 2006, 12:30 PM (1,352 Views) | |
| jake clark | Aug 23 2006, 12:30 PM Post #1 |
Super Fan
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Greetings to Everyone, Here is the plan: Over the next 2 weeks I will be here in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center for our FINAL World Team Camp before heading off to the World Championships in China. It feels great to write that!!! As I've done for a few of my last couple trips, I will try and write a journal to keep everyone posted on my experiences. (The adult version will be made available at a later time!) ha ha. Our camp starts tomorrow (Thursday, 24 August) and goes through September 2nd. From there, my schedule is in the "works" and I'll update everyone on my plans over the next few days. By making the World Team I am able to pick a training partner (or so they make you think). Basically, they want you to have someone that you're comfortable with to help you get to where you need to be. However, the final decision is made by the coaches (polotics!). My first choice, obviously, was my brother Joe. HOWEVER, the National Team Coaches would not support that. Their reasoning was that my brother was not STILL an active competitor... and I understand that. Next I chose Chas Betts. I figured it would be best to bring a fellow Minnesotan with me and the experience could benefit him in the future (when I decide to retire! ha ha). I'm thinking of doing a "documentary" of my experience on DVD and selling it as a little fundraiser. It would have interviews with all World Team Members, highlights of the World Championships, clips of training, clips of the sights in China, and several other random clips of the whole experience. Would some of you be interested in purchasing something like that? If you've seen some of the videos Chas has made in the past... I'm sure you know how good he is at that stuff. I promise it would be sweet! Anyways... We are now about 1 month out from the competition so it's time to "settle-down" and get to work. If anyone has any questions with anything... feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them. I will write as often as I can and explain in detail what I'm going through. I hope all is going well with everyone and I look forward to any questions you might have. Until next time! Jake Clark |
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| Joey Clark | Aug 24 2006, 11:30 AM Post #2 |
Newbie
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Jake, Thanks Brother for all the updates, they have been great to follow. Here ya go bro, its your time and you know what you need to do. Focus Focus Focus!!! Train Like A Madman!!! You will look back on all this one day, and you will truly know that you put everything on the line! blood sweat and tears. You Have The Pulse of a CHAMPION! Love ya bro, Joey |
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| jake clark | Aug 28 2006, 03:46 PM Post #3 |
Super Fan
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Greetings again... Sorry I haven't posted for several days, but I bought Madden '07 and it's tough to get away from the t.v. now. Darn video games!!! ha ha. Last week we had a team dinner with the Greco Roman Team Leader (John something???). Team Leaders are generally very wealthy people who donate money to our sport and help support our programs. Anyways, he took us out to this awesome resturaunt and the food was great (all food is great to me though!). At the beginning of the dinner he gave all of us gifts... I guess that's something that usually happens. We were all given the new 30GB video i-pods! Not too shabby huh?! Also, Lee Kemp happened to be there. Lee and this guy are pretty good friends as they were college teammates back in their days at Wisconsin. Lee happend to be at my table along with a few other guys... It was great to listen to his stories and all the advice he had... he's a pretty good motivational speaker... or so it seemed! I had told Lee that back when I was in high school we scrimmaged Forrest Lake when he was living in that area. Lee was at the scrimmage and was foot sweepin' the "H" out of everyone! I then told him that was about 10 years, and 60 lbs. ago. I told him I want a rematch, but that didn't happen. I'm sure he still would have hit a foot sweep or two on me... however, I might be able to score a point or two now! ha ha ;) As for practice... Things are going well on the mat, but I need to hurry and get my conditioning up. The practices have been alot of drilling, but at a high intensity level. Who would think? Being on the World Team and we still drill?! When will the day come when I NEVER have to drill again! ha ha. Today we start with matches. My favorite kind of practices are when we get into the room, warm-up for a few minutes, and then live wrestle/matches. Then again, who likes to drill anyways? I've been having a hard time getting motivated with my training lately and I am planning on seeing a sports psychiatrist sometime this week. I think my problem is that I accomplished my goals for this year and now I don't have the drive to do more. I know that sounds bad, but my goals were to win Nationals and Trials... I did it and never set a higher goal. It sucks. I'm very happy with how I did this year and I think I've had alot of success no matter how I do at Worlds. I wish I didn't think that way. Yes, it would be great to bring home a World Medal. However, that's never been my goal. This whole thing makes me think about "goal setting". Are we supposed to set goals that we will NEVER attain... just so we always have the drive to do better? I was talking with Keith Sieracki today at practice and I was telling him my troubles. He stated that he never wrestled for himself. He was always doing it for his family, his teammates, his friends, or what not. I'm in that same boat. I think my family gets more enjoyment out of my accomplishments then I do. I know that when I'm coaching a kid at Junior Nationals or something, I get more excited for my kids than I do myself? I need to learn how to wrestle for myself. It's great to have your family, friends, and other people wanting you to do well. But when it comes down to it, I need to do it for myself, and that's difficult for me to do. Hopefully over the next few days I can resolve this. There's soooo much more to wrestling (and sports in general) then just training everyday. I suppose that's all I have for now, but I will write again in the near future. Until then... |
