2009 Worlds - Competition Day 2 & 3

COMPETITION
Alright, we had a great performance on Tuesday, Jake (Herbert) wrestled superb to get a silver. He put together a really good day, he wrestled smart (which includes knowing when to bail out, or give up a 1 instead of 3), and was so close to winning it all. The finals was brutal as you can watch from TheMat.com, one push out, stalling for 3 1/2 minutes and then to the ball. I think the whole day was a good learning experience for Jake.

Tervel wrestled to his potential as well, he knows he belongs on the world stage. He was not at all satisfied with 3rd, so you know he's going to work hard to come back and will some big tournaments. That and you know Mocco will be pushing him to stay in top form.

Bunch pulled out of a move he didn't need to hit, so if anyone will be learning from Tuesday, it will be Shawn. He hit a great blast double, and could have won that match. Check out the photos, the Bulgarian tries a back flip and lands on his face, that was pretty funny in a very not funny moment.


Schlatter had a tough guy in Kumar, but was totally in the match all the way through.

Clarissa (Chun) had a cream puff in the first round, I heard that the Singapore program is just getting off the ground, so there are some sick shots of Clarissa tossing the girl around. She then hit a stud in the 17 year old North Korean. Dang, that first ankle pick was so quick. (I have no idea how I got that shot.) How do you scout a 17 year old North Korean? Chun can keep her chin high, she wrestled hard and was working with a blown shoulder. She's a tough kid.

Medina wrestled well in her first match, but hit the eventual champ who was wrestling like she knew she was going to win. Mattson is great, and cute, it's like mixing a tough Russian with a gymnast. I have some awesome shots of Medina and Mattson during the day.

SHOOTING
I'm definitely starting to dial-in and get in a groove. I'm shooting from the stands, which puts me on a great level with the mat and I can sit most of the day, while the suckers on the floor have to stand and hold their gear head-high. I found a great secret spot to shoot Mat D from. The stands should be pretty wide open tomorrow as it's the one day with all women. Unfortunate but true.

Thankfully, they stopped the smoke bombs for the finals, they are just blasting some sparks and flames, which puts out a bit of haze, but not nearly as bad as Monday and Tuesday. The smoke is why the Tuesday finals are all tweaked out, I have to crank the blacks in post to eliminate the smoke. I'm settling in at 3200k (super cold due to the yellow mats and red lights), 750 s, 3.3 f, 4000 ISO. Two sets of shots will go up today.

SOCIAL
Best social night ever, it got going late, but into the bar walks Herbert and about 15 others wrestlers and coaches, then we move across the street and the place is PACKED with USA Wrestling folks, wall to wall. The Paulson twins did their best to get us all tossed out (Trent started pouring his own Jack), but someone plunked down a bunch of bills and the bartender stayed open until three. It was so cool, I actually had a conversation with John (Smith). Total pay off for all the hard work to hang with the country's elite athletes, coaches and directors.

It was a long two days, but so much fun...And so much more to come.

Tony

PS: This 1pm start time is SO civilized! It's great to have a nice relaxing, rested morning. We need to do this in the US.

2009 Worlds - Competition Day 1 - Monday

COMPETITION
If the Americans can't score from par terre, they will struggle to win on the internationals stage. A take down without bonus points leaves you up one with 30 seconds left and a hungry European, very familiar with needing to score in the last 30 seconds, will find a way to win. This is their game, the European game, and the Russians dominate it. They consistently score when they need to. "Finding a way to win" is everyday wrestling for them, not some coach's platitude.

I was proud today that the three Americans were competitive in every match. Jake (Varner) wrestled well, he looked very solid in beating the Hungarian and Japanese wrestler but hit a wall in the Iranian who couldn't be muscled around. Without that, Jake struggled, but it was a good experience for him, and I'm sure his folks are proud. He was really late in getting to the mat for the quarters, he was on his last call, not sure happened there. (Today I'll go back and check out how they are announcing the matches in the warm-up area.) Paulson was in the match, he fought off a couple shots, but lost to a tough Kazack wrestler. Danny had a strong opponent who he was evenly matched with, but he lost a really close clinch situation (he fought off the initial attack) and scored some points, but not enough. He got clocked in the head in the first few seconds, I wonder if that affected him.

