The Mongolian Report
This article was originally written by Shannyn J. Gillespie and published for the digital version of Amateur Wrestling News on September 14, 2017.
A top 4 finish and a top 11 finish at the 2017 Sr. World Championships is how The Mongolian Experience ended for Tuugii, Coach Shannyn, & the Mongolian Wrestling Federation’s National Teams respectively. Results, sometimes, only tell part of the story…
Arriving in Mongolia
Getting to Mongolia from Chicago is how this trip started for the author which was a 20-hour extravaganza from door-to-door. As you can imagine, first, one must actually wake up and get to the airport, then, fly on a plane (or two), endure layovers, meet the host, & finally drive to the hotel in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. To be certain, the first plane flight took 13 hours from Chicago to South Korea and the second flight from S. Korea to Mongolia was an additional 3 hours. If you are wondering where the other 9 hours went – tack on a 3 hour layover in S. Korea and a 4 hour commute from door-to-door i.e. international customs, baggage claim, & entering/leaving two planes.
The first stay in Ulaanbaatar, the capitol city of Mongolia, was about 1.5 days and then the drive 7 hours (Mongolia is about the size of Alaska and 10-times the size of Illinois where the author lives) to the first Olympic Training Center in Erdenet, Mongolia occurred. Prior to travelling to Erdenet, Coach Shannyn walked the streets right outside of his hotel and noticed this metropolis was very busy with cars, buses, and the normalcy of many large cites of the US or world. Ulaanbaatar (aka Ulan Bator & UB) has about half the population of Chicago or roughly 1.3 million residents and many American style businesses like KFC, Burger King, & Dunkin Donuts. Some of the similarities & differences of Mongolia, as compared to the USA, will be described next and throughout this article.
UB is really the only large city in Mongolia and about one-third of the population lives in that city (UB is also governed as a capitol city and separately or differently than the other 29 provinces that make up Mongolia). Thus, the rest of the country is made up of what many Mongolian’s simply called the countryside with another 29 or so cities with populations at or around 7,500 people and much more of the countryside with towns & villages of populations of less than that amount. These countryside villages or towns, that make up most of the country, are very similar to a developing nation that has a lot of land with very few people living on it. Some of the people who live in these less than urban environments, maintain a nomadic lifestyle and live in ger which is a traditional portable round tent and is also very useful for herding livestock that may travel very far. At the second training camp, the author lived in a ger that was around 20-30 feet in diameter. Mongolia has a lot of land per capita or per person and much of the land where ger are located is used for livestock to graze on… Some folks suggest that there are around 3 million people living in Mongolia, plus, around 60 million livestock in the form of sheep, goats, horses, cows, & camels that feed on much of the Mongolian landscape in the rural & urban areas.
Much of those animals can typically be seen roaming around the land in Mongolia, are used as food, & eaten by the vast majority of people living in Mongolia. Coach Shannyn also engaged in eating sheep, goat, cows and watched many of these animals walking around seemingly everywhere. Several times during journeys from one camp to the next, he witnessed “traffic jams” by all of the animals listed with the exception of camels. Camels were less visible and the author estimates he saw only about 30-40 while seeing thousands of the other animals combined for the entirety of his stay.
A bit of history
Chinggis Khaan (aka Gengis Khan) is known as the greatest leader of the Mongolians, founder of the Mongol Empires, and seen by many as the greatest politician & organizer ever. This is pointed out because when traveling to Mongolia, one notices the very many buildings, restaurants, hotels, foods, drinks, etc. that all bear his name. Chinggis Khaan is known for uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Mongolia together and also conquering lands near and around Mongolia. In fact, The Great Wall of China (China & Russia land lock and border Mongolia) was partially built to keep the Mongols out of China and particularly Chinggis Khaan and his descendants.
According to the author’s host, Minga Batsukh, the word khaan means leader and the word chinggis means supreme. So combining those terms gives the definition of supreme leader or supreme conqueror. Chinggis Khaan actually gave himself that title and lived up to it according to Minga whom Coach Shannyn originally met nearly a decade ago.
Almost 11 years to the date in 2006, Minga and this writer met at the World University Championships (WUC) held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. During those championships led by Coach Shannyn, the U.S. Olympic Education Center women’s freestyle coach from 2004-2012, the women’s team won the World Championships. Team USA women’s wrestling have won 2 world team titles in history – that one and also a Sr. World Championships in 1999. After those successful WUC’s of 2006, Minga went on to have a very successful collegiate career himself winning three NCAA D3 championships for St. John’s University (Collegeville, Minnesota).
Naadam
After the first 2 weeks of training in Erdenet, Mongolia, the author spent 2 more weeks with the National Team Coach Battulga Byambajav (aka Tuugii) immersed in the culture in Mongolia during Naadam. Naadam is about a week long national holiday & festival in Mongolia that celebrates the traditional 3 sports or games of men i.e. Mongolian Wrestling, horse racing, & archery. During Naadam, most businesses close early or are simply closed to celebrate Mongolian traditions & culture via the festivals that happen all over the country.