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| ethanhunt | Aug 28 2006, 06:43 PM Post #4 |
Fanatic
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Jake- By reading your previous and current posts on here I can see that you are living your dreams right now. Congratulations. I can remember a while back (i can't remember which thread it was on) that you wrote that your wrestling goals never really involved winning a College National championship, your goals were always set on winning at the world level. You wrote in your last post that you are having troubles finding motivation for your workouts right now. It seems to me that you may have pushed your short term goals (winning senior nationals and world team trials) to the immediate front of your mind, which is not a bad thing. But the goals you had set for yourself back in high school or even before are still with you. WIN AT THE WORLD LEVEL. Your short term goals are now a reality, bring those goals/dreams from high school back to the forefront and go get them. Good luck in your training, you are making Minnesota wrestlers proud! WIN AT THE WORLD LEVEL! |
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| Unit | Aug 29 2006, 11:46 AM Post #5 |
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Fantastic
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M/A is on the way!!!!!!!! "NOW BLOW THE WHISTLE!!!" |
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| jake clark | Aug 30 2006, 11:41 PM Post #6 |
Super Fan
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Greetings... Things are going a bit better lately. I am just getting over a chest cold which was holding me back for the past couple days. I was having a hard time breathing when doing matches and wasn't able to catch my breathe at all. I know I'm training in the high altitude, but I've been here long enough where I don't think that was a factor. My body is beat up here and there, but that's part of the sport... right? I'm not sure if there's EVER been a day while I'm training, that my body didn't hurt. I'm thinking of taking up poker or something like that. You can win lots of money, you don't have to workout or weigh-in, and you've got a better chance of being famous! ha ha. Oh well, maybe I'll save that for when I retire. I didn't end up going to see the sports psych, but am having better thoughts on everything anyways. Quite often, people take things for granted. In this case, I believe I take my age for granted. If I was a betting person, I would put money on the fact that I'll make it back to another World Championships, Olympics, or even a few more of each. The thing is, this could possibly be the last W.C. I make it to, and I need to treat it like that. For those of you that know Keith Sieracki, he's been ontop of the rankings for several years now. Did you know that he's only been on 1 World Team??? Crazy. As a competitor you always expect to have next year, a next match, or whatever. Truth is, that's not always the case. In our sport you never know. Actually, in life you never know either. I AM wrestling in the World Championships in a few weeks and that's something I HAVE control over. Our camp is almost finished and I'm leaving Colorado on Saturday. I'll be heading back to VA for a few days and am planning on flying up to MN for a few days. My brother has a fight on the 6th of September (Wednesday) at Myth Nightclub and I would like to go watch that. It will also give me a chance to see my family before heading off to China. I think I'll fly in on the 5th and leave on the 7th. A nice short trip, but a much needed one. If any of you would like to go to that fight, let me know and you can purchase your tickets from my brother. After being in Minnesota I will fly back to VA where I will train with my teammates for about a week before heading off to China. Our U.S. Team departs on the 14th of September, I weigh-in on the 25th, and wrestle on the 26th. I'm a bit weary of going over to China so early, but I've been told there's "scientific reasoning" as to why we're going so early. For me, it's difficult to train the way I like to, diet the way I like to, when I'm STUCK in a foriegn country. You never know what kind of workout equipment you'll have or how the living conditions will be. However, the time change is a huge difference so it is important to get there a bit early to adapt to everything. From China I will then be heading back to Okinawa for a week. There I will be putting on some clinics for the Marines stationed there and also have a chance to speak with my command about everything. I'm excited to head back there and see some of my friends... thank God it's only for a week though! I also just got word that I'll be heading to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo) a few days after returning back to the states. For those of you that don't know, that is where we keep all those muslims in cages down there on a military base. I'll be there for a week doing some publicity stuff for the families that are stationed down there. I'm sure that trip will be exciting to say the least. Plus, it's always a nice thing to be able to kick it on the beach in a speedo in the middle of October. A rarity for a Minnesotan! After my time in Cuba I'll have a short break (well, a break from traveling, not training) before heading over to Europe for about a month. In the middle of November we will be going on our yearly tour over to Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia. Can you say "frequent flier miles?"!!!! I suppose I must get going to bed, but I just wanted to update everyone on how things are going. I'm sorry to hear about the situation with Torey Line and I hope nothing but the best for him and his family. He's a great kid, a stud on the mat, and I'm sure everything will workout just fine. This is just another thing that shows me how fortunate and lucky I am to have the opportunity to be wrestling in the World Championships. I know that with hearing the news, it has made me appreciate my situation alot more. Stay strong Torey. Keepin' it real, Jake Clark |
