dstruck Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 GREETINGS FROM NEW ZEALAND!!!!!! update from New Zealand - so 7 days ago the kids boarded a plane to New Zealand and got stuck for 36 hours in LA - they toured Venice Beach and Hollywood (worked out at MUSCLE BEACH)....then they board a plane for New Zealand and woke up in Australia, they were stuck their for 5 days in hotels - wrestled against the University of Sydney wrestling club....then they boarded a plane to NZ and, guess what, ended up in NEW ZEALAND!!! So now, here we are, they are training with a team from NZ today, and then entering a tourney tomorrow...., but they are in good hands - WHAT AN ADVENTURE - SEE THE WORLD THROUGH WRESTLING!!! YOU CAN GO TO FACEBOOK: ISWA NEW ZEALAND 2011 to see more updates on how the 14 Indiana wrestlers WHAT HAVE WE DONE?: Los Angeles: Hollywood, VEnice Beach, Santa Monica, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Stayed at the Westin Australia: Sydney, Brighton, Bonbi Beach, Opera House, Zoo, Aquarium, University of Sydney, Beach Wrestling, Beach running, Wrestled with the Sydney Uni Wrestling Club, New Zealand - JUST ARRIVED - WHO KNOWS!! - Tourney tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyt Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Danny , that sounds like a movie. Pretty cool. Hey can you call me when you get a free minute. Good luck in tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drooke Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Awesome! What a tremendous experience you are exposing your charges to. Kudos! Keep us in the loop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 indyt: email me, I don't have a phone on me dstruck@gcs.k12.in.us I will check it now, and then when I wake in the morning ( I am at a 16 hour time difference) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Well if you already meet Rowdy Roddy Piper then I'm not sure how your trip could improve after that point. Hope you enjoy the sites of NZ it's a very unique geographic area. Don't be fooled if there light weight looks a little funny. I wouldn't be surprised if they threw in a sheep just to fill a weight class down there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachGans Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 What a crazy trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 so we finally made it to NZ - we practiced on Saturday with Dillworth wrestling school in Aukland and the boys all went sight seeing in the city (went up the skytower, walked up "one tree hill" mountain, etc...) Sunday - all kids got up and wrestled great!! TEAM INDIANA WINS THE AUKLAND CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS Yesterday's results: When I write 2 placements it means they placed in their age group, and the second placement means they went up to the senior divions and wrestled too - it was a great tourney - "Aukland City Championships" Team Indiana took FIRST PLACE! Sam Fertg (PWC)-1st, 1st, Alex Rhinehart (PWC) 1st, 2nd, Brady Meenach (New Wash) 5th, Austin Slates(PWC) 1st, Drew Hildebrant (PWC) 1st, Austin Jamison(New Albany) - 2nd, 3rd, Brandon Brown (Jeff) 1st, 3rd, Jacob Everett (Jeff) - 3rd, David Fridley (Jeff) 3rd, Cody Leeper (Brown County) -1st (only was scored on 1 time - went 5-0), Ruger 1st.....man, the kids had some BATTLES!! Austin Jamison at one time wrestled 3 twenty five year old men with no break! David Fridley wrestled their national champ and best wrestler in the country, Brandon Brown wrestled all senior age wrestlers - I could keep going - the kids did great! All the boys wrestled 20 year olds as they were wrestling either up an age or sometimes FIla Junior ages. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 Monday - split the kids up into 2 different clubs - Torunga, and Kati Kati.....most the boys went boat fishing in the harbor, then came in for practice........we practiced with the Kati Kati wrestling club - their coach is the President of NZ wrestling. Tuesday - went sight seeing in Rotorura - hot springs, maori village, mountain climb, luge, etc.... then went to practice in teh Torunga wrestling club - their coach is the National Team Coach here Wednesday (TODAY) - all kids went to school today with their host families to see what a day in school here was like, we will be having a dual meet in a few hours, I will post results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 two dual meets tonight - we went 16-4 in the 20 matches wrestled, all boys wrestled 2 times - ALL BOYS won one or more matches!