"The Family"

Image courtesy of Kostas Simutis

21st & 22nd January was a date I was waiting for since the middle of 2011. Why... Igor Morozov of the RGSF was coming along with Elena Yurysheva. A 12 times world champion is not something you come across often but he was coming...to Wexford...to give a coaching seminar in a sport that I'd become addicted to. Literally & metaphorically speaking Christmas was delayed!!

17 individuals attended the seminar on a cold and looong first Saturday. The morning was about technique and theory, the afternoon similar. But the cold day and the standing around drained most of us...well, me anyway. 

In the back of our minds we were all concerned about the ranking competition the following morning. Waking on the Sunday, still with Man-Flu gripping (yes, it does exist) I just felt like getting back in the bed. I'm sure others did too. We started, we exerted, we brought several months of training and varying sacrifices to this one or two 10-minute sessions. And this was where the same atmosphere that I'd witnessed in Kilkenny last July when I first saw competition taking place was to repeat itself. People who had their own lives, from other parts of the country, came together in support for each other. It was a group of individuals fighting their own limitations but with the unifying support of the whole group. It was as if we were bonding by our challenge.

One individual said that they "constantly meet new friends" at these types of gatherings. Another observation was that the sport doesn't allow for egos, it doesn't allow for elite-ism only helps to bond a friendship. A later observation of our own Wexford Kettlebell Club was that we're "like one big family". And so it is.

This came very evident when one of our gathering fell. Various factors led to disappointment. But not for disappointment for the individual but for the group. But like anybody in a close family falling they were picked up and with their own individual strength they started again. Nothing, but nothing could explain the joy and delight that we all felt when the second attempt was successful. The inner strength of that individual to stand up again and repeat her performance was nothing short of inspiring. And the shared joy - a display of the sharing nature that this sport brings.

We came away from the seminar with knowledge and experience but also with an ever growing "family". The saying goes - you can choose your friends but not your family...sometimes you can be lucky enough to do both.