Do you have a question for Daniel Igali?

Question:
Hi Daniel, I was reading your story on readersdigest.ca and I really love you. I saw on the olympics whey you won I was soooo happy!!! I was also heartbroken whey your opponent didn't want to shake your hand or respond to you when you won. I had thousands thoughts going through my mind... how could he be so rude. Anyway my question is: how did you cope so quikly with all the competitiveness, new people, negativity, rudeness (like
that man) and just plain meaness from people. I am also from Africa and I see how hard it is for poeple from Africa to cope and get used to Canada. How did you do that? And did that other athlete at the olympics apologized?
Thank you. You are a great champion and God bless you.

Answer:
Elena,
thanks for your email. It took me a while to adjust to life in canada, but what made the adjustment easier was my motivation to weather the storm at all costs. I had the drive to do whatever it took or survive and hopefully flourish, so the distractions along the way were welcome. There are bound to be people who do not take losing lightly, they forget that the game has two sides of a coin, winning and losing. We will at one time or another belong to one of those two sides. I never expected the american to take the loss at the Olympics as hard as he did, but in a way, I felt his pain. I would have been very disappointed if I had lost that match myself, but i would have shook him and wished him luck. He did apologise to me later though. Thanks for writing and good luck in the new year.

Question:
I just want to tell you I am a wrestling fan. We don't have any wrestling over here. I wish there was, I think it would help the kids lots. My question is how do you train. How do you manage to combine weight training and wrestling together. I always thought weights don't mix with wrestling. I'm hoping to start coaching wrestling soon. So i need as much advice as i can get. Sorry if my letter has mistakes. I am in a rush.
Thanks man.

Answer:
I train about five to six days a week. I wrestle everyday in the evenings from monday to friday and saturday morning. Weight training can go well with wrestling if combined well. I train weights on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Tuesday is a lighter day and thursday is heavier. I also do cardio on mondays, wednesdays and Fridays. Hope you help out with wrestling, it is a very noble sport and you will be glad you did.

Question:
Hi, My name is Angela McLaughlin.
I just finished reading the story and i thought it was very outstanding!...I have a couple questions for you and a few comments!...At first you didn't beleive in yourself...i wanted to know why?
Right now I am playing in bantom basketball. I have a great team...but we are never winning,and sometimes i feel as if it were my fault!...I don't beleive in myself and i want to build up the courage to do that! I also wanted to ask you if you think Maureen is still watching over you?...well I think she is,she seemed to love you very much and would give anything up to help you out! When i read that she died, i felt bad...and wondered if you would make it through the rest of the season. I beleiive that if you don't have anyone who cheers for you, you can't accomplish much.
But i do not know any one who doesn't have any bordy to root for them...
I have very many friends and sometimes they put me down...and then istart to feel very loneley but there is only one preson who i know would never do that to me,she is a true friend and she sometimes comes to my games..her name is angela just like me...I always try to help her out and she does the same for me!...well any ways,I wanted to say that I wish I had someone like Maureen to cheer for me...but there will never be anyone like her...and that you are a very luckey man to have known her!
Well I hope you write me back I want to know how you got so confident and started to beleive in yourself more and win!
Well atleast I am having fun...but can you please give me a hand and lend me some tips??
wel i gotta run..
luv:

~¿Angela¿~

p.s. please write back I would really apreciate it!

Answer:
Angela,
 We all have our doubts. I had my doubts and did not believe in myself because I felt as an african kid getting into an east European sport, I would not be able to compete equally. I thought my background, the fact that i did not have a coach till I was 16, and that I did not have a decent training environment till I was 20, meant that my best developmental years had passed me by. But when i had coaches who made me realize that I was very capable of being the best wretler in the world, when i had an adopted mother who supported me and friends and teammates who were very helpful, everything clicked. I think the same thing will happen for you and your team. You guys will get over the bump and start winning games. But you have to always realize that losing is as valuable an experience as winning, if not more. Don't get discouraged. The truth is that anytime someone wins, another loses. You will start winning soon and get the confidence I am sure you deserve.

Sporting regards,

Dynamite.

Question:
Daniel,
Your personal story is one of great inspiration to me. I watched you fight in the Olympics in Sydney and stayed up until all hours of the night to watch you fight. I cried when I saw you win and I felt proud of you, though I have never met you. You restored some faith and pride for my country and your love for our country astounded me. Thank you for that.

My question for you is,I have wanted to be an athlete my entire life. I watch every hour of the Olympics as possible and have always dreamt of participating myself. My problem is that I'm not very good at any specific sport and I'm already too old. I play many different sports, but there isn't one that I'm great at. On top of that, I'm almost 18 years old and getting pretty old to just take up a new sport and hope to be good at it. What do you think? Is it possible for me to one day be nearly as talented and skilled as you? Honesty would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for being an inspiration, and even if I never meet you at the Olympics, you can always be sure that I'm sitting in front of my tv in Manitoba, cheering my heart out for you. Good luck in the future.

Answer:
Danielle,
 I do not believe that 18 is too old to take up a new sport. Even though I started wrestling as a kid, I did not have a formal coach till I was 16 years old. Even then, i did not lift weights or have massages or any of the really important things that make a champion until I came to canada after the age of 20. I read somewhere that Hakeem Olajunwon, the basketball player currently with the Toronto raptors started playing basketball in his early twenties. Donovan bailey started sprinting in his early twenties. The list go on and on. basically, I am saying you have it in you to make whatever you want of yourself. Look at a sport you like and start the process, you will be in the next Olympics before you know it.

Sporting regards,

Daniel Igali

Question:
Daniel.. How close is Eniwarie to the Village of Warie or are they the same place? I have been to Warie and know some people there. It has an airstirp that is different, as they have to close the street for take offs and landings. Nice to see an Ijaw "youth" that is doing well. Worked for a while at Bonny Island at the mouth of the Bonney River so know the people and area fairly well

Answer:
Hi dear,
 Eniwari is different from Warri. Eniwari is in Bayelsa state of Nigeia, warri is in Delta State. Glad to hear you worked in Bonny, was it in one of the oil fields? Thanks for writing, it is always nice to hear from someone who knows my surroundings.

Sporting regards,

Daniel Igali.

Question:
Daniel,
On november 1st I attended the Black Gold wrestling tournement in Leduc, juvenile 68kgs, and about ten minutes before the bout I get a rally dry mouth from nervousness and it continues throughout the time I am wrestling. I have trouble concentrating on what I have to do when I am having trouble breathing. Is there anything you do to help nervousness before wrestling?

Answer:
Mark,
nervousness happens to be best of us. for me, if i don't get nervous before a match, i get really worried. i trust that with more competitions, you will overcome the dry-mouth feeling. Or at least in the middle of the match, it should dissipate. Godluck with the season next year.

Sporting regards,

Daniel igali