Today has been a very tiring day mentally as well as physically. Today really kicked in of home sick. I always feel sad that to do what i have to do i have to leave my beautiful new wife behind at home while im over here training and trying to become the best athlete i can be.
I woke up this morning gave Mum a call and then called Sam to say hi and tell her how much i love her and miss her. I then went to the local corner store to buy some supplies. They have fantastic Caramello Cadbury chocolate here and also a citrus flavoured diet coke and a cherry flavoured one as well. So i been getting into that a fair bit.
We had a technical session today in which we worked on our individual techniques in a circut based environment to get a sweat up and shrapen up before the worlds next week. I fight in 6 days time. im so excited.
After training this morning i was surprisingly light and only weighed 61.8kg which is fantastic this close to compeition. Although since Pac rim i havent eaten at all that badly i havent really had time to splurge out on Maccas or some Pizza.
This is because usually we have a competition and thats it for a little while but because i had a comp and then training a few days later i really want eat for performance rather than just load up on anything fatty.
After our session this morning i had a snooze (because the jet lag is still affecting me) and then got woken up suddenly by my coach Gavin to tell me to go to the shops with him. I bought a coffee down there is was sooooo crappy and boiling hot i was disappointed because i love coffee and really wanted a good one. o well.
I then spent the rest of the arvo studying and writing a blog for my learning with technology class.
Tonights session there was stacks of people there but i felt very flat and tired and had no energy. I just wanted to go to sleep and my mind was thinking bout home quite alot. I Love waking up at home in my house, in my bed and to be able to call Sam whenever i like rather than having to constantly think bout what time it is over in Australia and weather she'll be awake or not.
Tomorrow we are having a very special occasion. the judo club we are staying at is holding a massive fundraising evening at a local 5 star resort, with pool massage 5 course meals the works. We are holding a fight night there where we will have 8 judo fights Australia vs England, they called it the Ashes (Lame i know) but anyway should be good fun.
Apparently Russell Crow is staying there at the moment so we may even see him.
So that's whats been going on with me at the moment nothing too exiting just training and really starting to miss home and back to normality rather than this.
Love u all heaps
Talk soon, Have an awesome day
Matt
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Wednesday
this is the dojo where we train
its a small dojo but good sprung floor
some aussies out the back having some lunch in the sun
our room, me mark dennis and brent, im on the top bunk on the leftIm still a bit jet lagged from the trip so i managed to wake up this morning at 330am, then 530am then finally got out of bed at 730am. Although its a beautiful day everyone woke up with their fingers crossed to see weather our luggage would turn up today.
We had training at 10:30am and thankfully all our gear got here at around 10 past 10 this morning so we could train wearing our own gis rather than borrow some more.
This morning was a really good session we did some groundwork drills and 4X4 minute ground fights then we did some stand up power drills mixed with speed uchikomi and then finished off with 30 minutes of randori (fighting.)
The sessions are run really well and the quality of the players here is quite high so i have enjoyed each session alot.
After training i had a quick shower before getting a lift down the shops to wash all our clothes and have a bit of lunch. i had a chicken salad sandwich and man they have nice bread in europe.
We had an optional training session this afternoon so i went for a run in the local woods for 20 minutes and the shoes my wife got me before i left served me very well.
after running i came back to the dojo and did some skipping and some circuts and stretched out.
This afternoon i dedicated to catching up on schoolwork which i have manged to do for 1 class. i think if i do 1 calsses readings and listen to the lecture i should be fine.
have an awesome day
matt
photos
here is us walking out to get our medals. With the video of the final it is over 100mb so i will need to somehow figure out how to cut it down in half so i can post it on youtube. if anyone can help out with that please let me know
Quang, me and midge and colin hill
love.. everyone needs love
cooky and Quang at the worlds tallest building
me on the podium woohooLast few hectic days
Last few days,
G wizz well the last few days have been crazy, Quang took Cooky and i on a quick cultural tour of Taipei. we went to the top of taipei 101 which is the tallest builidng in the world. We travelled on the worlds fastest elevator to get to the top it does 1000m in 1minute.Crazy fully crazy.
Anyway then we went and had a japanese buffet and ate our heads off of asian food.
We then left late on Monday night to London, we did a quick stop over in Frankfurt Germany where our bags have been left behind since then. Just over 24hrs now.
At the moment we are at camberley judo club in Surry hills south London the weather is nice and the training is good to. We are living with all professional athletes who just train eat and train, the dojo outt he back is not even that big but you can tell from head coaches Mark earle and Luke preston that all the players are defiently high level fighters.
Yesterday when we got in we just hung out all day waiting on our luggage and trying to get the internet working on my laptop, for training we all ahd to lend one of the lightweights gis from here to wear.
This morning is much the same, we have a compeition session this morning at 10-12 then a technizal session at 4-6pm. for the rest of the day ill be catching up on as much uni as i can, although i still have no textbooks, but all of my lectures are filmed and streamed on the internet so thats pretty cool.
