TOMMY ROWLANDS OLYMPIC BLOG:
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in his Olympic quest
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set Tommy's training expenses.
June 9, 2008
I leave Wednesday night for Vegas. Friday was my last hard day of training. Now, it is about tapering and feeling good leading up to the competition. As always, I feel like I have done everything that is necessary to put myself in the best position to win. I just have to go out there and perform.
I am starting to get more sleep at night now that I am training less. I think when you are stressed AND training at a high level, it is hard to regulate your heart rate, thus making it difficult to get good sleep. Every time I start to taper, I sleep way better. It's just another reason why I feel like I will be at a physical peak this coming Sunday.
I would estimate that I have close to 100 friends and family coming to the trials. It is so motivating to know that I will have a large group of people cheering for me. This is just another example that Buckeye Nation is real!
I will blog after the trials. Hopefully, I have good news to report. I am confident that I will. GO BUCKS!
June 2, 2008
I just got back from Phoenix , where we had a Sunkist Training Camp. Ironically, we trained on the campus of Arizona State , a program that was dropped and then reinstated right before we arrived. Zeke Jones and Sammie Henson were in charge of the workouts, and I think they did a great job of attending to my focus areas. The local news wrote an article on me while I was out there. You can check out at here: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/azetc/articles/2008/05/30/20080530olywrestle.html
I have two 3-day cycles left before I start tapering. I am confident that I have done everything in my power to be prepared on June 15 th . Right now it is about timing, confidence, and feeling good.
As always, I appreciate all who follow my progress. It wouldn't be possible without all of your support. GO BUCKS!!
May 20, 2008
It's been about three weeks since I won the US Nationals. I am in the position I need to be in to make the team. I wasn't particularly happy with my finals performance, but at this level, I will take a win any way I can get it. I have been going through another rigorous training cycle, but am very confident that this preparation will put me on the team. It is tough to thing about competing in the Olympics when I still have such important domestic competition to get through first. I leave for Phoenix on May 25 for the Sunkist Training Camp. I will be sure to blog after that training cycle.
As always, I want you all to know how appreciative I am of your continued support. GO Bucks!!
April 23, 2008
It's getting close to the first leg of the Olympic qualification process. I feel as good as I've ever felt. I have done all of the preparation, and now it is time to perform. I have been in a tapering phase of my training for the past 4 days, and I am beginning to feel really powerful and explosive. I guess a few days of R & R after a rigorous 6 week training schedule will do that to you. Coach Rosselli has prepared me well.
We leave for Las Vegas tomorrow morning. I am staying at the Residence Inn. I hate staying at a hotel with a casino while I am competing, so I am thankful that Sunkist put us up at a hotel with nothing of the sort. Wrestling is on Saturday. I am going to make sure I get a good meal on Friday night (steak, potatoes, pasta, water), because I wrestle the preliminaries through the semi finals before 2pm the next day. That meal will be my fuel for the morning round. The finals will be later in the evening.
Coach Ryan and the staff at Ohio State have been awesome during this intense phase of my training. It's difficult to be efficient in anything else but your training when you are going at the pace I have been going at this Spring. I plan on making it all worth it when we can say that there is a Buckeye on the United States Olympic Team.
I apologize for not blogging sooner. I have been traveling all over America working out with the best partners and coaches available. I will keep you posted on my results after the weekend. Wish me luck! GO BUCKS!!!
March 15th, 2008
I have been wrestling for 20 years. For the most part, I have devoted my life
to be in the position to compete for an Olympic Gold Medal. The commitment
that is required to have a chance at doing this has been long, arduous, and
demanding. I seek gratification through my journey, not the Gold Medal. However,
the journey isn't the same if you don't truly want the Gold Medal. I find that
to be interesting.
The journey, if taken with unwavering passion and determination, is what everyone
on the planet can respect. Supreme talent or luck happens by chance, but a
disciplined journey happens through a daily commitment to a given objective.
I think everyone can relate to that.
To me, winning the Gold Medal will be the final paint stroke to a very large
body of work that I have been crafting for 20 years. The Gold Medal does not
define me as a person, but my journey has molded me in to the man that I am
today. The end result will play a meaningless role in how the next 60 years
of my life will play out. However, I have a confident feeling that this 20
year journey will have shaped the remainder of my life and how I conduct myself
with my family, the community, and my co-workers. The experience will influence
almost every single decision that I make, because through this journey, I have
learned Life characteristics, not sports characteristics. Accountability, responsibility,
integrity, faith, honesty, trust, loyalty, passion, and love all reside in
the sport of wrestling. I have demanded the most of myself in this sport, and
because of that, I have grown to demand the most of myself in every aspect
of my life.