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Guru Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Man sounds awesome! Good job men! Represent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 well, the volcanic ash has circled the earth and has now grounded the team in New Zealand. we are heading up to Aukland to be close to the airport when it opens, the boys will be wrestling at another local school and if we are here on Saturday we will be wrestling in the North Island Championships............so there is a good thing if we stay! the boys indiana have sent have all handled things well, best behaved and most thankful group of boys in the world, and I can truly say that now as 2 countries have verified that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 US students grapple with ash cloud disruption Kelly Exelby | BAY OF PLENTY TIMES When US-based coach Danny Struck sold a 10-day trip to New Zealand to his state's top grapplers as a chance to "experience the world through wrestling", he didn't fully appreciate the implications of what he was saying. The eruption of Chile's Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano threw the group's first-ever cultural exchange to New Zealand into complete chaos, to such an extent that the wrestlers finally got on the mat in Katikati last night, a week late and several days after they were already due home. The eruption, which began on June 4, caused air travel mayhem worldwide, with Struck saying his group of 17 felt the full effect soon after leaving Indiana more than a week ago. They arrived in Los Angeles via Chicago expecting a two-hour layover before their 12-hour direct flight to Auckland - but were stuck in transit in the City of Angels for a day-and-a-half before the ash-laden clouds cleared enough to take to the skies. But even then things didn't go according to plan, with Struck saying he woke up just as his Qantas flight was descending into Sydney, not Auckland. "None of these kids had ever been to California let alone overseas and all of a sudden we ended up in Australia," the Indiana state coach said. Advertisement "We'd waited long enough in LA already so I thought nothing could possibly go wrong on the flight to New Zealand." The group was just about to get on a connecting flight to Auckland when it, and many others, was cancelled at the last minute, causing widespread chaos and grounding an estimated 5000 passengers. Four nights, several hotels and dozens of Facebook messages back to worried parents in the US later and the wrestlers finally arrived in Auckland on Sunday. Four wrestlers and a coach boarded a plane a day later back to the US to compete in a pre-scheduled major state meet. Struck said it was ironic the destination of the cultural exchange had changed from Japan, where they'd been going annually for 25 years, to New Zealand after the March 11 tsunami. "Tidal waves, earthquakes and now a volcanic eruption - we've been holding our breath since we got here waiting for a hurricane to hit, although maybe we shouldn't joke." Struck set up communication with parents back home via a Facebook page in which he'd provided daily updates on the group's situation. Because they were on a tight budget and were expecting to be billeted most of the way they left home with limited cash resources, with the four nights in Sydney wiping them out. "We did just about every form of attraction possible in Sydney and even found a club to wrestle at, although we walked a hour-and-a-half to get there and were up against guys mainly in their 20s and 30s (Struck's team are aged from 13-18)." He hopped on a bus out to the airport at least once a day to check on flight availability to Auckland, although because the stopover was unplanned there was initially no provision to move them on to Auckland. A wrestling trip to Mongolia last year proved as eventful, with a stopover in Beijing almost ending in disaster when a motorcyclist stopped the team bus on the way to the airport in an attempt to scam cash. "Because we were only in China on 24-hour visas, missing our flight to Mongolia would have meant almost certain arrest, so after many failed attempts to get the moped driver to shift I got off the bus and threw it off the road." They wrestled in the Auckland champs on Sunday, a few hours after touching down, but a tournament had to be shelved. The Indiana wrestlers trained with the Katikati and Mt Maunganui wrestling clubs and had also been taken out for a day's fishing and to Rotorua for a taste of culture prior to last night's tournament. They had also spent a day at Katikati and Mt Maunganui Colleges with their host families. "These kids will return home better wrestlers, but more importantly, they've got to experience a bit more of the world than we'd originally planned." