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Something from Jill Fikar Assad: Agood reminder

hawkaeg80

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Dec 28, 2014
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I once read that winning is for the ego, but the journey is for the soul, and I wanted to post here because there has been a lot of talk about fans this weekend...die-hard fans, fair-weather fans, armchair fans, keyboard warriors, young fans, old fans, Iowa Style fans, etc.
This photo is of me and a fan named Jeff Kramer. I hope he's in this group! He's a self-professed die-hard fan that I never met or spoke to until last Friday. That's when he saw me with my face buried in my hands hiding quiet mom sobs after Abe lost. He looked over at me when I finally peeked my red eyes out and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to." And he came over from across the aisle and gave me a big hug. I took this photo with him on Saturday as we were leaving.
The evening before, an elderly gentleman found me in a crowded bar (don't judge! LOL!) and said he wanted to talk to me about my son. It was hard to hear him because a large portion of his jaw had been removed as part of his battle with cancer. Abe and Max had come to pay him a visit in the hospital while he was recovering from surgery. He wanted me to know what a nice and compassionate man Abe was and how much he had lifted his spirits by taking the time to come visit with him.
Winning IS fantastic. But man, the soul was fed this weekend.
The wrestling journey has peaks and valleys, highs and heartaches, and everything in between. But between the noise, there are these incredible moments of humanity, kindness, and loyalty that make being part of the Hawkeye Family so special.
With everything going in it just felt too important not to share. We're all on the journey. Some may be closer to the fire than others, but we're all fighting for Iowa.
You can see the picture from hear. I am not a techno geek by any means, but I know how to copy and past. Oh boy! can https://www.facebook.com/groups/234...880434426233&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif
 
Being an Iowa alum and wrestler from the state of IL and western suburbs of Chicago, I have paid close attention to Abe's recruitment and career. He is a fine representative of the University and I look forward to his continued and future success on the mat. You should be very proud of him.
 
I laugh at fans that can sit and enjoy the success of our guys like Spencer and so many before him, then can complain and not appreciate the efforts of the rest of our team that fight beside him.

I have said this before, there is always room for improvement and I’m sickening by the lack of appreciation for what this program did, does and will do.

Im sure that Abe along with the other members of the entire team are disappointed with the results this year, I’m also sure they will be working their asses off to prevent a similar outcome next season. Go Hawks
 
I once read that winning is for the ego, but the journey is for the soul, and I wanted to post here because there has been a lot of talk about fans this weekend...die-hard fans, fair-weather fans, armchair fans, keyboard warriors, young fans, old fans, Iowa Style fans, etc.
This photo is of me and a fan named Jeff Kramer. I hope he's in this group! He's a self-professed die-hard fan that I never met or spoke to until last Friday. That's when he saw me with my face buried in my hands hiding quiet mom sobs after Abe lost. He looked over at me when I finally peeked my red eyes out and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to." And he came over from across the aisle and gave me a big hug. I took this photo with him on Saturday as we were leaving.
The evening before, an elderly gentleman found me in a crowded bar (don't judge! LOL!) and said he wanted to talk to me about my son. It was hard to hear him because a large portion of his jaw had been removed as part of his battle with cancer. Abe and Max had come to pay him a visit in the hospital while he was recovering from surgery. He wanted me to know what a nice and compassionate man Abe was and how much he had lifted his spirits by taking the time to come visit with him.
Winning IS fantastic. But man, the soul was fed this weekend.
The wrestling journey has peaks and valleys, highs and heartaches, and everything in between. But between the noise, there are these incredible moments of humanity, kindness, and loyalty that make being part of the Hawkeye Family so special.
With everything going in it just felt too important not to share. We're all on the journey. Some may be closer to the fire than others, but we're all fighting for Iowa.
You can see the picture from hear. I am not a techno geek by any means, but I know how to copy and past. Oh boy! can https://www.facebook.com/groups/234689563238099/?multi_permalinks=7504249206282062,7503754382998211,7504328196274163&notif_id=1647880434426233&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif
Great post. Thank you for sharing something very personal and private. I think you are right that the journey is for the soul.

Around 30 years ago or so I went to visit a friend and she told me she had a dream the night before where she had died and when she got to the Gates of Heaven that St. Peter said he wanted to ask her a question before he was going to let her in.

The question he asked was "Did you enjoy yourself?"
 
Could someone smarter than me post the photo. I can't find it on the link.

