Taking Down Cultural Boundaries; A Look At Shelton Mack's Trip To Russia
11/6/2019 1:33:00 PM | Wrestling
Columbia Wrestling Volunteer Coach Shelton Mack, for two weeks in October, made a trip to Russia with the NYCRTC, this is his story.
DAGESTAN, Russia – It just felt like the "Wrestling Capital of the World". From the cauliflower ear that seemed to be sported by everyone, to the Russian National Team jackets everywhere, from the moment Columbia Wrestling Volunteer Coach Shelton Mack stepped off the plane, he knew that he was among friends.
"You could, from the moment we got off the plane, tell that we were in wrestling country," said Mack.
The entire reason that Mack and a handful of wrestlers from the New York City Regional Training Center were walking through a Russian airport, with the watchful eyes of Russian President Vladimir Putin following their every move, was simply because the Republic of Dagestan, Russia is considered by most to be the "Wrestling Capital of the World" and what better place to train then with the best.
"The Republic of Dagestan is the biggest hotbed for wrestling in the entire world," said Mack. "It is to the point where roughly 25 percent of this past year's world medalists currently train in, or are from Dagestan, and they really just eat, sleep and breath wrestling there."
Eating, sleeping and breathing wrestling might be an understatement for the world that Mack and his fellow NYCRTC athletes had stepped into, but wrestling also acted as a simple glue that easily slammed together any gaps that the two cultures might have created. And that alone made the trip for Mack special, but also there was the wrestling.
The entire trip, which lasted two weeks in the middle of October, was cooked up through the NYCRTC and with the help of Valentin Kalika and Kendall Cross, who both have ties throughout the international wrestling community, Mack and three Columbia Wrestlers, who are currently taking the year off for a shot at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Laurence Kosoy, Brian Bonino and Danny Fongaro, along with three other resident athlete's from the NYCRTC made the trip. "The international ties of both Kalika and Cross really helped get the entire trip in motion," said Mack. "Because when you reach a certain level of wrestling there are certain places that you need to go to in order to maximize your potential and to test your level against some of the best in the world.
"And in wrestling, that is Russia."
In Russia wrestling is taken as seriously as basketball or football is here in the United States of America, with massive training centers set up throughout the country and those rooms are always filled with nothing but young and old wrestlers working together to get better, every day. But getting to face those wrestlers and a chance to train with some of the best, means getting on a plane and flying halfway around the world.
"It was a process because after we figured out who was going to be going, we had to figure out the visas and piece together flights," said Mack. "We started by flying out of John F. Kennedy International Airport and had a nine hour and 50-minute flight to Moscow, which was followed up with a three-hour flight to Makhachkala, which is the capital of Dagestan and where we stayed for the two weeks."
But once in Russia, it became evident that the trip would be something special, not just for the wrestling but for the life experiences earned on the trip. And every morning it seemed, brought a new chance for those experiences to reveal themselves, and it all started with an 'activation walk'.
Every morning, the group would head to a nearby park and just start moving around, getting the limbs going, and from the start of each day they were surrounded by little things that reminded them of where they were. "One really cool thing about Russia," said Mack. "Was that all of their parks had jungle gyms and workout equipment sprinkled throughout the park and we use those during our activation walks in the morning to just limber up for the day."
While the time spent in the park every morning was a great experience, the meat and bones of the trip was wrestling. And it was in these large rooms, which were covered from wall-to-wall with mats and pictures of President Putin, that Mack and his fellow athletes really got to dip their toes into the deep end of wrestling.
"The most eye-opening thing for me when we were over there was just the level that everyone worked at," said Mack. "We would work out twice a day, and there was not easy day, and each guy I faced and each chance I had to hit the mat it seemed I was facing guys that were at a level I am aspiring to reach but in work ethic and overall competitive edge."
