Freestyle World Champ Frank Chamizo Moving to NYC

[dsdoubled]

Intermat is reporting that Frank Chamizo is joining the NYC regional training center housed at Columbia University in Harlem. This is very interesting. Im assuming he will still be repping Italy, and I know wrestlers from different countries attend each others camps all the time, but this seems like a more permanent move. Chamizo said:

"I am extremely excited to become a part of the NYC RTC and the Columbia Wrestling family," Chamizo said. "This is a special place and a special city. I look forward to helping young wrestlers develop while continuing my training in the greatest city in the world."

Interestingly, after Beat the Streets Jordan Burroughs commented that he felt betrayed by many in the USA Wrestling community and felt like many were rooting for Chamizo when they should've been rooting for him. If that were true, Id say this is a big reason why and that they were trying to attract Chamizo to NYC.

This seems like a unique situation, in that a foreign wrestler is relocating to the USA but will still be wrestling for another country. Im familiar with similar situations like Rei Higuchi supposedly talking with Cael Sanderson about joining the Nittany Lions Club (ultimately never happened), and American guys like Brandon Escobar, Georgi Ivanov, Boris Novachkov, Jesse Ruiz and others training in the US while wrestling for other countries, but this is a bit different. I suppose time will tell where this goes and what the details are.

https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/20399

 

[MadSquabbles500]

I was not aware NYC has its own world class wrestling training. Does this place also run classes, have a side business, for those not world class? A lot of people on here have asked about wrestling training in NYC.

 

[dsdoubled]

I was not aware NYC has its own world class wrestling training. Does this place also run classes, have a side business, for those not world class? A lot of people on here have asked about wrestling training in NYC.

The NYC RTC has been around since last year and it is housed at Columbia University and obviously very closely associated with Columbia's DI wrestling team. Unfortunately they exist to facilitate world class wrestling and there are criteria for joining. It is a joint venture of sorts between Columbia Wrestling, Edge Wrestling in Hoboken NJ, and USA wrestling. The criteria can be found here:
http://www.nycrtc.org/faqs
But you basically have to be an established wrestler already doing well on the senior scene or a bigshot on the High School circuit. They don't mention NCAA wrestlers in the criteria but Im sure being an All American gets you in. Kendal Cross is the head coach.

 

[dsdoubled]

I was not aware NYC has its own world class wrestling training. Does this place also run classes, have a side business, for those not world class? A lot of people on here have asked about wrestling training in NYC.

As for wrestling in NYC area, Ive posted about this a while back but there are a few places in/around NYC. Edge Hoboken offers classes to hobbyists and MMA fighters. LAW MMA, Weidman and Ray longo's gym in Garden City (30 min outside NYC) has wrestling classes. Long Island MMA has a wrestling club headed up by Kyle Cerminara (beast). In New Jersey there is K Dojo in Fairfield, Nick Catone's Gym, Kurt Pelegrino's gym, and probably some other places that offer just wrestling.

 

[tekkenfan]

As for wrestling in NYC area, Ive posted about this a while back but there are a few places in/around NYC. Edge Hoboken offers classes to hobbyists and MMA fighters. LAW MMA, Weidman and Ray longo's gym in Garden City (30 min outside NYC) has wrestling classes. Long Island MMA has a wrestling club headed up by Kyle Cerminara (beast). In New Jersey there is K Dojo in Fairfield, Nick Catone's Gym, Kurt Pelegrino's gym, and probably some other places that offer just wrestling.

isnt k dojo just a sambo and mma gym?

 

[dsdoubled]

isnt k dojo just a sambo and mma gym?

K Dojo is a gym run by Russian/Caucasus fighters. Sambo fighters, expecially from that part of the world, are rarely JUST sambo fighters. They are wrestlers, judokas, and kickboxers/karate guys looking to compete in another arena. This is the gym that housed Khabib when he 1st came to the US and was going to be Bilyal Makhov's home had he stuck with MMA.

