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> Click here for photos from Max's trip
On our first day of training, we practiced with the Bulgarian Senior National Team. I got to practice with a couple of 55 kilo guys that were a lot bigger than me, but the experience was great since they showed me what it took to be on the level they were on.
I also saw a different perspective from watching the Bulgarians than I would normally get in the U.S. The first couple of days we were there we stayed in Sofia , where their training center was, and the hotel we stayed in was a bit strange because the rooms were very small and the whole bathroom was a shower room.
When we left Sofia, we took a six and a half hour bus ride to Varna, which is a nice resort town where the tournament was located. Varna is right off the Black Sea and every country that was in the tournament stayed in the same hotel, which was called the Grand Hotel Varna.
With two days before competition, we practiced in a building with three mats. On those two days we practiced with the Bulgarian Junior National Team and the guys that needed to lose weight sat in the sauna. The weigh-in was on a Friday and we randomly picked our drawings for the tournament.
The tournament was two days and the 50, 60, 74, and 96 kilo wrestlers wrestled on Saturday and the 55, 66, 84, and 120 kilo guys wrestled Sunday. The guys who placed from the U.S. were Tyler Cox at 50 kilos placing 3rd , Eric Grajales (55kg) taking 3rd , Jonathon Drendel and Jake Dietchler (66 kg) placing 3rd , and Zac Nielson at 74 kg placing 3rd along with Pete Kowalzcuk at 120 kg taking 3rd as well. The place where we wrestled had three mats with two heaters on each side because the building was pretty cold.
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