16/04/2026

 I realised something, not just now, in fact, I don't know exactly when I realized it, but, I've been a competitive level, albeit at the lowest level, all along. 

This was why Jai Hanuman skips district qualifier competitions, it's internal competition IS the taluka level.

'Elite Wrestling', was about a guy attending a wrestling club while not really knowing what he was doing, now I know. And for that reason, plus the reason that the book has gotten too long, even if I cut out portions, the rest of this will be a blog, I decided for now, on Blogspot. I don't know for how long, but that is what I decided. 

Today's practice, standard. Did the jog right from the beggining with Urvi for first 10ish laps. Then, the older wrestlers joined. 

Several laps later the jog was led by Shubham Narle and Lucky. They pushed the pace, Urvi started to fall behind. The kids that were already behind with mine and Urvi's pace, don't even ask. 

Coach asked for a final fast round before stopping the jog. Then had us all pick up trash. 

I found this white headband about to be burned with the trash, so I went inside the talim and gave it to Swarit. Briefly watching Alok Bhag wrestle Shubham Shinde.

Alok, even though he was moving with normal looking steps. I could see where some of his iron like hard to moveability and stamina draining came from. His stance was high but sunken, and though Shubham Shinde, who was over 20kg larger, could move him, it was clear this took far more effort then it should, and was draining Shubham's stamina faster then usual. 

Shubham, though much heavier then Alok, was lighter on his feet, not because he was moving, because he was less anchored. 

I went back out, everyone was lined up at the opposite end of the field, and coach called me to join. I got in front of Shubham Narle. And immediately, sprinted across the field with the rest of the group.

How many shoots have we done? I asked Shubham. 

"3", was his answer. 

I did the rest of the shoots with the group, this time, coach was doing more single side shoots, a longer distance across the field, but not back. 

I wondered why I was so slow, and eventually realised, it was becuase to be fast, simply grabbing the ground with your feet each step wasn't right, you had to bounce off the ground, like Medium Kartik, that would make you float. 

I did this for the last few shoots, and for the last shoot, when everyone else was slowed down, I realised I was the first to finish the first half of the double shoot, as Dweej called out

"Go Saswat!",

 

I took off for the second half, sprinting ahead, puffing like the big bad wolf. To ensure nobody caught up with me, except Chandrashekhar apparently. 

We went back inside, Viraj Ghosale and Yash Patil were now wrestling. Viraj was dominating, but not easily, but clearly ahead, with his trademark enthusiasm. 

Chandrashekhar was eventually called in to wrestle Happy, and we were called out to exercise. 

In the exercise room, not much, 20 sapate, 20 squats, 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 10 more sapate. 

Medium Viraj started questioning me in my second set of sapate. Where did I study, when was I in the USA, why I didn't have a job if I was this smart. 

I briefly wrestled this guy, Shashwat Shrivastav. He was 52kg, 5kg lower then me. And while not going all out, I saw he had a similar style, or trying to drag me into headlocks.