mikeswuk's blog

Back in March 2014 I met Gene Dermody in New York. I’ve known Gene for some time, and over dinner he said I should do the gay games. At this point I’d only done our club tournaments, but when Gene says you can do something you’ve got to give it a go. In addition to working with LAW twice a week I fitted in as much serious coaching and sparring as I could. When I finally got to Cleveland and walked into the hall for the first time it was ‘what the **** have I done?’ but even from the opening ceremony I knew that there would be support all round, so soon I was thinking ‘I can do this.’ I saw the wrestling at the Olympics and I can say that the standard amongst the younger guys was not far off that. Wrestling as a ‘veteran’ I was paired with guys of my age, but I still lost all my matches. The freestyle bouts were short and not very pretty, but I was much more of a contender in the grappling; when you lose you learn, so I have new goals to work on. The tournament was well organised, the camaraderie was incredible and the whole event was inspirational.