Wrestling is the national sport in Mongolia and their folkstyle or traditional style wrestling is called National Wrestling. National Wrestling is predominately wrestled by heavyweight wrestlers or large men ranging from approximately 90 kg to 130+ kg (198 lbs. – 286+ lbs.); this range is an estimate because there are no weigh-ins nor weight limits and this range was based on sight… In any event, one of the competitions for National Wrestling was held at the Sport Palace and the premier event is held at the National Sports Stadium during Naadam (both places are in Ulaanbaatar). This sport is very similar to Sumo wrestling of Japan because when a grappler hits a knee or elbow or backside, they have just been beaten. A major difference to Sumo wrestling, however, is that there are no space limitations or ring to compete in in Mongolian National Wrestling. In other words, if National Wrestlers want to use the whole stadium, coliseum, or typical gym, they can – where as in Sumo, if wrestlers are pushed over the boundaries of the 4.55 m or 14.92 ft ring or dohyō, again, they have just been beaten.
One of Tuugii’s friends, who also was staying in a ger in the countryside, had a stable of horses that he was training for the Mongol Derby or the horse race held during Naadam. This horse race is raced over distances of 10-26 km or 6-16 miles, by young boys who are normally not more than 100 lbs. and is generally accepted as the longest horse race in the world. The author witnessed these boys horse race training and was amazed at how well composed they were during the warm-up & training. Riding a bike at that age is extremely fun and one can only imagine the intense joy these young boys enjoyed daily riding those horses.
In addition to above, and because wrestling is the national sport in Mongolia, all of these sports are embraced: women’s & men’s freestyle wrestling, women’s & men’s judo, & men’s National Wrestling which is also called Traditional Wrestling by many Mongolians…
Training in Mongolia
As strength & conditioning coach for the Mongolian Wrestling Federation, this writer was charged with helping organize the last 8 weeks of training (no small feat) leading up to the World Championships to be held in Paris, France from August 21-26, 2017. This specific concentration of organizing training is the reason Coach Shannyn was brought to Mongolia via Tadaaki Hatta. Hatta, a 9-time Olympic Games wrestling coach for 3 different countries (also an NCAA Champion for Oklahoma State University), is responsible for the 4 training tours to Japan that the author and his teams of the U.S. Olympic Education Center experienced from 2007-2012. Hatta was also on the women’s coaching staff of that historic World University Championships win by Team USA in 2006.
The facilities of Mongolian Olympic Training Centers were located in the mountainous areas of Central Mongolia and more than adequate for any wrestling and/or strength & conditioning coach. The first training center located in Erdernet, Mongolia was equipped with 2 main gymnasiums and outdoor facilities which were adjacent to the mountainous parts of Central Mongolia. The first gym, where the author executed many wrestling warm-ups prior to practice, housed 4 full sized wrestling mats with the name “United World Wrestling” scribed on them. The second gym in Erdernet, more of a cross-training gym, housed a weight-room & boxing ring/platform. The weight-room was stocked with benches, weights, barbells, & medicine balls. The basics of this gym are what make countries similar in size to Mongolia (3 million people live in Mongolia as compared to 2.7 million people who live in Chicago, IL where Coach Shannyn lives) thrive in this scribe’s opinion. In other words, the Mongolian’s take advantage of every piece of equipment they have, maximize the usefulness, & make it work for them.
The second training center, located in Ulaanbaatar, is actually the facility where many of the national governing bodies of sport for Mongolia have offices. This building is also where many of the Olympic Sports of Mongolia train and the place where the 3 test event training sessions were held prior to heading to the Poland & Russia test competitions The men’s team traveled to Russia while the women’s team traveled to Poland essentially to see how fit they were and to ascertain if adjustments to technique, tactics, strategy, or training in general need to be made prior to the 2017 World Championships.
Training in Mongolia Part 2
Kharharum (aka Karakorum) is the city of the third Olympic Training Center, the third world team training camp for Mongolian wrestling teams, & part of the historic Silk Road for trading several centuries ago. Karakorum is actually the ancient capitol city of Mongolia and has many temples, ruins, or monuments still standing from the 14-15th centuries. This town was similar to many of the other villages of Central Mongolia in terms of terrain, size, & population (a lot of land with very few people living on the land) and also similar to Ulaanbaatar due to its once capitol city status of Mongolia where most if not all of the politics & commerce took place. Three of the six weeks of training camp were spent here and here is also where the French National Team joined in and trained making this more of an international training camp. The 2017 World Championships were held in France and this joint training would be reciprocated 10 days prior to the “Worlds” for the Mongolian wrestling acclimation training camp.
