Reflections of a world champion

[Katie 1,076]

"The problem is that 99.9% of you have no idea what the right things are, and the other 0.1% ignore the info because it isn’t easy[.]"

- @kyledake444 (2:56 PM - 30 Apr 2019)

Link

Edited May 1, 2019 by Katie

[Mphillips 1,806]

You've said it all.

[ExBSUfan 59]

That’s 100% of people. Does this mean that nobody is successful? Because that’s not true.

[Plasmodium 2,307]

2 minutes ago, ExBSUfan said:

That’s 100% of people. Does this mean that nobody is successful? Because that’s not true.

Not quite 100%. If you read carefully, you'll see that he didn't include himself in the statistics.

[Plasmodium 2,307]

33 minutes ago, Katie said:

"The problem is that 99.9% of you have no idea what the right things are, and the other 0.1% ignore the info because it isn’t easy[.]"

- @kyledake444 (2:56 PM - 30 Apr 2019)

Link

Which saddle burr was he trying to dislodge with this?

[ExBSUfan 59]

7 minutes ago, Plasmodium said:

Not quite 100%. If you read carefully, you'll see that he didn't include himself in the statistics.

Math is hard. I didn’t read it carefully I guess. He does say 99.9% of YOU. My bad.

Edited May 1, 2019 by ExBSUfan

[OBXWrestler 108]

Don’t have a IVY degree but I think he is saying that 99.9 % fail and failure is good. To continue to grow you must search for the right things. 

[IronChef 1,134]

This is a cousin to Askren claiming years ago that he was the only person who trained hard and wanted to be a champion.

Also, Dake's tweet is probably related to his Functional Patterns guru that has warped his brain into believing that's the secret of his success.

[Panther78 36]

How about this for an answer?

 

Writing Time: Pat Downey's career is taking a turn upward after he looked inward

It was this time a year ago when Pat Downey looked inward and had an honest conversation with himself about where he’d been and where he still wanted to go in wrestling.

His college career provided us with snapshots of extraordinary talent but left us with more questions about what could have been. The 2012 Junior World silver medalist bounced around with stops at Nebraska, Iowa Central, Iowa State and a stint at Iowa that ended before it ever really began. He won a junior college national title and placed fifth once at the NCAA Championships, but his goals and upside were so much bigger than his results.

Downey showed up at last year’s U.S. Open unprepared and out of shape after leaving Iowa and returning home to Maryland for a couple months.

“I was at a really low, low (for) two and a half, three months,” he said. “I went out to the U.S. Open and I feel like I wrestled my worst Senior-level tournament of my career. At that point, I looked in the mirror and I was like, ‘Alright, we’re going to do this thing for real or why are we doing it?’

“I still went out and qualified for the (World Team) Trials (Challenge Tournament after placing seventh at 86 kilograms), but I felt like I wrestled what was way beneath my level. I was not happy with what I saw in the mirror based on my performance. I always had a lot of mentors and people guiding me in the right light, but I had to do it for myself. It was something that, as a man, I just had to look in the mirror and say, ‘These are the changes that need to be made.’”

What needed to change?

“A lot of things, actually,” he said. “The consistency with which I was training, the amount of times of the week I was putting myself in live training scenarios at the (New Jersey Regional Training Center). Basically, doing things on my worst days when I’m feeling terrible that I probably wouldn’t even have been doing on my best days. Just my whole consistency to training, that was the main thing.

“But then I was dedicated in so many other ways, too … getting to sleep earlier, not cheating on my diet, drinking water as opposed to other beverages. There’s a lot of different things that go into that word dedication and discipline.

“I’ve been at the Senior level, trying to accomplish these goals at the highest level for quite some time and I’ve fallen short and I’ve never lost belief in my talent or my toughness or my technique, so I had to look elsewhere for things to fix to make sure I was able to accomplish my goals. Honestly, it was just a rude awakening, learning lessons the hard way. It’s like, ‘Hey, you need to be more than tough and talented and technical at the highest level of this sport to accomplish your goals. Honestly, I just got tired of feeling disappointment.”

Ideally, we’re all better at 26 than we were at 25. Hopefully, we figure out some things at 25 that we didn’t understand at 24. As Downey points out, we’re all on our own schedule.

There’s no question, though, that the 26-year-old version of Pat Downey is the best one we’ve seen on a wrestling mat yet. He outscored his six opponents at last weekend’s U.S. Open by a combined 55-19 count on his way to the title at 86 kilograms.

