Thursday, January 21
by Coach Terry Steiner

Dobre Veche (good evening)

I hope all is well. We are outside of Moscow about a 1.5 hours drive at the Women's Wrestling Training Center.  It is very isolated in the  Russian forest.  The training center is used by the Russian Women's Team for about 10 camps each year. It is in a nice setting; it used to be a kids summer camp location but has been changed into an Olympic  Training for a few sports.

We have eight athletes here and Russia has 16. Bulgaria and Senegal also have one each.

The weather has been very cold, in the negative numbers but today it was above zero. We have no Internet, no phones, and no English TV. But we are not here for that. The training has been great. I think each time we have come overseas for camp we get a little tougher, a little more resilient, and a little more prepared for any and everything we are going to face down the road.

The girls are holding up well.  Tomorrow we have matches for both practices.

It has also been great to biuld the relationship with the Russian coaches. I think the thing you realize after a lot of travel is that no matter where you are from, what color your skin, or what sex you are, is that in the end we all strive for the same things as human beings.  We all want to be respected and appreciated for what we do. We all want a chance to dream and chase those dreams. And we all want to love and be loved.

So when traveling to foriegn lands, we can either look at each other and focus on our differences or we can focus on the things we all have in common. I find that even though as wrestlers and wrestling coaches we may not understand each other in language, I feel we understand each other's troubles, turmoil, struggles and victories very well.  So even though we may wear different color uniforms, we are all a part of something much bigger. Hopefully, through this crazy sport, we can make this world a little better place because of it.

We can be great friends off the mat and have great battles on the mat.

For now dobre noche (good night)

Expect Success!
Coach Steiner