I was told that there was possibly going to be a training camp ‘at some point’, but by no means did I expect to get an e-mail on Friday to say that we would leave to Ukraine at 7pm on Saturday.
It has been a whirlwind trip so far and even at that, it’s probably an understatement!
So, after a mad rush to get organised (and a large packing operation), the journey began.
My teammates and I left Glasgow for Heathrow, where we stayed overnight. Well, we napped for four hours in a hotel, and then we were up, bright and early, at 4am to make our way back to the airport for our 7am departure to Kiev.
It turned out to be the correct decision as our driver Andrei was a bit of a legend. He drove us the 400km journey and then proceeded to help us find an apartment here. He must have showed us about 9 places, taking us all over. He was nothing but helpful and didn’t even rip us off – some boy Andrei!
However, in the car I thought we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in the mid-90s instead of Odessa. To say the music selection was a bit dreadful would be putting it lightly. If it wasn’t ‘Barbie Girl’, it was ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’ or the famous ‘Blue, Daba, Dee’… I can confirm that at online casino gids one point I considered dropping and rolling out the car rather than listening to such pollution.
To couple the terrible music, the roads were very, very bumpy! I have definitely been on smoother rollercoasters in my life. The good news, however, is that I have already had borsht (Russian soup) twice; I love that stuff, it is awesome.
In the end we managed to get an apartment, which I am currently chilling in. Speaking of which, over the next couple of days, I am going to put together a ‘cribs’ style video – be warned.
Competition wise, Ross, Alex, and I compete on the same day, Wednesday. Weigh ins are tomorrow. Having not been able to check my weight yet, it is slightly concerning. I have no real idea where I am weight wise which could make tomorrow very interesting, unfortunately so.
STAY TUNED because I will be updating the blog almost daily and I am sure some form of hilarity or disaster will strike… And on that note, I will stop rambling as I am away to be very hungry in bed.
As this is the first ‘Match of the Week’, I was having an internal struggle on what match I wanted to choose as the first one. However, a certain Cuban picking up a huge win in the UFC last night convinced me to keep it topical for the week.
Thirteen years before Yoel Romero was knocking boys out with hellacious flying knees, he was one of the foremost, premiere wrestlers in the world. Competing in the 84kg division he was world champion, Olympic champion and multiple time medalist at world level.
Not to mention that this was at a time when the 84kg division was possibly the most competitive weight – an all-star line-up. Featuring names such as Adam Saitiev, Cael Sanderson and Saji Sajidov. Romero, in his time, helped multiple wins online casino over Sanderson and Sajidov who were Olympic and world champions respectively.
The match I have to go with is his Olympic final from Sydney against Adam Saitiev. Saitiev, although under sized for this weight, has to be one of the best technicians the sport has ever seen. Hence making for an interesting match pitting him against the power and athleticism of Romero.
I have certainly stuck my head above the parapet and made a bold move.
My young – but lengthy – sporting life has been filled with highs and lows, but I have loved every second of it! If it were to be compared to a road, I would definitely liken it to those I experienced when I was in India; long, winding and full of bumps.