God bless Abe and Jill.
277096503_10227729534729693_3933364793637176658_n.jpg
 
Thanks for sharing.

There is obviously a lot of truth in what Mrs. Assad is saying here, but I don't think a lot of the fans' gripes from NCAA's are simply based on wins and losses.

For me, my biggest frustration from this weekend was the glaring lack of preparation and in-match strategy from our coaching staff. The Marinelli / Wick match was a perfect example. Alex had wrestled Wick five times leading up to their match on Saturday morning. In the previous five meetings, Alex was 4-1 and had won the last four matches. In those four matches, he never chose to go under Wick and won the matches from his feet (won 4-3, 6-4, 2-1, and 4-2). In the match where Alex did NOT beat Wick (their first meeting in 2018), he went down and was turned multiple times (lost 3-16).

So why on earth did Brands let Marinelli go down on Saturday? Why did we decide to move away from a winning strategy? I can handle losing, but what I am tired of is Iowa constantly being out schemed and outfoxed, specifically by Cael and PSU (e.g. RBY and Desanto or Starocci and Kem last year).

I am in no way saying our coaching staff can't get it figured out (I love our staff and wouldn't want anyone else running our program), but something has to be done in terms of preparation and strategy or we will continue to end up on the losing end of these type of matches at NCAAs.

When was the last time you saw something like this said about an Iowa wrestler?

 
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Thanks for sharing.

There is obviously a lot of truth in what Mrs. Assad is saying here, but I don't think a lot of the fans' gripes from NCAA's are simply based on wins and losses.

For me, my biggest frustration from this weekend was the glaring lack of preparation and in-match strategy from our coaching staff. The Marinelli / Wick match was a perfect example. Alex had wrestled Wick five times leading up to their match on Saturday morning. In the previous five meetings, Alex was 4-1 and had won the last four matches. In those four matches, he never chose to go under Wick and won the matches from his feet (won 4-3, 6-4, 2-1, and 4-2). In the match where Alex did NOT beat Wick (their first meeting in 2018), he went down and was turned multiple times (lost 3-16).

So why on earth did Brands let Marinelli go down on Saturday? Why did we decide to move away from a winning strategy? I can handle losing, but what I am tired of is Iowa constantly being out schemed and outfoxed, specifically by Cael and PSU (e.g. RBY and Desanto or Starocci and Kem last year).

I am in no way saying our coaching staff can't get it figured out (I love our staff and wouldn't want anyone else running our program), but something has to be done in terms of preparation and strategy or we will continue to end up on the losing end of these type of matches at NCAAs.

When was the last time you saw something like this said about an Iowa wrestler?

I have always felt the best way to beat Wick is to get the first take down against him. If he takes you down 1st good luck beating him. I think Bull thought he needed the escape point to have any chance to win the match.
 
I have always felt the best way to beat Wick is to get the first take down against him. If he takes you down 1st good luck beating him. I think Bull thought he needed the escape point to have any chance to win the match.
I definitely understand what you're saying, but I think that line of thinking just proves our lack of preparation and in-match strategy. We get down 2-0 early and were too focused on getting the one escape point that we got away from what successfully worked in the past.

Yes, Marinelli was taken down first on Saturday (and was ridden out) but he has proven in other matches that he can get multiple takedowns against Wick. What he has never proven is the ability to successfully get out from the bottom position when wrestling Evan.

After the last two NCAA tournaments, I truly believe it's the strategy and successful game-planning leading up to NCAAs that sets Cael apart from everyone else. How many of their guys lose at Big Tens just to turn around and avenge that loss at NCAAs by making the right adjustments? We all laughed when RBY first put his arm behind his back wrestling Desanto but it worked, and he never lost to Desanto again. Cael also seems to use his challenges masterfully and clearly has a firm grasp of the rules.

I've said this before, but it's almost as if Cael is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.
 
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Thanks for sharing.

There is obviously a lot of truth in what Mrs. Assad is saying here, but I don't think a lot of the fans' gripes from NCAA's are simply based on wins and losses.

For me, my biggest frustration from this weekend was the glaring lack of preparation and in-match strategy from our coaching staff. The Marinelli / Wick match was a perfect example. Alex had wrestled Wick five times leading up to their match on Saturday morning. In the previous five meetings, Alex was 4-1 and had won the last four matches. In those four matches, he never chose to go under Wick and won the matches from his feet (won 4-3, 6-4, 2-1, and 4-2). In the match where Alex did NOT beat Wick (their first meeting in 2018), he went down and was turned multiple times (lost 3-16).

