As you all know this year’s Olympics in Tokyo, Japan has been postponed until summer 2021 of next year. The uncertainty of not knowing what the decision was going to be for this year’s games was more stressful than the final decision itself. Our regional training center had made decision to continue training despite our facilities being shut down, in order to continue preparing for our April 4-5^th Olympic Trials dates. On our last day at the NC State athletics facility we were directed midway through our last practice that we could have an extra 15 minutes to finish up what we’re doing but must clear out of the building. Training than shifted to a local business that allowed us to use their extra space to wrestle on mats that were not used for wrestling. We trained there for about a week and a half and made the best out of the situation. As COVID-19 risks continued progressing we stopped training together and began doing what we could at home. Thankfully Nick Gwiazdowski a teammate of mine and I live in the same neighborhood and we’ve been able to train 2-4 times a week throughout this entire process. 

While all this was going on, the USOC had sent out surveys to current national team members to complete, update them on our training situations, our thoughts and opinions on the postponement, and whether or not we would still compete if the games were to still be held come August. Not too much longer after the survey had been sent, I got a notification from a news outlet on my phone letting me know the IOC had made the final decision to postpone the Olympics until 2021. Initially disappointed but also relieved that a final decision had been made, no more guessing and could begin creating a plan on how to progress forward for the upcoming year. Was I happy about the postponement? No, of course not, but I was ready for the IOC to make a decision. We no longer had to sit in this gray area of uncertainty or stress about having no places to train. Now, we have a full year to prepare which means more time for improvement, technical adjustments, and growth across the board. I’m looking forward to Summer 2021.