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 another article in another newspaper - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10734186 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Wave 3 News Channel Story on the boys returning: http://www.wave3.com/story/14979138/local-wrestlers-return-home-after-being-stuck-overseas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstruck Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 http://newsandtribune.com/highschoolsports/x1479022885/Local-wrestlers-return-from-New-Zealand-after-long-adventure June 26, 2011 Local wrestlers return from New Zealand after long adventure Chilean volcano diverts flight to Australia, forces team to stay extra week By MATT KOESTERS Matt.Koesters@newsandtribune.com LOUISVILLE ? When Indiana State Wrestling Association coach Danny Struck arranged for a group of local wrestlers to travel to New Zealand, he told them it would be an experience they?d never forget. He didn?t know how right he was. ?All of the hiccups are going to be the part that makes it,? Struck said. ?We told the kids before we left that this is not going to be a vacation. It will be an adventure.? Struck and the ISWA state team members finally got back to Louisville on Sunday, a full week after they were expected to return. The homecoming was marked by loud cheers and tearful embraces from the family members gathered at Louisville International Airport welcoming their loved ones home. The problems for the Indiana wrestlers ? which included grapplers from Jeffersonville, New Albany and New Washington ? began at the start of their trip when a volcano in Chile spewed forth an ash cloud that caused their layover in Los Angeles to go from about three hours to 36 hours. Once the team finally got on a plane, they thought that it would take them to Auckland, New Zealand, but the ash cloud diverted the plane. ?When we got on the plane, everyone went to sleep because it was a 13-hour flight, and when we woke up, they said, ?You?re in Sydney, Australia,?? Struck said. ??The volcanic ash came through and we had to divert you.?? The team tried to make the most of the trip. ISWA assistant coach Tom Dolly took the team sightseeing. The boys got to see the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Bridge and got to wrestle with local talent from a fight club at Sydney University. Despite the members of that club being in their mid-20s to early-30s, the team did well. But on Struck?s end, things looked bleak. After spending four hours on hold with the airline the first day they were in Sydney, the ISWA chief spent the most of the rest of his time at the airport, desperately trying to arrange for the team to go to their original destination in New Zealand. ?It was easier just to go to the airport,? Struck said. ?On the fourth night, we told the kids, ?Hey, we?re not going to New Zealand unless miraculously we walk in and the flight actually leaves.? Literally, we told the kids to be packed and ready to go to the United States, and then the plane actually left.? Once the boys finally got to New Zealand, the wrestling trip seemed to be back on track. ?I was relieved,? Jeffersonville wrestler Jacob Everett said. ?I was ready to get there and win. I was hungry for some medals, I and I ended up coming back with one.? The team took first place at the Auckland City Championship, and each of the boys on the trip won at least one match, Struck said. Everett placed third in his class, wrestling 18-and-over wrestlers because of the way age divisions are handled in New Zealand. New Albany?s Austin Jamison went 1-1 against the country?s national champion in his weight class. ?He did very well,? Struck said. ?He actually had some of the most exciting matches. He got second and third, and he was wrestling 25-year-olds.? The success continued in the city of Katikati, where the president and coach of the country?s national team reside. The Indiana wrestlers went 17-4 at a dual meet. ?They seemed a little better on top in freestyle, because we do folkstyle so much,? Struck said. ?On their feet, it?s so similar, we beat a lot of guys on their feet. ?Being a country of only 4 million people, our state is bigger than their whole country [population-wise]. Our kids were really prepared. Even when they?d wrestle a national champion, they?d do really well. That would be like wrestling a state champion here.? When the team arrived in Auckland, Struck extended the trip three days, thinking that the problems were over. But the ash cloud wasn?t done causing trouble for the Indiana wrestlers. To get around the ash cloud and avoid being forced to stay in the country for another week, Struck decided to put his team on a flight to Los Angeles via Hong Kong, 11 hours in the wrong direction. When the team finally returned to Louisville, it was after more than 24 hours of air travel. ?It was a great experience,? Struck said. ?The worst problem we had with a kid was one of them was a minute late to a practice. The kids were outstanding. They never once complained.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyNavy Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Wow, that's quite a story. The most impressive part to me was the coaches adapting on the fly and holding the trip together. The wrestling was an added bonus. Outstanding job by the leaders of the group! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drooke Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Welcome home fellas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quinnsDAD Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 That is awesome welcome back boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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