I will attach some cool photos in the next post of the last few days, 1 is of quang and i at the worlds tallest building the other is me on the podium in Taipei. It is confirmed i am the first aussie male to win Pac Rim in the 30 years so thats pretty cool.
here is a lionk to the ausjudo website that i think will be in the papers in sydney
http://www.ausjudo.com.au/jfa/images/managed/10/JFA%20Inc%20Media%20Release%20-%20Aus%20Pac%20Rim%20Results%20090819.pdf
Now i have to keep that momentum going for the world championships and have a decnet showing fight hard and intense and come off with some wins.
Have an awesome day
Matt
G wizz well the last few days have been crazy, Quang took Cooky and i on a quick cultural tour of Taipei. we went to the top of taipei 101 which is the tallest builidng in the world. We travelled on the worlds fastest elevator to get to the top it does 1000m in 1minute.Crazy fully crazy.
Anyway then we went and had a japanese buffet and ate our heads off of asian food.
We then left late on Monday night to London, we did a quick stop over in Frankfurt Germany where our bags have been left behind since then. Just over 24hrs now.
At the moment we are at camberley judo club in Surry hills south London the weather is nice and the training is good to. We are living with all professional athletes who just train eat and train, the dojo outt he back is not even that big but you can tell from head coaches Mark earle and Luke preston that all the players are defiently high level fighters.
Yesterday when we got in we just hung out all day waiting on our luggage and trying to get the internet working on my laptop, for training we all ahd to lend one of the lightweights gis from here to wear.
This morning is much the same, we have a compeition session this morning at 10-12 then a technizal session at 4-6pm. for the rest of the day ill be catching up on as much uni as i can, although i still have no textbooks, but all of my lectures are filmed and streamed on the internet so thats pretty cool.
I will attach some cool photos in the next post of the last few days, 1 is of quang and i at the worlds tallest building the other is me on the podium in Taipei. It is confirmed i am the first aussie male to win Pac Rim in the 30 years so thats pretty cool.
here is a lionk to the ausjudo website that i think will be in the papers in sydney
http://www.ausjudo.com.au/jfa/images/managed/10/JFA%20Inc%20Media%20Release%20-%20Aus%20Pac%20Rim%20Results%20090819.pdf
Now i have to keep that momentum going for the world championships and have a decnet showing fight hard and intense and come off with some wins.
Have an awesome day
Matt
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Competition Day
before every competition you always find it hard to sleep due to lack of hydration, nerves and sleeping on a rock solid bed. But i always try to do what it says in the bible where it says 'why worry about tomorrows problems, when you have enough problems to worry about today.' (Matthew 6 v34)
Trail Weigh in was at 6am - 7am so i went on down and weighed 59.9kg so i had a little bit of powerade to drink and came up to my room and went back to sleep until official trial at 7am.
I was the second one weighed in so i quickly loaded up on some powerade full of sodium (so it tastes like crap) and i had a ham salad sandwich for breakfast.
My first fight i had a guy from Indonesia so i handled him pretty quickly got him in a hold down and man he nearly got out 4 times (and i am quite strong and have good ne waza.)
To watch that fight click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy-j1WLIZcg
My second fight was like 2 hours later against a guy from Chinese Taipei. Now they arent a very big nation but man was he good, he had a good l;eft switch and i found that i didnt have a plane with him, he was all over me but something happened and i ended up taking him backwards with a kinda uranage / tani otoshi throw for ippon, i was so happy to beat him because it guarentess a medal and i was really at a loss at what to do against the bloke.
To watch second round click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UysQHkebk
The final was against the Japanese guy who beat the korean first round, i knew he was really quick off the grips and had nice judo (as all japanese do.)
So i came out hard and really muscled him, headbutting and dragging his head down.
I faked a massive footy tackle and he sprawled right on his face and then when he stood up i faked a shot again,
i was all over him and then he poked me in the eye and when i turned around he tried to throw me and that is just unsportsmanslike you know.
After that i got a big top grip and kick his foot for a KO ouchi and then next thing you know i was driving his shoulders into the mat for ippon (or full winning score)
and i won
i was so happy no one thought that i was going to beat the Japanese guy but i really gave it to him and was on top from the beginning.
Unfortunately i didn't bring my camera charger and so i only got my first 2 fights on my camera but my coach Gav got the final so as soon as i get it ill whack it up here because its the fight i fought really good in and it was the final.
I was also really happy when i got my medal because they played the national anthem and its not everyday do you see the Aussie flag flying higher than the Japanese flag.
So many people from other countries were congratulating me cos no one likes how the Japanese always win. so i was pretty happy i even got a big bouquet of flowers for winning.
ill see if i can take a photo of my medal and post it on here.
After the medal ceremony i had to get drug tested but i was pretty hydrated so it only took me all up around 20 minutes to get through all the paperwork.
Tonight we had a function but the food was crap so an good friend of mine Quang phung and i went out to dinner at a traditional Taiwanese restaurant chain and something to eat, i ate some good stuff.
Now im off to bed i can barely keep my eyes open but ill just add 2 throws you can have a look at that are a good depiction of what classifies as a winning score.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLCYA2kk5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWjpzZvWuDU
There is a rumour going round at the moment that i am the first aussie male to win a pac rim championships so thats pretty cool. Although i wasnt really that nervous leading into the competition today. i guess i feel like i train very hard and put alot of effort and time into training and sacrificing alot that me winning is just the result of all the hard work i put in and that i deserve it.