SHOOTING
They didn't have a plan for the photographers and we all only got a journalist credential. They finally set up a rope behind we we can shoot from along one full side of the arena. IOt works okay during the early part of the day, but was a mob scene for the finals. I started shooting from the stands, sitting next to the Paulsons and Danny Felix's family. Great families and I had a good vantage point above the madness that was the media mosh pit. It took a while for me to dial-in, the light is very hot on hot mats, I'm dialed down to about 3200K for white balance, and am still playing with my SO and shutter speeds. They are allowing flash, and since the light is so good I can use a balance TTL which is cool for just a bit of fill flash. I'm reaching quite a ways with the 200, so things have been a little more soft than I'd like. I've upped the SO to about 4000 and am starting to crank the shutter speed.

In all their infinite wisdom, the organizers thought it would be fun to shoot off some pyrotechnics before each finals match. That's cool, except it's horrible for the athletes (think huge plumes of fireworks smoke right as they are walking by) and really really bad for photography (especially with flash) as the cloud of smoke settles on the mat. I've been told they only did that yesterday and won't do it again.

I got some decent shots today, but my proudest moment came when I scored one of about 15 foot lockers in the media room, which means I can store my gear there over night and don't have to lug it back and forth everyday. How's that for making John Sach's proud!? Today I rent a bike and do some grocery shopping so I can have some food after the finals, I don't see anything changing with regards to getting out of there before 11pm any night this week.

SOCIAL
It's almost criminal they way this town shuts down at 10pm. There is NO where to eat after ten, and for anyone who knows wrestling if the competition ends at nine, it's tough to get a group together by ten. As a photographer I'm working right after the event to get some shots up, so I'm not ready to eat until eleven or later. It's hard to know how or why FILA got snow-jobbed by the folks in Herning, and I don't mean that too sound harsh, it's a very beautiful and quaint town, but there is NOthing happening here, it's a ghost town, and it's no lie, there's are no restaurants open past ten. Most folks are being bussed in from 30 km away, so maybe there's stuff happening outside of town, I hope so, because in town is dead. Maybe I wasn't invited to the party in Jason (Bryant) and Craig (Seskers) room. Can you imagine? Those guys must cut more wood than the Zadick brothers with a new winch.

So, with few food options and having had a pear, horrible coffee, and chips for dinner, I needed food or the next best thing, beer, and stopped into the one pub that was open, and ordered a Guinness and peanuts. In walk Steve (Mocco), Joe (Mocco), Mike (Zadick) and Bryce (Hasserman), a more motley group you couldn't find, but we had a good time and met a local couple who, foolishly or presciently, invited the guys back to their pad to drink a few "slabs" of beer -- a "slab" being my new favorite term for a case of beer. I went home to get much needed rest and was up by 7am (see coffee above), what with the construction at my little B and B. B and B standing for Bed A(in't) N(o) D(inner) Breakfast.

Tak (Thanks),

Tony

Enter Denmark

I won't bore you with the minor details. I got on a plane, it was cramped, the food was only okay, I didn't sleep well, but the entertainment is much better (many more movies, personal TV, etc). You know the drill. Heathrow was a MOB scene and even though my flight was an hour and a half from boarding a very kind woman let me bypass an hour of waiting in line for passport check to stand in a 45 minute line for security screening. (In SFO all my camera gear made it through without a glance, but they rescanned my burrito!)

Puddle jumped from Heathrow to Copenhagen and the first thing that struck me was that the hard wood floors of the gate I came out on were really really cool, and it was amazingly quiet. The bathroom though, was kind of nasty. Okay, too many details.

Hopped on a train to Copenhagen, bought my train ticket for Herning, and found my hotel right away. Easy peasy.

I'm starting to get excited and anxious about Monday, but the gear is in order and all those days behind a camera are like the wrestlers training in the room. I'm in good shape, mentally and physically, and all I can hope for are some US golds and the angles to be in my favor. I'm carrying the John Sachs "every good shot turns to me" luck, I just know it.

See you in Herning.