Now, to your point, they don't advertise having a wrestling class. They offer submission grappling, Russian Sambo, and grappling. So if you want to learn only wrestling and nothing else Id say go somewhere else. However, if youre looking to develop strong wrestling skills and don't mind gaining submission skills and good mat work, Id say they are great.

 

[dsdoubled]

I was not aware NYC has its own world class wrestling training. Does this place also run classes, have a side business, for those not world class? A lot of people on here have asked about wrestling training in NYC.

Also,
There is/was 2 Soviet style wrestling clubs in Brooklyn.
Georgian Wrestling Club
1601 Gravesend Neck Road
Brooklyn, NY 11229
and
Brooklyn Wrestling Club
128-130 Brighton Beach Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11235

Brooklyn Wrestling club is/was headed by Yuri Valenski, a big time player in the 80s wrestling scene in USSR/Ukraine. These Russian neighborhoods in Brooklyn are like living in Russia so there probably isn't many "outsiders" training there and getting the word out but I can imagine there is some very high level wrestling there.

 

[2arctanx]

is he gonna represent the US? another poached wrestler.

 

[dsdoubled]

isnt k dojo just a sambo and mma gym?

Not to mention, Rustam Chsiev is their wrestling coach.

 

[dsdoubled]

is he gonna represent the US? another poached wrestler.

I doubt it. That wasn't in the article. That's what makes this so unique/weird/unprecedented. But maybe that's on the horizon. Its clear he loves NYC and he cant have too much loyalty to Italy. However, he has been on the international scene longer than Burroughs and he'd have to battle Burroughs for the 74 kilo spot for at least a few more years. I guess we'll see.

 

[dsdoubled]

is he gonna represent the US? another poached wrestler.

The US has landed quite a few foreign big shots over the years, but most of them have been on the Greco side. I am aware of a few foreign freestylers that came to the USA and continued wrestling but I cant think of a single situation where we poached or accepted an active world medalist in either style who went on to make world teams for the USA.

- Guys like Lazaro Reinoso, Jesus Wilson, and Alexis Vila came over from Cuba and got involved in the NCAA scene.

-Bekzod Abdurakhmonov grew up wrestling in Uzbekistan, came to the US, wrestled JUCO and NCAA, wrestled on the US Senior circuit a while, then switched back to wrestling for Uzbekistan.

-His older brother Muzaffar Abdurakhmonov had a similar path. They are both now coaches at Harvard.

-Martin Berberyan wrestled an entire illustrious career for Armenia and then relocated to the US and attempted to make a freestyle world/Olympic team or 2.

Vladdy Matyushenko and his buddy Vladdy Anoshenko came here from Belarus and wrestled JUCO but I don't believe they wrestled any significant freestyle.

 

[jack36767]

is he gonna represent the US? another poached wrestler.

How untactful of you. No, he’s an Italian citizen who was born in Cuba, who trains around the world. It was done for “practical” reasons. See the new york RTC recruited him because having a multiple time world champ to train with is more likely to attract other senior athletes to the RTC, makes it more easy for Columbia University to recruit athletes, and US athletes can go there to train with him on visits.

Chamizo gets to live in NYC and good training partners. Now do you have an actual Rational response or are you going to be obtuse

 

[2arctanx]

How untactful of you. No, he’s an Italian citizen who was born in Cuba, who trains around the world. It was done for “practical” reasons. See the new york RTC recruited him because having a multiple time world champ to train with is more likely to attract other senior athletes to the RTC, makes it more easy for Columbia University to recruit athletes, and US athletes can go there to train with him on visits.

Chamizo gets to live in NYC and good training partners. Now do you have an actual Rational response or are you going to be obtuse

chamizzo is a cuban that jumped at the opportunity to live in the west. that he ended up in italy is a coincidence. he's not italian he's cuban. and hosting a guy in your country to train so he can defeat your wrestlers in competition is a bit awkward.

