Takedown Report

National Wrestling News (2021) – # 11

TDR Editor’s Notes ; The following selections are from across the summer and are of national interest. Five of the attached articles are selections from Texan wrestling fan Ted Carreras’ series ‘Hand Raised’ columns, These are quite interesting and wide ranging. Well worth reading by wrestling fans and the sports public. Keep wrestling onward! Contact us at the Editor’s office at martinkfleming@gmail.com Blog # 2974 (9/02/21)
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1 } – 5th Season, 1st Summer Edition
OH SAY, CAN YOU, I.O.C., 7 INTO 5 NOT A WHOLE-SUM EQUATION, SO COOL, SO HOT, SOCON, AND LOOK AT THE BISON (FROM A SAFE DISTANCE)
2021 TOKYO: YES OR NO?
The bigger question may yet prove to be Beijing 2022, but as of right now the pandemic postponed Summer Games are coming at ya like a Japanese Bullet Train. First team to arrive for the Games was Australias softball squad. The distance, not great, but the preparations and precautions MUST have weighed heavily on the Lady Thunder from Down Under. They’ve been on site for weeks now. Wrestling-wise our compatriots from the Worlds best Island Continent haven’t been a force since, well, never, really. The most recent Aussie medal on the Mat came at the London Games….of 1948. As to which team dominates in Tokyo, it’s a “Keyser Soze”(1) lineup featuring Russia, Iran, The U.S.A., Turkey, Japan, and more -stans than you can fit in a Yurt or a Yugo. Americas chances at scoring the most points teamwise probably went out the window when Team USA didnt qualify to compete at 65kg. We have a great shot though, at medaling in 4 of the 5 classes the Red, White and Blue will be competing in. Our rep at 57kg, 2017 World Silver Medalist Thomas Gilman, will be coming in under the radar, off a foot injury, and on pretty much nobody’s potential medalist list. We like it like that. 2x World Champ Kyle Dake and 2018 titlist David Taylor are serious Gold Medal threats at 74kg and 86kg respectively. Former World and Olympic champ Kyle Snyder may be just a step back at 97kg…or he may just step on the gas. 125kg rep Gable Steveson is a multiple World Champ at age class competitions. Tokyo will be his USA Senior Olympic debut. Hopefully its NOT a one and done, but the WWE and Hollywood are already whispering sweet things in both of his ears. More on Team USA, the Ladies and our Greco Men, in later columns. … rest of story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2021/06/16/5th-season-1st-summer-edition/?mc_cid=57d52f8457&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

2 } – MENDEZ, GRIFFITH, BORRELLI, EIERMAN, FACUNDO AND ROTUNDO HONORED WITH WIN AWARDS
NEWTON, Iowa — Six members of the American wrestling community — four athletes, one coach and one photographer — have been honored with WIN Magazine awards for their accomplishments over the past year.

The award winners include:

• Jesse Mendez, Junior Hodge Trophy (nation’s most dominant high school wrestler)
• Shane Griffith, Mike Chapman Impact Award
• Jason Borrelli, Dan Gable Coach of the Year
• Jaydin Eierman, Schalles Award (nation’s top college pinner)
• Alex Facundo, Junior Schalles Award (nation’s top high school pinner)
• Tony Rotundo, Journalist of the Year

Junior Jesse Mendez was chosen as the winner of the 2021 Junior Dan Hodge Trophy, which is named after the late Dan Hodge, the three-time NCAA champion (1955-57) from Oklahoma University which is given each year by WIN to the nation’s most dominant high school wrestler. (The 2021 Dan Hodge Trophy, honoring the nation’s most dominant college wrestler, was presented in March to Iowa’s Spencer Lee and Minnesota’s Gable Steveson. Mendez is a three-time state of Indiana champ from Crown Point (Ind.) High School and finished 34-0 this past winter at 138 pounds. … rest of story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2021/July/02/WIN-2021-awards?mc_cid=cbfa48fa54&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

3 } – SEASON 5, COLUMN 2: USA WOMEN LOOK TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN
USA WOMEN LOOKIN GOOD IN BOOTS
Of the climbing variety, or ANY variety of footwear, actually. It’s a sharp looking, stylish crew of assassins that Coaches Terry Steiner, Clarrisa Chun and Jessica Medina have helped assemble and fine tune for Tokyo. They have a tall challenge. A teacher versed in Japanese once corrected the authors translation of a famous cultural touch phrase from the land of the 2021 Olympics. “He who climbs Fuji not once in his lifetime is a fool. He who climbs Fuji more than once is a greater fool.” This, he insisted, was the closest our clumsy Anglo tongues would come to that Nipponese verbal high mark. The fracturing of the phrase somehow, from this viewpoint, lends more poignancy and purpose to our USA Women’s pursuit of Olympic glory. The iconic peak is a marvelous metaphor for the obstacle to be climbed by our females next month. Japan has 90 total medals in international women’s wrestling. China is second with 50. Add our 43 and your math will highlight the gap. That difference is far from the biggest deal about this competition, though. Its ALL about walking into the Lions den and swaggering out with … rest of story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2021/06/28/season-5-column-2-usa-women-look-to-climb-a-mountain/?mc_cid=16b19c4117&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