As our program gears up for the NCAA Tournament, I see our 7 qualifiers focusing
in on the Championships. They may not have the same perspective as me, but
I see them learning the same things that I have learned, whether they know
it or not. That is the beauty of sport, and most notably, wrestling. Like my
old coach Russ Hellickson says...."Wrestling bares your soul". If
you immerse yourself into anything, it will bare your soul. In a way, when
you compete, you are competing with your own spirit, not an opponnent. You
are learning to ask more of your soul every time you step on the mat, or struggle
through a grueling training session.
To me, the journey to reach your full potential is the greatest thing that
any sport can give you.
March 3, 2008
This weekend went great. I defeated Alexis Rodriguez from Cuba and captured gold at the Pan-Am Championships. He is a 7x World Medalist, and considered one of the better heavyweights in the world. This was one of the best wins of my career, and builds great momentum going into the Olympic qualification process. I am motivated to begin my next training phase, as the countdown to the U.S. Open on April 25th begins now!
I think I am going to the Northeast Regional on April 4th, just
to get some matches in before the U.S. Open. I think it is important
to keep that competitive edge as you gear up for an important
event, and the best way to do that is……compete. I would like to go the Ulan Ude Tournament in Russia, but the rigorous travels that close to the U.S. Open is something that I don’t
care to put myself through. When you take all things in consideration,
Brockport seems like the better option.
I was able to follow the OHSAA State Tournament all weekend,
courtesy of flowrestling.com. The story about Dustin Carter and
everything he has overcome is truly amazing. The ovation that
the Ohio faithful gave him was awesome! I wish I could’ve been there. Tony Jameson gave me a heart attack after I watched his first round match, but like a true champion, he bounced back and won his 4th state title. Raising the Buckeye flag was inspiring, as it was evident to see the crowd’s
passion and desire for our program to reach a new level. I can
assure you that we are working hard to reach the top!
I am beginning a very difficult training phase, courtesy of Lou
Rosselli. He made a huge difference in my training, and I have
full trust in his ability to take me to the level that I need
to be at to win GOLD. Ross Thatcher has also been an integral
role in my preparation. He is there to help me stay accountable
to the level of intensity that is necessary every single day!
I will be sure to keep you guys posted. Until then……….GO BUCKS!
FEBRUARY 28, 2008:
This is my twentieth year of wrestling, and I am closing in
on my Olympic dream. It seems like yesterday when my father
drove me up to the Clearfork Biddy Tournament near Cleveland,
Ohio for my first taste of the sport. I have wrestled thousands
of matches since then, and been able to travel all over the
world. To say that wrestling has molded me in to the person
I am today would be an understatement. As my old coach Russ
Hellickson would say, I have learned the law of the harvest------“You plant the seed, you water the seed, you fertilize the seed and you weed the seed. If you do those things, and only if you do them, you will harvest." I
feel like anything that is difficult to achieve requires the
same attention and commitment as the law of the harvest. I
have been committed to reaching my potential as a wrestler
for my entire life. I believe that my potential is to be an
Olympic Champion. Hopefully, I am able to bring in the harvest
that I have been working for since 1987.
I will wrestle in the U.S. Open on April 25 th . This event sets the stage for the final Olympic Trial. The National Champion is rewarded with sitting out of the mini-tournament on June 15 th at the final Olympic Trials. Once the mini-tournament concludes, the winner takes on the U.S. National Champion in a best of 3 series to decide the Olympian. This qualification process is the first peak in my training. Once I do what I have set out to do in making the team, I will then re-focus my energy on Olympic Gold. I was able to place 5 th in the World Championships last September, and with a few adjustments, I feel like I can win the Olympic Title.
This is the first OHSAA State Tournament that I will miss in its entirety since I was 13 years old. My thoughts will be with all of the Ohio faithful. The passion, desire, and support of the Ohio wrestling community makes it easier to get out of bed at 6am for my first workout of the day. I am proud to say that I have been able to train inside of our borders for my entire career, and I hope to show that you can go all the way while staying home!
I look forward to keeping all of you Buckeye fans in the loop as I close in on zero hour. Right now I am at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, preparing for the Pan-Am Championships this coming Sunday. I will be sure to give you an update when I return. Until then…………GO BUCKS!!! |
