2006 Pan American Championships Athlete Diaries

May 28, 2006

By Aaron Cohen, 2006 Pan American Bronze Medalist

Finally Sunday came around after a long week of making weight and fighting. The team had a great time in Argentina and we got along great. One of the best part of this trip had to be the dinner. We had meal tickets for this buffet everyday and it was all this amazing food. From Steak to pasta to sushi and this amazing desert table where Ronda, Katie and Carrie spent most of their time.

Saturday was the team tournament and even though everyone was sore and not too happy to fight, we all came through and had an amazing time. For the men we beat Venezuela in the first round and Puerto Rico in the second to set up a semi-final match with ARG.

The place was going crazy as they had the home field advantage. Taylor started us off big with an ippon victory. Ryan was up next for us and was winning, but they gave the Argentina guy a very generous wazari.

So it was all tied up with just three matches to go. Garry was up next for the USA and came through with a come from behind win to help the team take a 2-1 advantage. After losing a very close 100kg match, which we could have won if Djamal hadn’t been so tired from fighting his heart out every match. We found ourselves tied going into the final match with our man Kirk up.

Suddenly Argentina called for their best guy Costa (90kg) who was in the stands not planning on fighting. So he put a gi on and since they took so long and we were ready the ref called Kirk out to the mat and awarded him the victory.

You can only imagine how crazy the crowd was going now. After an hour of shouting and screaming from the fans and protesting they let the original guy fight Kirk. About two minutes into the match after a few close scores from each guy, Kirk busted out some crazy newaza and pinned the guy for ippon to advance USA into the finals with Brazil.

I also forgot to mention that our coaches Jason Morris and Israel Hernandez were very close to putting a gi on and fighting Costa and another Argentina coach.

So it’s Sunday and the team is just chillin in the rooms and doing some shopping. So far it’s been a great trip and very exciting. We all are looking forward to getting home after a long week.