I also wanna thank my beautiful wife samantha because she is so wonderfully supportive its crazy. Whenever i call and im all tired, grumpy and hungary you always supports me and look after me. Sam your such a blessing in my life and i thank God everyday your in my life,
So now im finally off to bed and have a nice big sleep in.
Have an awesome day guys
Matt
Trail Weigh in was at 6am - 7am so i went on down and weighed 59.9kg so i had a little bit of powerade to drink and came up to my room and went back to sleep until official trial at 7am.
I was the second one weighed in so i quickly loaded up on some powerade full of sodium (so it tastes like crap) and i had a ham salad sandwich for breakfast.
My first fight i had a guy from Indonesia so i handled him pretty quickly got him in a hold down and man he nearly got out 4 times (and i am quite strong and have good ne waza.)
To watch that fight click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy-j1WLIZcg
My second fight was like 2 hours later against a guy from Chinese Taipei. Now they arent a very big nation but man was he good, he had a good l;eft switch and i found that i didnt have a plane with him, he was all over me but something happened and i ended up taking him backwards with a kinda uranage / tani otoshi throw for ippon, i was so happy to beat him because it guarentess a medal and i was really at a loss at what to do against the bloke.
To watch second round click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UysQHkebk
The final was against the Japanese guy who beat the korean first round, i knew he was really quick off the grips and had nice judo (as all japanese do.)
So i came out hard and really muscled him, headbutting and dragging his head down.
I faked a massive footy tackle and he sprawled right on his face and then when he stood up i faked a shot again,
i was all over him and then he poked me in the eye and when i turned around he tried to throw me and that is just unsportsmanslike you know.
After that i got a big top grip and kick his foot for a KO ouchi and then next thing you know i was driving his shoulders into the mat for ippon (or full winning score)
and i won
i was so happy no one thought that i was going to beat the Japanese guy but i really gave it to him and was on top from the beginning.
Unfortunately i didn't bring my camera charger and so i only got my first 2 fights on my camera but my coach Gav got the final so as soon as i get it ill whack it up here because its the fight i fought really good in and it was the final.
I was also really happy when i got my medal because they played the national anthem and its not everyday do you see the Aussie flag flying higher than the Japanese flag.
So many people from other countries were congratulating me cos no one likes how the Japanese always win. so i was pretty happy i even got a big bouquet of flowers for winning.
ill see if i can take a photo of my medal and post it on here.
After the medal ceremony i had to get drug tested but i was pretty hydrated so it only took me all up around 20 minutes to get through all the paperwork.
Tonight we had a function but the food was crap so an good friend of mine Quang phung and i went out to dinner at a traditional Taiwanese restaurant chain and something to eat, i ate some good stuff.
Now im off to bed i can barely keep my eyes open but ill just add 2 throws you can have a look at that are a good depiction of what classifies as a winning score.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLCYA2kk5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWjpzZvWuDU
There is a rumour going round at the moment that i am the first aussie male to win a pac rim championships so thats pretty cool. Although i wasnt really that nervous leading into the competition today. i guess i feel like i train very hard and put alot of effort and time into training and sacrificing alot that me winning is just the result of all the hard work i put in and that i deserve it.
I also wanna thank my beautiful wife samantha because she is so wonderfully supportive its crazy. Whenever i call and im all tired, grumpy and hungary you always supports me and look after me. Sam your such a blessing in my life and i thank God everyday your in my life,
So now im finally off to bed and have a nice big sleep in.
Have an awesome day guys
Matt
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Day before comp
Woke up this morning 1.8kg over weight had a quick half hour training session and got down to 61kg. I then came home and had a snooze and went off to watch the judo comp for a while.,
There was some good fights on today but i was itching to fight so i came home and snoozed til 4pm and then hopped in the sauna.
My 2 sauna buddies were josh and dennis and we all dropped around 1-2 kgs. i got down to 59.3 so i could have something to eat. i had a chocolate and caramel frappe and a watermelon slushie, they were both great plus a bit of chocolate and a yoghurt,
now im weighing back to 60.4 so ill sleep without any air conditiioning and hopefully wake up dead on 60.00kg. if not a quick run will drop the remaining 100grams
So ill get going to sleep now im exhausted and cant keep my eyes ope, im excited to fight and make the most of my good draw.
Ill keep u posted how i go
Have a great day
Matt
There was some good fights on today but i was itching to fight so i came home and snoozed til 4pm and then hopped in the sauna.
My 2 sauna buddies were josh and dennis and we all dropped around 1-2 kgs. i got down to 59.3 so i could have something to eat. i had a chocolate and caramel frappe and a watermelon slushie, they were both great plus a bit of chocolate and a yoghurt,
now im weighing back to 60.4 so ill sleep without any air conditiioning and hopefully wake up dead on 60.00kg. if not a quick run will drop the remaining 100grams
So ill get going to sleep now im exhausted and cant keep my eyes ope, im excited to fight and make the most of my good draw.
Ill keep u posted how i go
Have a great day
Matt
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