Do you see Spencer Lee leaving Iowa?

[pawrestler]

Why do people not think it’s a mental block after watching min 20-21 of the interview above and what Brands is saying before the match? He’s saying that he needs to not get in his own head and relax etc and basically doing self affirmations. I’m sincerely not trying to be argumentative, just genuinely curious how others are interpreting those clips

[peanut]

Spencer needs to study Buddhism. Then he will learn to transcend his ego. He will not need victories, or happiness, or comforts. He will equally be above pain and concern for his reputation. He will just be.

Edited 2 hours ago by peanut

[CHROMEBIRD]

5 hours ago, Mr. PeanutButter said:

If rumors are true that he injured his knee again, I think it is more likely that he retires than relocates.

I hope he does whatever he feels is best for him. If that includes staying at Iowa, awesome. If not, so be it. 

Injury or no, I'll chalk today's results to the ol' "early in the quad irrelevance" and predict that he'll be good for a run at 2028. I, too, thought the runway was pretty clear for Spencer to win a World title this year, and he clearly puts a ton of pressure on himself, so my biggest worry is that this weekend's somewhat meaningless L will turn him into a head case. The sport has not been kind to Spencer when stakes are high, but then again, it's has not kind to 99.999% of us. Maybe he should talk with Tony Ramos' sports psychologist or take a year off and climb some rocks somewhere. He's been grinding nonstop since he was a kid and could use a bit of a break.

[BAC]

My takeaway from watching him today is he needs better and more diverse practice partners.  And he needs to compete more in general. 

In the Harutyunyan match, Spencer looked unprepared and flat-footed, almost like he miscalculated what his strength would enable him to get away with given (e.g. the first and last takedowns).  He looked unprepared for the level of resistance he'd get on his shots, and seemed to either underestimate his opponent's pressure or he just wasn't accustomed to it. He seemed totally unaware that Harutyunyan laces the opposite direction. It didn't expose Spencer as inferior, just unready.

When I first saw it, I thought he looked like a guy who was just getting the rust off after a long injury.  After rewatching it, it occurred to me that he actually looked more like a guy who'd been roughing up low-level competition in the practice room, and hadn't been getting either the quality or variety of high-end looks you need going into worlds, where every match is high-caliber competition. 

Sadly, this jibes with what we know of his training situation.  It seems like they have him all locked down in Iowa City, rolling around with mediocre college kids, focused on drilling and keeping Spencer's confidence up.  It's like he thought that if he just does the stuff he uses to pin Dru Ayala and Joey Cruz all day, he'll be fine. (Drake's off-limits, last I knew.)  It's embarrassing.  What's more, from the Olympics till now, how many international tournaments has he been in?  One?  Come on man.

Maybe instead of constantly telling him how great he is, Brands should get him some practice partners that can give him some of the looks he saw from today, and rough him up. Sharpen him with iron, not clay.  Use those donor bucks to throw him into every international tournament you can find so he knows the field.  Stop treating Spencer like he's this fragile vase, about to break at any moment. 

If Brands can't find someone to bring in who can push him, maybe do some sort of 6-month club swap, e.g. send him to Stillwater to roll around with Fix, RBY, Sakamoto, Figueroa, Spratley and Jax. Maybe OSU can send over Wyatt for 6 months to roll around with Dreshaun and Keuter. 

If Brands can't bring himself to extract his claws from his prized pupil, even for a few months, then I hope Spencer realizes that he needs a change of scenery if he's going to succeed.  Let's hope he sits next to Zahid on the plane ride home, and Zahid can tell him all about it.

Edited 11 minutes ago by BAC

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

13 minutes ago, BAC said:

My takeaway from watching him today is he needs better and more diverse practice partners.  And he needs to compete more in general. 

In the Harutyunyan match, Spencer looked unprepared and flat-footed, almost like he miscalculated what his strength would enable him to get away with given (e.g. in the first and last period).  He looked unprepared for the level of resistance he'd get on his shots, and seemed to either underestimate his opponent's speed or he just wasn't accustomed to it. 

When I first saw it, I thought he looked like a guy who was just getting the rust off after a long injury.  After rewatching it, it occurred that he actually looked more like a guy who'd been roughing up low-level competition in the practice room, and hadn't been getting the sorts of looks you need going into worlds of high-caliber competition. 

Sadly, this jibes with what we know of his training situation.  It seems like they have him all locked down in Iowa City, rolling around with mediocre college kids, focused on drilling and keeping Spencer's confidence up.  It's like he thought that if he just does the stuff he uses to pin Dru Ayala and Joey Cruz all day, he'll be fine. (Drake's off-limits, last I knew.)  It's embarrassing.  What's more, from the Olympics till now, how many international tournaments has he been in?  One?  Come on man.

Maybe instead of constantly telling him how great he is, Brands should get him some practice partners that can give him some of the looks he saw from today, and rough him up. Sharpen him with iron, not clay.  Use those donor bucks to throw him into every international tournament you can find so he knows the field.  Stop treating Spencer like he's this fragile vase, about to break at any moment. 

If Brands can't find someone to bring in who can push him, maybe do some sort of 6-month club swap, e.g. send him to Stillwater to roll around with Fix, RBY, Sakamoto, Figueroa, Spratley and Jax. Maybe OSU can send over Wyatt for 6 months to roll around with Dreshaun and Keuter. 

If Brands can't bring himself to extract his claws from his prized pupil, even for a few months, then I hope Spencer realizes that he needs a change of scenery if he's going to succeed.  Let's hope he sits next to Zahid on the plane ride home, and Zahid can tell him all about it.

I don't disagree with everything, but there are some problematic things.

1.  How many international tournaments do the top guys in the world do?  Our top guys?  Not much more than 1.

2.  He's had Japanese partners in Iowa for most of the last year.  Otoguro?  Maybe someone else?

3.  Wait... you're saying he is treated fragile?  Maybe, but the rest of the world thinks he's too beaten up.

Why would Wyatt go to U of Iowa for six months to roll with Dreshaun?

Not to mention, his workout partner last summer was Drake.  

Joey Cruz is gone.

So other than being uninformed and petty, your take is halfway decent.

Edited 4 minutes ago by Interviewed_at_Weehawken