Finnish-American Mas-Wrestling trainings

A sports delegation from the United States of America visited the Finnish village of Vastila in the Pyhtaa region these days. The delegation headed by a coach Chad Clark from Virginia also consisted of the athletes Janel Vegter and Adam Tucker. They arrived to Mas-Wrestling training camp.

Their sparring partners were Finnish athletes hardened on the world Mas-Wrestling platforms - Annika Eylmann, Saija Kantola and Niko Vesterinen. And, of course, Juha-Vesa Yannti himself, President of Mas-Wrestling Federation of Finland, coach of the Finnish Mas-Wrestling national team. Juha is not a simple leader, but a "playing" coach. He is the champion and prize-winner of various major competitions in such sports as weightlifting, gymnastics, springboard dives and hockey. Mas-Wrestling – is his love of recent years, his new hobby, which became the meaning of life. He built a gym at his own expense and decided to invite foreign colleagues for cooperation around Mas-Wrestling. This was his first and successful experience.

The time to organize a training camp was not chosen randomly. It is the eve of the Arnold Sport Festival, which will be held in Columbus, USA in early March. The official program of this Arnold Schwarzenegger’s world-famous festival for the fifth time includes Mas-Wrestling competitions, in which all trained athletes from Finland will take part.

Unfortunately, Finnish athletes could actively train only on their weekend, but the American partners spent all of the days in the camp in the regime of daily two-time training. Accommodation and meals were organized right at the sports center, which was very convenient.

The uniqueness of training was that foreign colleagues - Dmitriy Vasiliev from Russia and Zviadi Losakov from Georgia - were involved in the training and coaching process.

Dmitriy is the coach of the Moscow team, a member of the presidium of the All-Russian Mas-Wrestling Federation, judge of the first category, as well as the President of the Moscow Mas-Wrestling Federation.

Zviadi is a three-time champion of Georgia, winner and prize-winner of various international Mas-Wrestling tournaments, coach of the Georgian national team, an experimental engineer and just a great sports enthusiast. The simulator he invented, gives a full sense of the presence of the opponent in sparring and gives the opportunity to work out many moments of the match, defense techniques and attacks during a transient battle.

Under Dmitriy’s and Zviadi’s supervision, the trainees received a priceless experience in working out techniques and learned the rules of Mas-Wrestling. At the beginning of the training Dmitriy tested the training of all athletes in accordance with his own methodology and adjusted the training course for each person. The evaluation was based on testing physical qualities of the athlete such as strength, endurance, reaction, dexterity, flexibility.

This type of preliminary assessment allowed to correctly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete and helped to focus on eliminating shortcomings and developing the advantages needed for a successful performance. Personal training sessions and sparring sessions were recorded on video, followed by "debriefing" for each individual and the entire group as a whole.

The atmosphere of trainings was more than friendly. Guests from across the ocean were offered a diverse cultural program. In addition to tours to nearby cities and the capital of Finland, they visited the famous Finnish sauna and saw Salibandy, a game popular in Finland, which aroused genuine interest. And of course there was a tasting of traditional Finnish cuisine. Just an enumeration of dishes can cause anyone to stop what they are doing and come to this country: pancakes with whipped cream and strawberry jam, baked salmon, sea buckthorn drinks, strong drinks like Mintty, etc. Before leaving home, they expressed a desire to return again.

"Motivation after trainings of such class goes off and you want to move forward - to new sparrings, new victories and new medals! - shares Juha-Vesa. - These trainings have shown their huge relevance, efficiency and attractiveness for athletes and their mentors. There are all the prerequisites for such trainings to become traditional in Finland.

Welcome to Finland! Or as they say in Finnish “Tervetuloa Suomeen kaikille!”

Secretly, the organizers told me the that such training camps will be held in April. Those who interested can join. The number of participants will be limited, which guarantees an individual approach to everyone.