In rooms filled with wrestlers the work happened, going from partner to partner and workout to workout, Mack got a taste of what it is like to train at the highest of levels for wrestling, surrounded by people who not only took it seriously but also had a love for the sport that broke down any cultural barriers that might have been there. Because in Dagestan, the passion for the wrestling starts at a young age and a foundation is built that carries the athletes to the levels they want to be at, "I asked a young kid, could not have been more then 11 or 12, when he is going to be world champion," said Mack "and his response was eye opening, he said 'I will be world champ when it is my time'".
The growth for Mack and his fellow NYCRTC members was not just gained on the mat, but gained off as well, with several trips being made in the surrounding areas that allowed them to be exposed to more than just a passion for wrestling but a passion for life as well.
"We had some great hosts who showed us around, as much as they could," said Mack. "We even got to go to the Sulak Canyon, which is the deepest canyon in Europe. And it was awe inspiring to see a different part of the world like that, and it really does put things into perspective because not everyone gets a chance to see things like that."
Something else a lot of people do not get to do is wrestle in the heart of international wrestling, and on the mat everyday that's what was done. Big rooms that had every square inch covered with wrestlers sparring and working on different moves and techniques, and while Mack and the NYCRTC members might not have all spoken Russian, they all spoke wrestling.
It seemed that the wrestlers wanted to learn what they could from their American counterparts, and it was made easier because the language of wrestling is fluid across all cultures. "It seemed that everyone we saw at the practices just had a pure look of curiosity and at the same time joy," said Mack. "To know that someone as different as we Americans had come so far to a place that is the polar opposite of what we are used to simply because of the bonds formed by wrestling was a sight to see."
The level of competition and the work ethic that Mack and others were exposed to was something that cannot be replicated anywhere, and despite not having the tools and resources that young wrestlers have here in America, the drive to succeed and the fact that all you need is a room and an opponent who wants the same thing, means that across all cultures wrestling is a universal language.
"We were walking through the park one evening, and there was a hut where you could shoot a bow and arrow," said Mack. "After we finished shooting the arrows, we got ready to pay but the guy running the hut said that we didn't have to pay, all he wanted was that the next time we came back that we exchange cultures.
"To hear someone, say that who comes from a completely different walk of life, it lets you know that we are all human and that we all want to be good people to each other."
Wrestling seems to be a path for those cultures to come together, for two weeks in Russia that is exactly what wrestling did.
"You could, from the moment we got off the plane, tell that we were in wrestling country," said Mack.
The entire reason that Mack and a handful of wrestlers from the New York City Regional Training Center were walking through a Russian airport, with the watchful eyes of Russian President Vladimir Putin following their every move, was simply because the Republic of Dagestan, Russia is considered by most to be the "Wrestling Capital of the World" and what better place to train then with the best.
"The Republic of Dagestan is the biggest hotbed for wrestling in the entire world," said Mack. "It is to the point where roughly 25 percent of this past year's world medalists currently train in, or are from Dagestan, and they really just eat, sleep and breath wrestling there."
Eating, sleeping and breathing wrestling might be an understatement for the world that Mack and his fellow NYCRTC athletes had stepped into, but wrestling also acted as a simple glue that easily slammed together any gaps that the two cultures might have created. And that alone made the trip for Mack special, but also there was the wrestling.
The entire trip, which lasted two weeks in the middle of October, was cooked up through the NYCRTC and with the help of Valentin Kalika and Kendall Cross, who both have ties throughout the international wrestling community, Mack and three Columbia Wrestlers, who are currently taking the year off for a shot at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Laurence Kosoy, Brian Bonino and Danny Fongaro, along with three other resident athlete's from the NYCRTC made the trip. "The international ties of both Kalika and Cross really helped get the entire trip in motion," said Mack. "Because when you reach a certain level of wrestling there are certain places that you need to go to in order to maximize your potential and to test your level against some of the best in the world.
"And in wrestling, that is Russia."
In Russia wrestling is taken as seriously as basketball or football is here in the United States of America, with massive training centers set up throughout the country and those rooms are always filled with nothing but young and old wrestlers working together to get better, every day. But getting to face those wrestlers and a chance to train with some of the best, means getting on a plane and flying halfway around the world.
