EXECUTIVE NOTES By Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director
Expanded television coverage, our Trials process, and an exciting summer of wrestling ahead It is an exciting time to be involved in the sport of wrestling in
the United States and around the world. In 2013, the sport was challenged when its Olympic status was in doubt, and the wrestling community stepped up. In the first year since we have saved Olympic wrestling, there is a firm commitment to continue improving and building the sport by taking it to the next level. Our season got off to a great start in March, when USA
Wrestling brought the Freestyle World Cup back to the United States for the first time in 11 years. Hosted by Andy Barth and the wrestling community in California, the World Cup was a big success in Los Angeles and a great start to our busy season. Many view the new rules of international wrestling to be the
best they have ever been. We have an even better product to showcase to the world. A big part of helping promote and build the sport is bringing wrestling to a wider audience. The most effective way to reach more people, both those interested in wrestling and others who do not know about wrestling, is through television. We under- stand that the most popular sports in the United States and around the world are the ones with regular television exposure. After much effort, I'm happy to report that USA Wrestling has
signed its first significant multi-event television deal in our histo- ry. We are partnering within the NBC family with the popular and growing Universal Sports Network. The first year of our deal includes coverage of the World Cup, the U.S. Open (two live two-hour broadcasts), and both U.S. World Team Trials on Universal Sports. A regular newsmagazine show about wrestling is being developed for Universal Sports Network. We will also broadcast the Beat the Streets Gala on NBC Sports Network. This partnership allows us to bring the best USA Wrestling
action to a much larger audience. We can reach wrestling peo- ple who have not been active in the sport for awhile, as well as expose wrestling to millions of others. We have the chance to build and expand our viewing audience, which could lead to more national television in future years and expand value to our
partners and sponsors. We will continue to partner with Flowrestling to provide more wrestling-specific content. You will see some different things this
year at our World Team Trials, which determines the U.S. teams at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in September. For the first time since 1999, our freestyle and Greco-Roman World Team Trials will be held at different times. The reason for this is to allow talented athletes a chance to compete in both styles on the Senior level. Many of our best stars in history competed in both styles early in their career, before selecting the style for their Olympic run. It will be fun to see how many athletes give Greco-Roman a try now that it is held at a different time. Our men and women freestyle athletes will compete at the World Team Trials in Madison, Wis., over Memorial Day weekend, and our Greco-Roman Trials will be held alongside the Cadet National Duals in Daytona Beach, Fla., in mid-June. The format of the Trials will differ than other years, because of
the changes in the international weight class structure. At the World Team Trials in all three styles, the six Olympic weight classes will be contested. Later in the summer, there will be an additional Trials event in the two non-Olympic weight classes in each style to complete our World Championship teams. This for- mat should provide the USA with its strongest teams for the Worlds in Uzbekistan. Our Trials events are just a part of a very exciting late spring
and summer on the USA Wrestling schedule. We are looking forward to the Beat the Streets Gala event in
New York City, which will be held in historic Times Square on May 7. Our popular Regional Championships at all ages run from March through June. The National Duals series on the Schoolboy, Cadet and Junior levels continue to grow. In July, our ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals and ASICS Kids Nationals will showcase our nation’s best young talent. We invite you to join us at these events and become part of the worldwide effort to raise the bar for wrestling moving forward.
2014 Gold Medal Training Camps
Find the camp nearest you:
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4 USA Wrestler
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