EXECUTIVE NOTES By Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director
Building on the legacy of the 2013 Olympic effort is a chance to continue moving wrestling forward USA Wrestling, and the sport of wrestling worldwide, enters
the 2014 year with new enthusiasm and opportunities, and a firm dedication to help move the sport to the next level. We come off a very challenging and intense 2013 year, where
our organization and the international wrestling community had to step up to help retain wrestling’s status on the Olympic pro- gram. From Feb 12. 2013, when the International Olympic Committee Executive Committee recommended that wrestling be removed from the core Olympic program, the wrestling family worked diligently to show that our sport should continue in the Olympic Games. We achieved our mission when wrestling was selected over squash and baseball/softball as an extra sport for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics. We had to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and work together as a family on behalf of wrestling. FILA, the internation- al wrestling federation had to be better. USA Wrestling had to be better. Everybody in our sport had to be better. During this process, so many people stepped up and helped wrestling, which truly made a difference in the result of the Olympic crisis. So, what comes next? At USA Wrestling, we truly understand
the need to help continue moving the sport forward at all levels. Because of the changes and improvements in wrestling, we hear the wrestling community when it asks us to continue build- ing wrestling and working to promote the sport to the general public. Many initiatives were successful last year, but there is so much more we can all do to make our sport better. I would like to touch on a few projects that will assist us in reaching our goals. USA Wrestling has engaged the Alliance Group, led by respected leader Alan Finehursh, to help organ- ize, package and market our television properties and opportu- nities. Finehursh has a strong track record in his field, and is confident that USA Wrestling can improve and expand its pro- motion of wrestling through broadcasting assets. USA Wrestling has also enlisted KOM Sports to work with our organization on a variety of strategic marketing and promotional
activities. KOM was one of the firms which USA Wrestling employed on behalf of the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling, and its efforts were key to many of the successes of the Keep Olympic Wrestling campaign. KOM’s abili- ties will help us continue moving forward as a sport. Last year, USA Wrestling was able to
partner with a number of groups who sup- ported our efforts on behalf of Olympic wrestling. We will now reach out to many of these professionals for their assistance and support. One such partnership will occur at the 2014 U.S. Open, which returns to Las Vegas in April. The production team with the Ultimate Fighting Championships, along with our host partners in Las Vegas Events, have helped us change the for- mat of our Open for a better fan and television experience. We will have a “Finals Venue” in the Convention Center, with all 24 finals matches on Saturday night on two mats. There will be enhanced production which will better showcase our great ath- letes and sport. We invite you to join us in Las Vegas. We are very excited that the Freestyle World Cup will be com-
ing to Los Angeles in March, which provides an excellent plat- form to promote our sport. USA Wrestling has invited FILA President Nenad Lalovic to not only attend the World Cup, but also stay another week to be our guest at the 2014 NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City. One of the benefits to American wrestling from the Olympic crisis was the develop- ment of a closer working relationship with FILA, including its vol- unteer leaders and its paid staff. We will build upon that new relationship to help improve international wrestling. We are very proud of the efforts of the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling, the all-star team of U.S. wrestling leaders who led our Olympic fight last year. Many of those great individuals have shown a desire to stay involved with USA Wrestling and help us to advance the sport in many ways. We will share with our members the final legacy of CPOW and how we are all moving confidently into a brighter future for our sport.
2014 Gold Medal Training Camps
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4 USA Wrestler
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