 

[jack36767]

chamizzo is a cuban that jumped at the opportunity to live in the west. that he ended up in italy is a coincidence. he's not italian he's cuban. and hosting a guy in your country to train so he can defeat your wrestlers in competition is a bit awkward.

It’s blatantly obvious why you lose to the new guys

 

[dsdoubled]

chamizzo is a cuban that jumped at the opportunity to live in the west. that he ended up in italy is a coincidence. he's not italian he's cuban. and hosting a guy in your country to train so he can defeat your wrestlers in competition is a bit awkward.

You cant get behind world class athletes leaving behind harsh conditions in a pretty terrible place who use their talent to make a great life for themselves?

To your 2nd point, wrestling adversaries train together all the time on every level and its not awkward to the point of being problematic most of the time. The US hosts many countries at the OTC in Colorado Springs. Also, the NYC RTC does not have anyone likely to cross paths with Chamizo. Burroughs is in Nebraska, Martinez in Illinois, Mark Hall In PA, etc etc etc. The only potential conflict I see is between Dake and Chamizo but only in Olympic years.

 

[dsdoubled]

I remember Chamizo spending some time at Edge Hoboken going back a couple years. I guess he's been driving at this move for a while.

 

[2arctanx]

You cant get behind world class athletes leaving behind harsh conditions in a pretty terrible place who use their talent to make a great life for themselves?

To your 2nd point, wrestling adversaries train together all the time on every level and its not awkward to the point of being problematic most of the time. The US hosts many countries at the OTC in Colorado Springs. Also, the NYC RTC does not have anyone likely to cross paths with Chamizo. Burroughs is in Nebraska, Martinez in Illinois, Mark Hall In PA, etc etc etc. The only potential conflict I see is between Dake and Chamizo but only in Olympic years.

cuba is a terrible place? didn't know that. might want to check your micro-agressions there pal.

 

[tekkenfan]

ye

K Dojo is a gym run by Russian/Caucasus fighters. Sambo fighters, expecially from that part of the world, are rarely JUST sambo fighters. They are wrestlers, judokas, and kickboxers/karate guys looking to compete in another arena. This is the gym that housed Khabib when he 1st came to the US and was going to be Bilyal Makhov's home had he stuck with MMA.

Now, to your point, they don't advertise having a wrestling class. They offer submission grappling, Russian Sambo, and grappling. So if you want to learn only wrestling and nothing else Id say go somewhere else. However, if youre looking to develop strong wrestling skills and don't mind gaining submission skills and good mat work, Id say they are great.

yeah khabib had his first 2 fights there but he felt they diidnt have good cage takedowns and wrestling for mma at a top level so he left to aka cause during that time aka had jon fitch koscheck ect and was like the best wreslting gym at that time 2011 2012

 

[tekkenfan]

cuba is a terrible place? didn't know that. might want to check your micro-agressions there pal.

people who cry over so called "micro-agressions" are s

 

[tekkenfan]

K Dojo is a gym run by Russian/Caucasus fighters. Sambo fighters, expecially from that part of the world, are rarely JUST sambo fighters. They are wrestlers, judokas, and kickboxers/karate guys looking to compete in another arena. This is the gym that housed Khabib when he 1st came to the US and was going to be Bilyal Makhov's home had he stuck with MMA.

Now, to your point, they don't advertise having a wrestling class. They offer submission grappling, Russian Sambo, and grappling. So if you want to learn only wrestling and nothing else Id say go somewhere else. However, if youre looking to develop strong wrestling skills and don't mind gaining submission skills and good mat work, Id say they are great.

isnt frankie edgar eddie alvarez and edson barbosa's gym near there as well? jersey has a awesome scene

i think it has to do with mma being banned in nyc so in the surrounding areas it blew up i think it will take a few years for nyc to build strong mma gyms due to it just being legalized a few years back