COACHES CORNER
U.S. team looks strong in camp
By Brandon Slay, U.S. Assistant National Freestyle Coach s I begin writing this article, I want to dig right into what is currently racing through my mind. We just finished a fantastic National Team Camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. This is our first camp since the World Team Trials in Oklahoma City on June 10-11.
A Our National Team consists of the top three guys in the coun-
try at each of our seven weight classes. In addition to our 18 OTC resident wrestlers (which include
Angel Escobedo, Troy Nickerson, Chase Pami, Darrion Caldwell, Moza Fay, Marty Usman, Wynn Michalak and Dustin Kilgore), we have 21 National Team members plus standouts like Henry Cejudo, Boris Novachkov, Trent and Travis Paulson, Jon Reader, Raymond Jordan and David Zabriskie. We also had many of our best Cadets and Juniors like Chance Marsteller, Jordan and Chandler Rogers, and Taylor Massa at the OTC. Recently, three of the best young wrestlers in the nation have committed to training with us full-time at the OTC: Dalton Brady (Arizona), Destin McCauley (Minnesota), and Tanner Hall (Idaho). We are confident that many more of our top development prospects will commit to building a firm freestyle foundation at OTC in the years to come. What is my point? What is getting me fired up about wrestling? During our first National Team Camp, we had 95 per- cent of the best wrestlers in the entire nation battling at the OTC and truly sharpening each other under the direction of our coaching staff, which consists of Zeke Jones, Bill Zadick and myself. I am pumped because USA freestyle wrestling is getting bet-
ter. I am confident in the 2011 World Team and what we are tak-
ing to Istanbul, Turkey in September. Plus, I believe we are poised to do great things at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. After the World Team Trials, we have two main National Team
Camps (June 23-July 3 and Aug. 14-28). At these camps, we do focus on progressing our top three
guys as well as our younger wrestlers; however, our main focus is on the current World Team. The current World Team consists of Nick Simmons (55 kg/121
lbs.), Reece Humphrey or Shawn Bunch (60 kg/132 lbs.), Teyon Ware (66 kg/145.5 lbs.), Jordan Burroughs (74 kg/163 lbs.), Cael Sandeson (84 kg/185 lbs.), Jake Varner (96 kg/211.5 lbs.), and Tervel Dlagnev (120 kg/264.5 lbs.). Some have wondered why our World Team member is not solidified at 60 kg between Humphrey and Bunch. The answer
26 USA Wrestler
is based on our coaching staff’s desire to reward wrestlers who are proven international perform- ers because clearly the World Championships and Olympic Games are international events. After we failed at the 2010 Worlds in Moscow, our coaching
Brandon Slay
staff decided that we wanted to make sure our future World/Olympic Teams were made up guys who could beat inter- national opponents and not just beat other Americans. Therefore, we chose five of the toughest tournaments in the World as our benchmark. If someone won one of these tournaments and happened to
lose in the World Team Trials finals, then they would earn a wrestle off. This is exactly what happened at 60 kg. Shawn Bunch won the Medved Tournament in March, but lost to Reece Humphrey in the finals of the Trials. Therefore, we are going to take Bunch and Humphrey to a tournament in Ukraine at the end of July, and whoever finishes higher in this international tournament will become the World Team member at 60 kg. Though 60 kg is not settled, the other six weight classes are
set. Nick Simmons, Teyon Ware, and Jordan Burroughs made their first World Team while Cael Sanderson, Jake Varner, and Tervel Dlagnev will be heading to Turkey with World Championship experience. After watching our World Team train in late June, I believe this
year’s World Team is loaded with more passion, fire, skill and confidence going into this World Championships. As a coach, you can just feel the confidence and attitude in
the room, and I believe we are poised to put USA freestyle wrestling back on the global map. And, there is no better time than now – this year. To qualify a weight class for the Olympic Games, our wrestlers must place in the top six in their weight class. For example, if Cael Sanderson places in the top six in
Istanbul (he will), he will guarantee that someone from the USA at 84 kg will be able to compete at the London Games. Yes, there are other opportunities through other tournaments
to qualify a weight class for the Olympics, but we don’t want to consider those contingency plans. We plan on getting the job done in Istanbul, Turkey! We sent 30 wrestlers to tournaments in Azerbaijan, Iran, Ukraine, Romania and Poland in the month of July. The wrestlers are scheduled to return back to Colorado
Springs to fine-tune at our last National Team Camp on Aug. 14- 28.
We have a lot of work to do, but the great thing is that our coaching staff and Team USA are ready to do the extra work and redeem ourselves in 2011. Believe!
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