It wasn’t just that Downey won the tournament. It was how he won.

He took care of Nick Heflin 10-4 in the finals. He trailed Myles Martin 7-0 midway through the second period in the semifinals and came back for a 9-7 win, scoring a takedown and two turns in the final 30 seconds.

“A year ago, if I’m down 7-0 to anybody, I’m thinking, ‘Go for broke, I’ve gotta get a throw, I’ve gotta pin him,’” Downey said. “Now I’m thinking, ‘Next score and I can keep scoring.’ I’m in great shape, and I’m not used to feeling like that.”

Maybe this is a product of where Downey’s been. Maybe it’s a result of his current environment. Maybe it’s the urgency he feels with his wrestling career winding down. He plans to start fighting after the Olympic cycle ends and he doesn’t want to leave wrestling with any more regret.

It’s likely a confluence of past, present and future that’s driving him to get better.

Though his time at Iowa was brief and Downey never donned a Hawkeye singlet, he said he picked up some valuable lessons in Iowa City.

“I learned there’s a whole lifestyle that goes into it,” he said. “The Iowa Hawkeyes, that was my first time being around a group of guys that dedicated to the sport. I was like, ‘Geez, these guys, their whole lifestyle goes into it. Every decision they make is based upon what’s getting them better at wrestling.’ That made it easy for me to lock down my nutrition, lock down my training because I saw first hand that there’s other guys out there living this lifestyle day in and day out.”

Downey said the NJRTC has provided him with resources to succeed and an environment where he feels at ease.

“I’ve really just been welcomed with open arms,” he said. “The guys are all really receptive of me.”

The U.S. Open title provides Downey with an automatic pass to the finals of the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament later this month in Raleigh, N.C. A couple wins there would set him up for a best-of-three series with World champion David Taylor at Final X.

It’s no surprise Downey’s confidence is high after winning in Las Vegas.

“I’ve always been a confident person, and now I have a reason to be,” he said. “And that reason is the preparation I’m putting into this.

“People would always say, ‘Where do you get your confidence from?’ I was the guy who would show up to the Open like I did last year after not wrestling for three months. I had no preparation. Now I have a reason to be confident and, man, it makes winning easier, I’ll tell you that.”

[AHamilton 1,026]

On 5/1/2019 at 9:08 AM, IronChef said:

This is a cousin to Askren claiming years ago that he was the only person who trained hard and wanted to be a champion.

Also, Dake's tweet is probably related to his Functional Patterns guru that has warped his brain into believing that's the secret of his success.

https://www.bretcontreras.store/blogs/grill-the-guru/challenging-naudi-aguilar-of-functional-patterns-to-a-debate

[NJDan 1,113]

On 4/30/2019 at 9:12 PM, Katie said:

"The problem is that 99.9% of you have no idea what the right things are, and the other 0.1% ignore the info because it isn’t easy[.]"

- @kyledake444 (2:56 PM - 30 Apr 2019)

Link

No disrespect to Kyle, who I love, but this is really dumb. Knowing what the right things are is very easy. Information about how to train in wrestling or any sport is readily accessible. Maybe it's hard to find the very best program or a program that will lead to a championship. But training information is everywhere. Just google "training program for wrestling. Or get videos on the web. The problem is that doing it IS hard, so most people won't or will not prioritize training. A more accurate statement might be: 90% of you know what to do, but only 1% of you will do it.

Edited May 2, 2019 by NJDan

[Katie 1,076]

I don’t understand what Dake was trying to accomplish with this post.

Insult his fans?

Startle his sponsors and potential sponsors?

Make people wonder if he joined a cult?

Something else?

Edited May 3, 2019 by Katie

[LCpl Schmuckatelli 33]

The guy is 28 years, and he’s a world champion wrestler with an Ivy League degree.  I think I’ll give him a pass if he says something that sounds arrogant, because I said stuff that was way dumber than this when I was his age.  

[Billyhoyle 2,500]

Kyle Dake and Dylan Polacio should host a podcast. 

21 hours ago, LCpl Schmuckatelli said:

The guy is 28 years, and he’s a world champion wrestler with an Ivy League degree.  I think I’ll give him a pass if he says something that sounds arrogant, because I said stuff that was way dumber than this when I was his age.  

Technically you are correct.  Cornell does compete in the ivy league athletic conference.  

[headshuck 2,626]

He who grounds his wooden bed frame to earth.