So why on earth did Brands let Marinelli go down on Saturday? Why did we decide to move away from a winning strategy? I can handle losing, but what I am tired of is Iowa constantly being out schemed and outfoxed, specifically by Cael and PSU (e.g. RBY and Desanto or Starocci and Kem last year).

I am in no way saying our coaching staff can't get it figured out (I love our staff and wouldn't want anyone else running our program), but something has to be done in terms of preparation and strategy or we will continue to end up on the losing end of these type of matches at NCAAs.

When was the last time you saw something like this said about an Iowa wrestler?

Umm that would be last year and his name is Spencer, Lee that is!
 
Umm that would be last year and his name is Spencer, Lee that is!
I guess I was specifically referring to the "Brooks made expert level adjustments since Big 10’s" part of Jordan's tweet.

And you're right, Spencer definitely showed expert-level adjustments in 2018 when he avenged his Big Ten semi-finals loss to Nato. I wish he would have gotten the chance to do the same to Seabass in 2019.
 
I once read that winning is for the ego, but the journey is for the soul, and I wanted to post here because there has been a lot of talk about fans this weekend...die-hard fans, fair-weather fans, armchair fans, keyboard warriors, young fans, old fans, Iowa Style fans, etc.
This photo is of me and a fan named Jeff Kramer. I hope he's in this group! He's a self-professed die-hard fan that I never met or spoke to until last Friday. That's when he saw me with my face buried in my hands hiding quiet mom sobs after Abe lost. He looked over at me when I finally peeked my red eyes out and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to." And he came over from across the aisle and gave me a big hug. I took this photo with him on Saturday as we were leaving.
The evening before, an elderly gentleman found me in a crowded bar (don't judge! LOL!) and said he wanted to talk to me about my son. It was hard to hear him because a large portion of his jaw had been removed as part of his battle with cancer. Abe and Max had come to pay him a visit in the hospital while he was recovering from surgery. He wanted me to know what a nice and compassionate man Abe was and how much he had lifted his spirits by taking the time to come visit with him.
Winning IS fantastic. But man, the soul was fed this weekend.
The wrestling journey has peaks and valleys, highs and heartaches, and everything in between. But between the noise, there are these incredible moments of humanity, kindness, and loyalty that make being part of the Hawkeye Family so special.
With everything going in it just felt too important not to share. We're all on the journey. Some may be closer to the fire than others, but we're all fighting for Iowa.
You can see the picture from hear. I am not a techno geek by any means, but I know how to copy and past. Oh boy! can https://www.facebook.com/groups/234689563238099/?multi_permalinks=7504249206282062,7503754382998211,7504328196274163&notif_id=1647880434426233&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif
What is it with you stalking Iowa parents Facebook pages and reposting their rants?
 
I definitely understand what you're saying, but I think that line of thinking just proves our lack of preparation and in-match strategy. We get down 2-0 early and were too focused on getting the one escape point that we got away from what successfully worked in the past.

Yes, Marinelli was taken down first on Saturday (and was ridden out) but he has proven in other matches that he can get multiple takedowns against Wick. What he has never proven is the ability to successfully get out from the bottom position when wrestling Evan.

After the last two NCAA tournaments, I truly believe it's the strategy and successful game-planning leading up to NCAAs that sets Cael apart from everyone else. How many of their guys lose at Big Tens just to turn around and avenge that loss at NCAAs by making the right adjustments? We all laughed when RBY first put his arm behind his back wrestling Desanto but it worked, and he never lost to Desanto agaIin. Cael also seems to use his challenges masterfully and clearly has a firm grasp of the rules.

I've said this before, but it's almost as if Cael is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.
I don't come here to talk about Carl...this is all about us....TnT will figure it out...have faith brother....
 
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I definitely understand what you're saying, but I think that line of thinking just proves our lack of preparation and in-match strategy. We get down 2-0 early and were too focused on getting the one escape point that we got away from what successfully worked in the past.

Yes, Marinelli was taken down first on Saturday (and was ridden out) but he has proven in other matches that he can get multiple takedowns against Wick. What he has never proven is the ability to successfully get out from the bottom position when wrestling Evan.

After the last two NCAA tournaments, I truly believe it's the strategy and successful game-planning leading up to NCAAs that sets Cael apart from everyone else. How many of their guys lose at Big Tens just to turn around and avenge that loss at NCAAs by making the right adjustments? We all laughed when RBY first put his arm behind his back wrestling Desanto but it worked, and he never lost to Desanto again. Cael also seems to use his challenges masterfully and clearly has a firm grasp of the rules.

