hephaestion2014's blog

"You went too easy on him ...You are still holding back"

A lot of people when they talk about how they got into wrestling will often speak about how they play fought with their friends/brothers/cousins as kids. Playful rough housing on a quiet day ...

That wasn't my experience. Had an older brother, no cousins and to be honest the fights that I had as a kid werent playful. They were real "you and me after school on the fields" type thing where we would both be out to hurt each other ... Something about my face seems to make people want to punch it :)

Now what does this have to do with wrestling now, and what's the problem?

The aggressive drive. I am only used to being aggressive with people I don't like. A couple of people have commented that when I wrestle I don't fully go for the guy. And when I was first told this, my response confused me ... Well, I liked them, why would I "go for them"?

That's where I guess some of my problems lay. I don't have that foundation of friendly competition.

The measured aggression.

Don't get me wrong, it is in there. Yank my arm too hard after I have tapped, cross a physical line with me or get me angry, actually don't get me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry ;) and its there.

If you are coming at me, I'm perfectly happy to fight you right back.

But often, aside of the odd bit of trash talk, most if not all the guys I have wrestled I have been friendly with. Some I consider even friends. Which is why I find myself probably going gentler on them, although some people think this means I should go harder.

And these people are the ones who play fought with friends.

Not sure that I will ever cure this. And probably explains why my ultimate wrestling fantasy would be a scrap with a guy I had real personal animus with...