Baby, I am back!

Couple of weeks ago I get the email from Sergey Rudnev: "Hey, Eugene, I am coming to Sydney to run the local comp and couple of seminars. It would be great to catch up!" Last Thursday - he is here. On Saturday I went to watch him competing in 24 kg Long Cycle in the morning, and in the afternoon I attended his masterclass. I could stay only for the firts couple of hours which covered the jerk.

One thing you realize at times like these is the significance of a professional coach. For what it i worth, Sergey is the best GS coach I have ever come across. On Sunday morning I helped him - in the capacity of the interpreter from Russian - with his seminar on the training process. His knowledge of the subject and understanding of the individual approach is truly professional. Which is not surprising; he has a university degree in the fucking subject, not six month long part time course in personal training, run by the guys who graduated from the same course three months ago! Once again I was gloating deep inside about being right in regards to AKC training methodology: ten minute sets every session are not the way to train for the sport.

Never mind the others. The message: if you wat to learn Girevoy Sport - learn it from guys like Rudnev. And as I know nothing else like him - learn from Rudnev himself. That is, if he has training spots available.

It was also nice to see that Australian GS is getting bigger. There were 22 participants this time, compared with 15 last time about six months ago. Sure it is not as big as AFL, but the baby is growing.

Where was I... Ah, yeah. Couple of hours of that masterclass was enough to get bitten by the GS bug again. I don't know what it is about GS: the crazy talk about the intricacies of the tecnique, the sincerity of the sport or something else, but there is something in this activity that draws me in. The prospect of saying that I did fifty-something snatches in this many minutes? The knowledge that I can almost die and get through the long set, let alone voluntarily!

Anyway, I am seriously considering giving GS another shot. I am thinking snatch. It is a one arm lift which makes it easier on the back. On the other hand it is most technical of the three, which makes it challenging and interesting. Snatch it is. In any case, if I get any better I can always build other lifts on top of that.

Whatch this spot, baby, I am back!