"It was a process because after we figured out who was going to be going, we had to figure out the visas and piece together flights," said Mack. "We started by flying out of John F. Kennedy International Airport and had a nine hour and 50-minute flight to Moscow, which was followed up with a three-hour flight to Makhachkala, which is the capital of Dagestan and where we stayed for the two weeks."
But once in Russia, it became evident that the trip would be something special, not just for the wrestling but for the life experiences earned on the trip. And every morning it seemed, brought a new chance for those experiences to reveal themselves, and it all started with an 'activation walk'.
Every morning, the group would head to a nearby park and just start moving around, getting the limbs going, and from the start of each day they were surrounded by little things that reminded them of where they were. "One really cool thing about Russia," said Mack. "Was that all of their parks had jungle gyms and workout equipment sprinkled throughout the park and we use those during our activation walks in the morning to just limber up for the day."
While the time spent in the park every morning was a great experience, the meat and bones of the trip was wrestling. And it was in these large rooms, which were covered from wall-to-wall with mats and pictures of President Putin, that Mack and his fellow athletes really got to dip their toes into the deep end of wrestling.
"The most eye-opening thing for me when we were over there was just the level that everyone worked at," said Mack. "We would work out twice a day, and there was not easy day, and each guy I faced and each chance I had to hit the mat it seemed I was facing guys that were at a level I am aspiring to reach but in work ethic and overall competitive edge."
In rooms filled with wrestlers the work happened, going from partner to partner and workout to workout, Mack got a taste of what it is like to train at the highest of levels for wrestling, surrounded by people who not only took it seriously but also had a love for the sport that broke down any cultural barriers that might have been there. Because in Dagestan, the passion for the wrestling starts at a young age and a foundation is built that carries the athletes to the levels they want to be at, "I asked a young kid, could not have been more then 11 or 12, when he is going to be world champion," said Mack "and his response was eye opening, he said 'I will be world champ when it is my time'".
The growth for Mack and his fellow NYCRTC members was not just gained on the mat, but gained off as well, with several trips being made in the surrounding areas that allowed them to be exposed to more than just a passion for wrestling but a passion for life as well.
"We had some great hosts who showed us around, as much as they could," said Mack. "We even got to go to the Sulak Canyon, which is the deepest canyon in Europe. And it was awe inspiring to see a different part of the world like that, and it really does put things into perspective because not everyone gets a chance to see things like that."
Something else a lot of people do not get to do is wrestle in the heart of international wrestling, and on the mat everyday that's what was done. Big rooms that had every square inch covered with wrestlers sparring and working on different moves and techniques, and while Mack and the NYCRTC members might not have all spoken Russian, they all spoke wrestling.
It seemed that the wrestlers wanted to learn what they could from their American counterparts, and it was made easier because the language of wrestling is fluid across all cultures. "It seemed that everyone we saw at the practices just had a pure look of curiosity and at the same time joy," said Mack. "To know that someone as different as we Americans had come so far to a place that is the polar opposite of what we are used to simply because of the bonds formed by wrestling was a sight to see."
The level of competition and the work ethic that Mack and others were exposed to was something that cannot be replicated anywhere, and despite not having the tools and resources that young wrestlers have here in America, the drive to succeed and the fact that all you need is a room and an opponent who wants the same thing, means that across all cultures wrestling is a universal language.
"We were walking through the park one evening, and there was a hut where you could shoot a bow and arrow," said Mack. "After we finished shooting the arrows, we got ready to pay but the guy running the hut said that we didn't have to pay, all he wanted was that the next time we came back that we exchange cultures.
"To hear someone, say that who comes from a completely different walk of life, it lets you know that we are all human and that we all want to be good people to each other."
Wrestling seems to be a path for those cultures to come together, for two weeks in Russia that is exactly what wrestling did.
Players Mentioned
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