SLC - Day 4
It's my second and final day with Billy. I'm picked up at the same time as yesterday and we train for a little longer than we did the day before. Like I said previously, describing training is never fun, so instead I want to write about Billy, because he's a character and he made a lasting impression on him.
I must have talked his cauliflower ears off over the weekend. Asking him every question I could manage. "Do you have any stories about Verne Gagne, Billy?" "Have you ever met Danny Hodge?" "Do you still speak to the Destroyer?" Honestly I would've been happy listening to him talk for a weekend, I'm just not sure if he'd have the patience to answer every question a twenty year old could think up about All Japan Pro Wrestling, though. That doesn't mean to say he didn't have stories. He had plently and gladly indulged me in my curiosity. Although the thing that stands out most about Billy, is that he's funny. He can make you laugh with a story or a phrase, my favourite of the the whole weekend being "grab the bastard, I mean the opponent and..." It was nice to meet someone you look up to and actually find they don't ruin the image that's built up in your head. He was a gravelly voiced coach who knew so much about his sport and how to teach it. It's all I could've asked for. The fact he was so gracious in showing me his actual signature moves was move than I could've asked for.
It was only at the end of the day that everything really hit home for me. We were spending the last hour or so focusing on the double wrist lock. The first catch wrestling move I ever saw and the signature hold of my hero Kazushi Sakuraba. At one point Billy used me as a dumby to explain the finer points in the application and it was only as I was getting back to my feet I realised that a few years ago I was watching Billy Robinson teach that hold and mention how his "boy Sakuraba beat the Gracies with it," and now here I was having the same man apply that hold to me. It felt like a fitting end to the weekend and motivation for me to continue training hard.
Billy made sure we all had his email address and number incase we needed his advice or just wanted to contact him. He made sure I had a spare buisness card for me to hand to my coach, Roy, back in Wigan. Although as I write this I still haven't messaged him. I think I'm still looking for something meaningful to ask him (you never want to come across like the village idiot to someone you respect, do you?). I'm sure I'll think of something. If not, you can never say "thank you" too many times, can you?
Although this was a short one the next post will be much longer as it's the final one of the SLC series. We'll cover what I did after training that day, how I spent my final full day in America, and the trip back home. Amatuer food reviews aplenty.
Jack G.
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