The fourth Olympic Training Center camp, located at the Eco Sports Complex-Mongolia and in the outskirts of UB or about 30 minutes drive from the downtown Ulaanbaatar, was also the site of the last training camp in Mongolia prior to the World Championships in France. The Eco Sports Complex has facilities for wrestling, basketball, volleyball, & soft tennis. Soft tennis is a sport similar to tennis except the ball is slightly softer (made of rubber) and the sport was developed in Japan. These other sports are mentioned because this training center housed athletes as residents for the year or residents for training camps – and, when the wrestlers were not engaged in training, they usually filled the gyms and participated in one of these sports. This can become important for the mental stimulus portion of training and/or to keep athletes stimulated during long periods of training or training camps. It is this scribe’s belief that when athletes are stimulated, they are happier and more eager to train – especially during training camps or when training is actually the job (as is the case for a resident athlete).
During the 4th and last training camp, Coach Shannyn was presented the opportunity to watch and then train the Mongolian National Judo team(s) and this offer was accepted. The chance to record via video the Mongolian Olympic Silver Medalist & 2017 World Champion Judoka Dorjsürengiin Sumiya was the highlight of the day. During this viewing of Sumiya executing an arm-throw circuit of sixty seconds, it was discovered that the training principles being used for the Mongolian Wrestlers could also be used for the Mongolian Judokas (Judo Players). So much so that the director of sport in Mongolia asked Coach Shannyn to organize & run a Judo strength & conditioning practice. This offer, again, was accepted and also proved that the interval conditioning training for wrestling can also be used for Judokas.
Wrestling and Judo are very similar sports and some some say Judo is Japan’s second style of wrestling with Sumo being the first i.e. both styles of wrestling were created in Japan. Judo, as opposed to wrestling, uses a Judo gi (uniform or shirt & pant gear worn in Judo training & competition) which seems to be the major difference between the two sports to the author – with the exception how the points are scored. In other words, the goal of both combat, grappling sports is to control your opponent by holds of hand-to-body or hand-to-gi techniques that focus on attacks & counter attacks via pushing & pulling of an opponent to the ground or mat.
Mongolian Training Review
The challenge of training the Mongolian National teams, and having them peak for the Sr. World Championships in an 8-week span, was the task Coach Shannyn was charged with. Earlier, it was suggested that this was no small feat. Some questions that the author thought of while designing this 2-month high performance training plan were: What lifts should be used/taught?; How much focus should placed on strength, speed work, & sport specific training?; & Should the women’s high performance training plan be different from the men’s?
To answer those questions, Coach Shannyn used & reviewed most of what he learned while working as a coach at the U.S. Olympic Education Center, Lincoln College, Team Illinois, the Overtime School of Wrestling and training as an athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Lock Haven University, & Evanston Township High School. Essentially, these 8 weeks would be a 2-3 mesocycle plan that focused on building strength & power in the weight room while using interval training (circuit training) to develop explosive strength & increase fitness levels. Some of the lifts used for the training were: clean pulls, bench, squat, & a lift referred to by he as reverse bench row (think pulling action or supine pull-up); plus 2-3 variations of each lift for variety to stimulate training & motivate the athletes. Another idea to keep the training fun, exciting, & explosive, was to add 5-10 kg (11-22 lbs.) implements like medicine balls, kettle bells, dumbbells, sand bags, & 20-40 kg (44-88 lbs.) throwing dummies to the interval training along with skills/drills like sprinting, bear crawls, tire flips, & arm throws. That last description explains, to some degree, one of the circuits that the men & women completed called a 12-Exercise Circuit. The goal in that circuit is to challenge the mind/body with 10-15 second explosive exercises for a 2-3 minute round of work.
Did it work?
The athletes and coaches thought so as well as the author. The eye test is the key ingredient after one has been coaching for awhile in concert with what the athletes & coaches say about how they are feeling & looking i.e. communication. This means, the athletes looked much more explosive and stronger as the training camps endured & progressed plus they said so and/or they believed they were (which may be more important in the long run). Also, the application & implementation of periodization as the key ingredient for all training assured rest, recovery, & work in a systematic fashion that has been successful for Coach Shannyn over the last 13 years in terms of peaking athletes for national & world level championships.
Tuugii & Minga
The two most important people on this journey to Mongolia (save Tadaaki) were the hosts Minga & Tuugii. Tuugii, is/was the National Team Coach for Mongolian Olympic Wrestling. Minga was mentioned earlier as the young high school student who went on to graduate from a U.S. college. What was not mentioned is that as a youngster, Minga suggested that he and his family were nomads for a time basically living in the countryside in a ger. He also said he started wrestling at around 11 or 12 and he was much stronger than the boys he wrestled likely do to his countryside living. Living in the countryside, according to Minga, helped him develop physical & mental strength due to his delay demands i.e. herding animals, riding horses, & tilling the land – this is similar to many youth that work on farms in the USA according to Coach Shannyn.
