Comments on: Inspiration From Anthony Robles

By: nunh

nunh — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:41:43 +0000

What an incredible story – very cool!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:40:34 +0000

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying he hasn’t overcome more adversity than any ten average people combined, nor that I lack respect for him. I’m just saying that he’s being mis-classed in weight. So much is made of performance enhancing drugs that allow athletes to recover 10% faster, or store 10% more oxygen in their blood, etc, it’s not unreasonable to state that being able to carry 10% more muscle weight in your upper body also confers an advantage.

Wrestling against him is like fighting a southpaw, but more so. As you well know, when 7 out of 8 opponents you fight are right-handed, you develop certain habits, like dodging a particular way to avoid certain combinations. When you fight a southpaw, you have to reverse all of your movements, or that dodge away from a punch becomes dodging into a punch. Now picture a scenario where you have to hook an ankle to prevent a stable base from being built, but there’s no ankle to hook. You extend for it, but there’s nothing there to get. Perhaps you overextend yourself reaching for something that isn’t there, and that leaves an opening that can be exploited. All of his opponents are facing a body build they’ve never had to deal with before, whereas he’s not.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:27:13 +0000

I’m glad Andrew posted. His post points out another adversity Anthony Robles has had to overcome. Learning to ignore naysayers. He acknowledges that he believes he has advantages that ballance out his deficits.
At this level the other wrestlers in the nation know of him and have time to develop a strategy. They don’t walk on the mat and find out he has one leg.
Jim

By: Administrator

Administrator — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:39:54 +0000

Andrew – Your response minimizes the adversity that Robles has had to overcome. Most people born with a single leg are not competing in anything. Let’s not try to pretend that he has it easier than the rest of us. I don’t think anyone actually believes that he does. And let’s also not overlook the power that an able-bodied person can generate with the lower body. Robles certainly does not have an advantage in this department.

I have the utmost respect for Robles and what he has been able to accomplish despite the naysayers that he’s likely encountered throughout his life. We can all learn from his example.

Ross

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:48:51 +0000

Of course he’s cleaning up at his weight class… He can pack all the extra muscle that would have been on his second leg into the rest of his body, giving him a distinct advantage in strength. Plus, not many of his opponents are used to wrestling a one legged opponent, so their technique is off as they reach for a leg that isn’t there, etc., and an opponent who’s center of gravity is distributed differently.

By: Eric Sanders

Eric Sanders — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:22:11 +0000

My then 5 year old son taught me about telling people “what they can do”. When he was learning to ride a bike he would sit still on it and try to balance while lifting his feet to the pedals without rolling. I told him “You have to get rolling first, you can’t just pick your feet up and start pedaling from a dead stop!” Well, after about ten minutes of trying he lifted his feet to the pedals, balanced there for just a second, and started pedaling around the yard.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:28:06 +0000

Will. Determination. Suffering. It’s amazing who has it, and who doesn’t have it. It’s interesting to point out, would he still have this attitude if he had two legs? I think we all are a little ungrateful with what we have.

By: Yavor Marichkov

Yavor Marichkov — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:08:13 +0000

Powerful story. Thank you, Ross.

Yavor

By: Ibrahim

Ibrahim — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:30:33 +0000

Thanks Ross,

very inspirational & motivational story that makes me learn a lot. I´m glad that such people live on this planet.

If you want to achieve something easy or average, it´s usually very simple to get and then it´s gone.
But if you want to achieve something special or very hard goal, either it seems impossible or it´s very hard to get there.

Great Post!!!

By: JMJ

JMJ — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:13:30 +0000

Great story, very inspirational. Thanks for posting.