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| Unit | Aug 31 2006, 12:04 AM Post #7 |
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Fantastic
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check your mail box. You should be getting a package!!! Good luck and stay strong!! |
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| jake clark | Sep 1 2006, 01:22 AM Post #8 |
Super Fan
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Camp is done tomorrow! My body is beat up a little, but in all things went well. Our final day will consist of three matches in the morning and two in the afternoon. Basically, get in and get out. That's the way I like it. I also purchased my ticket home for next week and fly to MN on Tuesday evening. My brother fights on Wednesday, I'll spend the day with my family on Thursday, and fly out Friday morning. As I said before, hopefully I see some of you at the fight. It's getting pretty late here, so I must get going to bed. Mr. Unit - "The eagle has landed". I repeat, "The eagle has landed". Much respect to you and thanks for the kind words and t-shirt. I'm a lucky fella to have people like you in my corner. If I can EVER be of help to you, just let me know. I guess before I go to bed I will explain something about my workouts.... I'm in the mood to write a little. ;) Some people tend to think that you always need to go with the "toughest/best" person in the room to improve. I think a bit differently than that. Not that I'm taking the easy way out or anything, but sometimes it's good to mix it up. Before Nationals and Trials I had 3 "main" workout partners. Each of them were COMPLETELY different in styles, size, and experience. One of my partners was very experienced and I had to work for every point. Another guy was our heavyweight who was a rookie and new to greco. It was great to have him because he was so big and I had to work just to stay in good position. Finally, I had another teammate who was a rookie and not so technical. With him, it was great because I could put into use what I had been drilling, and also push myself to score as much as I could. It might sound rude, but I tried to rack up as many points as possible agains him. For the first few days of camp out here I was only going against the "top" guys. Yes, that can be good, but I feel it can also be bad. When you have two wrestlers that are on an equal level you rarely get chances to score. Yes it's a good fight every match, but it seems to be too difficult to work on techniques you're trying to learn, or techniques you're trying to improve on. For tomorrow morning we're doing three matches and I'll most likely split mine as follows: My first match I'll go against someone my size and my ability. This way I have alot of energy and will have a tough match to start off with. My second match I'll go with someone who is atleast 211 lbs. I will still be a bit tired and wore out from my first match... so I'll have to fight to stay in the center of the mat and hold good position against the "big dog". My third match I should be exhausted and I will try to go with someone a little smaller, or someone with less experience so I can open up and try to rack up some points. Mentally it works well this way too. I can play little "mindgames" with myself and try to score in 15 seconds... 10 seconds... or things like that. I suppose that's it for now. Take care to all and don't hesitate with any questions. Jake |
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| bparlin | Sep 1 2006, 01:51 PM Post #9 |
Fantastic
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Good stuff, Jake. How structured are the practices? It seems like you're able have your pick with who you want to train with. Also, I'm not sure if you've mentioned who your coaches are. I agree with your skill level points in regard to working on technique. |
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| jake clark | Sep 1 2006, 03:08 PM Post #10 |
Super Fan
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Mr. Parlin, What's going on? Practices are definitely structured here. Well, for the most part they are. Occasionaly someone will need to work on something specific so they'll drop to the side of the room and work individually with a coach or something. If your body gets too banged-up, then people jump on a bike or use the sauna to relax. There's no point in getting on the mat if you're not going to make use of that time and put all you have into that practice. They want us to be in great shape, but they also want us to stay healthy. This year's World Team Coaches are Shawn Sheldon and Andy Seras. However, at camp we have SEVERAL other coaches (Steve Fraser, Momir Petkovic, Jay Antonelli, Dan Hicks, Shaun Lewis, Dale Oliver, Anatoly Petrosian, and Rob Herman). One practice left... yippeee. ha ha. Take care to all and keep the questions coming. Jake |
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| Unit | Sep 2 2006, 10:09 AM Post #11 |
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Fantastic
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very good tactic. It is best to finsih up with someone you can score on with good tech. Nothing more tiring than to open up the barrells and let the lead fly. Mind set is you can still find the juice when you are in that freak zone just next to deathly tired. When you find your self feeling/getting beat up......same rotine sprints directly after a tech. match (50 slide bys, 50 drags,50 ducks,50 high dives with push and set ups on each side).Gives the going life a rest to save your muscle tissue ect from getting BANGED up and you still are getting a great go. Then hit the sprints to end like you do with scoring points on another wrestler.....wide open dead tired, as you know you must find and arange little meetings with your body and mind in little freaky areas :blink: ...........just ways wrestlers stir up thos recipes for M/A! NOW BLOW THE WHISTLE![/COLOR][/SIZE] Good luck our MN Freak! |
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