Another intangible that certainly helped Minga develop his mental strength was leaving Mongolia (home) as a rising freshman and graduating from a U.S. high school. Minga explained to Coach Shannyn that leaving home at the tender age of 14 was one of hardest things he’s ever done. After enduring the first year or so, – not knowing the language, culture, or anyone – he said it got much better and he was much more ready for college and better prepared for the world. For many younger people, it is difficult enough to go to camp, for say a week or two due to separation anxiety. Can you imagine leaving home for a different country as a teenager and likely struggling with confidence, self-esteem, & motivation? Those ingredients, just described, are the essentials for success in most areas of life. And, if one can deal with those elements and/or overcome doubt by supplanting doubt with increased belief in one’s self & one’s ability, the sky is no longer a barrier… Minga’s attitude and spirit are contagious plus were an inspiration to Coach Shannyn daily.
Tuugii is Minga’s mentor. That says a lot, really. Tuugii is the person who arranged for Minga to travel to the USA and study abroad. Tuugii is the man who trained Minga prior to the US Experience and after that point as an aspiring Olympian. Tuugii is the Mongolian National Team Coach who suggested to the Mongolian Wrestling Federation that they can add strength & conditioning plus periodization to their high performance training plans now and plant the seed for future results in the Olympic Games & World Championships to come. The vision of this man is uncanny and is reminiscent of a prophet who profits from sound planning & execution.
Understanding how young minds work, Tuugii purposefully moved the training camps all around Mongolia to stimulate & motivate the athletes to continue training for 6-8 weeks, at a high level, towards their individual goals. And, instead of training too much or extending training beyond the norm (with a lot of un-useful work), he heeded the principles of periodization, combined with listening to his young & experienced coaching staff, and developed a system that will benefit all of the coaches, athletes of Mongolia in wrestling and Judo. Bringing in an outsider (read Coach Shannyn) is difficult; especially one who is not familiar with the athletes, coaches, nor culture and does not speak the language. The author believes that Tuugii’s belief in Coach Shannyn combined with his very effective communication skills were the difference maker in terms of helping the coaches and athletes buy-in. It was not easy getting this buy-in, but after several Coach Shannyn training sessions and constant communication with the Mongolian athletes & coaches, everyone appeared to understand & believe this new approach would work and be effective.
As mentioned earlier, the Mongolian Wrestling Federation won 4th place with women’s & 11th place with the men’s team…
More importantly, the women had a newly crowned World Champion, Orkhon Purevdorj, at 63kg!
Impact & Lessons Learned
The above information was provided from my experiences (and with hyperlinks for online readers) of being a strength & conditioning coach for the Mongolian Wrestling Federation and is heavy with facts, pictures, & movies to help readers see what I saw. And, if you are reading this article “offline”, I was also impacted by a variety of ideas that are expressed via #coachshannynmongolia at these websites:
instagram.com/coachshannyn, & below…
I actually learned a lot being in Mongolia for roughly 2 months and was impacted the most by the eagerness to succeed together. This came in many forms such as the willingness of all of the athletes working together to reach a goal whether it was coaching each other, motivating each other, or giving 5-6 people a drink of their individual bottle. I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of sharing that all the Mongolians did. There did not appear to be any super egos. There did seem to be a unity that can only be described as all working together for a common goal. It is my opinion that when teams are working together, and have one common goal, they are much closer to success than all others.
I was amazed at how the rank & or pecking order was executed with most everything. As an example, when went out to eat (or anytime we ate), the younger athletes would assist the servers by serving the older athletes food, pouring their drinks, & overall making certain that the older athletes were treated with the respect they earned. This respect was also extended to the coaches. Thus, coaches got the first of everything, then the older athletes, then the younger athletes. This was all done matter-of-factly, without hesitation. That sort of culture is the expectation and was quite interesting to see as an American coach in Mongolia.
More Lessons Learned
- Wrestling can be taught to men & women at the same time
- All age groups (cadet, junior, senior) can train at the same time if provided enough space
- Having women & men train together creates more National Pride & team cohesiveness
- Strength & conditioning can be taught across languages provided the demonstration/explanation is effective
- The Mongolians are great athletes
- The Mongolians have excellent wrestling technique
The Mongolian Multi-Media Report
Mongolian Wrestling 2017 (18 videos)
Mongolian Training 2017 (20 videos)
Mongolian Landscape 2017 (22 videos)
Mongolian Random 2017 (9 videos)
Mongolian Action Shots (253 photos)
Mongolian Faces (183 photos)
Mongolian Land (134 photos)
Mongolian Food (106 photos)
Mongolian Panoramas (99 photos)
Mongolian Animals (44 photos)
coachshannyn.com 