[Plasmodium 2,307]

22 hours ago, LCpl Schmuckatelli said:

The guy is 28 years, and he’s a world champion wrestler with an Ivy League degree.  I think I’ll give him a pass if he says something that sounds arrogant, because I said stuff that was way dumber than this when I was his age.  

I'm sure he says stuff way dumber than as well.  Memorializing it in a tweet is a different matter.

[Coach_J 2,188]

The "right things" are so vastly different for each high level athlete.  Gable lived a monkish devotion to the game; Rick Sanders needed an all-night binge and some female company to hit his peak; Satiev was a technical master while Burroughs is dependent on split second timing and explosive capability.  And so on and so on.  As Voltaire might say, "Each must tend his garden."

[Jim L 328]

23 hours ago, LCpl Schmuckatelli said:

The guy is 28 years, and he’s a world champion wrestler with an Ivy League degree.  I think I’ll give him a pass if he says something that sounds arrogant, because I said stuff that was way dumber than this when I was his age.  

When I was his age, i had a house, a wife , two dogs and been working full time for many years...and I always felt that I was slow to mature and take responsibility. I still say things that are way dumber, but nobody really cares what I say. Using age as an excuse is no longer appropriate at 28

[wrestlingnerd 3,011]

On 5/2/2019 at 9:55 PM, Katie said:

I don’t understand what Dake was trying to accomplish with this post.

Insult his fans?

Startle his sponsors and potential sponsors?

Make people wonder if he joined a cult?

Something else?

Piss off Katie and make Plasmodium take yet another shot at Cornell? Plasmodium must’ve graduated 1st from Harvard Med the way he talks. 

Edited May 4, 2019 by wrestlingnerd

[Katie 1,076]

4 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

Piss off Katie and make Plasmodium take yet another shot at Cornell? Plasmodium must’ve graduated 1st from Harvard Med the way he talks. 

Plenty of people see nothing special about Cornell.

[wrestlingnerd 3,011]

But I can think of only one poster who jumps on every opportunity like a rabid dog frothing st the mouth. Never misses a chance, pretty impressive  

And if you truly think there’s nothing special there, truly nothing, then I wonder what you think of where you went to school and the state of education in general. Must be quite the sobering perspective. It would help explain why you’d start pointless threads like this one, I suppose. 

Edited May 4, 2019 by wrestlingnerd

[Katie 1,076]

22 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

But I can think of only one poster who jumps on every opportunity like a rabid dog frothing st the mouth. Never misses a chance, pretty impressive  

And if you truly think there’s nothing special there, truly nothing, then I wonder what you think of where you went to school and the state of education in general. Must be quite the sobering perspective. It would help explain why you’d start pointless threads like this one, I suppose. 

If you’re upset, I apologize. 

Edited May 4, 2019 by Katie

[wrestlingnerd 3,011]

I’m not upset. I think this thread is dumb on many levels though, so I just pointed it out. 

[Billyhoyle 2,500]

31 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

But I can think of only one poster who jumps on every opportunity like a rabid dog frothing st the mouth. Never misses a chance, pretty impressive  

And if you truly think there’s nothing special there, truly nothing, then I wonder what you think of where you went to school and the state of education in general. Must be quite the sobering perspective. It would help explain why you’d start pointless threads like this one, I suppose. 

Cornell is a very good school, but it's fun to make fun of because it's the odd ball out of the ivy league (due in part to the state-school components of it that many of the wrestler attend).  It's just kind of funny that some here hold up a Cornell degree as some truly exceptional accomplishment (think Andy Bernard from the office). I think all of these guys are impressive for competing in D1 in college, but don't think the college athletes at Cornell are any more impressive than the guys at Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, etc.  Due to grade inflation, getting into an ivy league school is much more difficult than earning a degree from one.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Billyhoyle

[wrestlingnerd 3,011]

I think the college athletes at “Ivy+” schools are more impressive. The workload is considerably more difficult and in a sport that requires as much of a time commitment as wrestling, it makes a big difference. I went to both a state school and what you would call a “very good school” for undergrad (not an Ivy, but even the elitist Harvard kids would acknowledge it as such)  I wrestled throughout. I don’t want to exaggerate by saying it was night and day, but to equate the two experiences is to either be ignorant or deceitful. They’re not the same experiences. If you’re comparing a premed student rated top 5% in his class at Ohio State to an average sociology student at an Ivy, yes, I get it. But that’s not apples to apples  

I do agree about the grade inflation. It’s a problem, but the Ivy+ schools are too full of themselves to ever want to do away with it so it’ll never go away.