I've said this before, but it's almost as if Cael is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.
Agreed. Cael and Co. get more diamonds than anybody, some they polish and others they turn to coal. So they're way ahead of the game before the game even starts, but they're not infallible. But their current high enders aren't near as dominant as the Taylor's, Nickal's, Nolf's and Retherford's, but they still win in hotly contested matches. That's to their credit for sure (and the Ref.'s must love them some Cael, they sure seem to benefit more often than not, and they don't need the help).

But Cael has never produced a Jesse Whitmer or a Daryl Weber, that's what seperates Dan Gable from anybody. Our current Staff absolutely needs to be better at adjusting, in match or prior to, and I'm guessing they know that. Find a way.
 
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Agreed. Cael and Co. get more diamonds than anybody, some they polish and others they turn to coal. So they're way ahead of the game before the game even starts, but they're not infallible. But their current high enders aren't near as dominant as the Taylor's, Nickal's, Nolf's and Retherford's, but they still win in hotly contested matches. That's to their credit for sure (and the Ref.'s must love them some Cael, they sure seem to benefit more often than not, and they don't need the help).

But Cael has never produced a Jesse Whitmer or a Daryl Weber, that's what seperates Dan Gable from anybody. Our current Staff absolutely needs to be better at adjusting, in match or prior to, and I'm guessing they know that. Find a way.
Yup, I agree with pretty much everything you said. Especially the part about Cael and the officials, which clearly has something to do with his masterful challenges lol.

I don't think the Hawks are that far off and am very confident in our staff. We just need to figure out a way to start winning some of these close matches at NCAAs, and I personally think the missing link for Iowa right now (outside of recruiting) is having the right preparation and game-plan in place.

As to your point about Cael never producing a Whitmer or Weber. While I agree, I am curious where Matt Brown and Anthony Cassar landed on the recruiting circuit. I don't believe either was a top 10 P4P recruit but I could be mistaken.
 
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All this talk about not preparing leaves out one important point - the better athlete is going to win most of the time.

One of the reasons that no one can figure out how to beat RBY is because he is so darn quick. You can plan and plan, but if he gets to where you are going first, he is going to win the position.

I watched 3 of his matches at the NCAA tourney and he effectively used a different approach in each one. He beat Fix and ADS and he was wrestling differently in each match. That is not a lack of preparation on Fix's or ADS's part. It is an abundance of athletic talent on RBY's part.

The coaches can only do so much. I have coached a ton of high school kids and just because I tell them what to do, it does not mean it will work out. A quicker or stronger kid can usually find a way to win the match. While at the D1 level, talent will only take you so far - that same talent is enough to beat an equally prepared opponent.
 
All this talk about not preparing leaves out one important point - the better athlete is going to win most of the time.

One of the reasons that no one can figure out how to beat RBY is because he is so darn quick. You can plan and plan, but if he gets to where you are going first, he is going to win the position.

I watched 3 of his matches at the NCAA tourney and he effectively used a different approach in each one. He beat Fix and ADS and he was wrestling differently in each match. That is not a lack of preparation on Fix's or ADS's part. It is an abundance of athletic talent on RBY's part.

The coaches can only do so much. I have coached a ton of high school kids and just because I tell them what to do, it does not mean it will work out. A quicker or stronger kid can usually find a way to win the match. While at the D1 level, talent will only take you so far - that same talent is enough to beat an equally prepared opponent.
Like most things, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. RBY obviously has a ton of athletic ability but so does Daton Fix. I honestly don't believe RBY is that much faster or more explosive than Fix, but he's come into Saturday night with the better game plan two years in a row and left the champion both times. You can't just chalk that up to him having an abundance of athletic talent. He is not out there just winging it; he and his coaches are clearly strategizing each matchup beforehand.

I completely understand that you can't script a wrestling match but you can prepare and practice for certain positions and scenarios (e.g. If Wick takes you down, we are still winning from our feet). I believe this is what PSU is doing better than everyone else on top of their recruiting. Their wrestlers always seem to be aware of the situation and know what they need to do (e.g. Max Dean knew not to get aggressive and to let Warner come to him in the 3rd period; I wish Warner did the same as his counterattacks are his bread and butter and I believe he would have won had the match gone to rideouts).
 
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