4 } – Willie’s Friday Mailbag: June 18th, 2021
Joe Caprino, my buddy from IndianaMat.com, wrote me this the other day:
Only 3 of the 13 four-time state champs in Pennsylvania have ever won an NCAA title. How come the best high school state for wrestling has such a low percentage of 4xers winning at least ONE title?
Indiana has 2 of 9 (Jason Tsirtsis and Angel Escobedo). 8 of the 25 Ohio champs won an NCAA title. I almost wonder if this is very much the same across the board.
Figure it out, Brain man!
He followed it up with these stats:

To add to Joe’s totals, California has had 4 four-timers: Darrell Vasquez, Justin Mejia, Seth Nevills, and Jesse Vasquez, who is just starting his college career. None won NCAA top honors. The low percentage is often explained away by message board posters who like to sound smart by quipping that ‘they were overrated’ and ‘I knew he wouldn’t pan out.’ It’s a lame excuse and not entirely accurate. Of course, to be sure, not every state title is equal to the next. California has 25,000 wrestlers and one champ per weight, while some states have six classifications. Ohio and New York expanded classes relatively recently. But let’s not rewrite history by saying the four-timers ‘weren’t that good’ in high school. Their success or lack thereof cannot be explained away so simply. … rest of story at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/24692?mc_cid=766ccc313f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

And A Look Back at “Win Win”
by Bill Wine
Each week, veteran film critic Bill Wine will look back at an important film that is worth watching, either for the first time or again.
Breadwinning, meet cornercutting.
The boundaries of “doing whatever it takes to get by” change during times of financial hardship, a phenomenon that “Win Win” explores as it dramatizes the decision-making process in everyday life. It’s a quirkily amusing comedy-drama about real-world anxiety — contemporary, compassionate, and convincing — that’s extraordinarily timely in its focus on coping mechanisms available to ordinary people during tough economic times.  Lead Paul Giamatti has brought his everyman persona to lots of memorable movies, including “Sideways” and “Cinderella Man,” for which he earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. He does it again in “Win Win” as Mike Flaherty, a fortysomething elder-care lawyer with a foundering practice in suburban New Jersey with a wife and two young daughters.  Struggling to make ends meet, Mike is having occasional panic attacks, which he keeps from his wife, Jackie, played by Amy Ryan. Already the volunteer head coach of the doormat wrestling team at the local high school, whose losing streak seems to be paralleling the one Mike is going through in his financial life, he offers to become the guardian of one of his elderly clients (Burt Young), a widower with dementia. … rest of story at https://www.chestnuthilllocal.com/stories/a-look-back-at-win-win,18169?mc_cid=608eaeea75&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

5 } – NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME TO “CELEBRATE WRESTLING IN THE OLYMPICS” IN JULY AND AUGUST
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum announced that it will “Celebrate Wrestling in the Olympics” throughout July and August by emphasizing Olympians and their achievements. Located on the corner of Hall of Fame Avenue and Duck Street in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the museum is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, visit nwhof.org or telephone (405) 377-5243. “Everyone is excited about the Olympic Games and we wanted to celebrate and share some of the amazing memorabilia that we have from the Olympics,” said Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. “In addition to gold and silver medals won by American Olympians, we also have the medal platform from the 1984 Olympics that visitors can stand on for their own Olympic moment.” Thirty-eight Distinguished Members of the Hall of Fame have combined to win 41 Olympic gold medals. The museum proudly displays the gold medals won by Robin Reed in 1924, Bobby Pearce and Jack VanBebber in 1932, Frank Lewis in 1936, Doug Blubaugh in 1960 and John Smith in 1988 and 1992. It also has Olympic silver medals won by Danny Hodge and Ross Flood, and the four World Championship gold medals and the Sullivan Award won by Smith, who is the wrestling coach at Oklahoma State. … rest of story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2021/July/05/Hall-of-Fame-to-celebrate-Olympics?mc_cid=9b69983a38&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

6 } – SEASON 5, COLUMN 3: USA GRECO, A GLASS HALF-FULL; SO COOL, SO HOT, SOCON; & A PATRIOTIC PREVIEW
Sisyphus, that mythological Greek doomed to push a massive boulder uphill only to have it forever roll down, could very well be the USA Greco Teams mascot. Amazing athletes, talented coaches, years of planning and sacrifices of immense personal and financial nature have woven themelves into a fabric of futility for our Greco team. The heady days of Dennis Hall, Matt Ghaffari, Matt Lindland and Brandon Paulson are distant memories. The World and/or Olympic titles of Steve Fraser, the late Jeff Blatnick, Rulon Gardner and Dremiel Beyers are cherished but hold little weight in Americas collective sports consciousness. For over a decade the USA Greco Team has had heartbreak and suffered salt poured into their wounds. Our medal total since 2010? A silver for Superheavyweight Adam Coon(1) in 2018 and back to back Bronzes for Andy Bisek in 2014 and 2015. The last time team USA seriously challenged the world, we SHOCKED the World, taking the Team Greco Roman title in 2007. This colossal achievement remains Americas ONLY team Greco Roman Championship. It was truly a team effort, also, as the USA had no champs and just 3 medalists. For any number of reasons Greco Roman wrestling has always been a stepchild in the American athletic family and, until recently, in this column. However, the latest group of G-R stalwarts may very well be perched on the edge of American sports consciouness. The teams skill set and socio-cultural makeup are meshing with a rejuvenated American awareness on immigration, race … rest of story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2021/07/03/season-5-column-3-usa-greco-a-glass-half-full-so-cool-so-hot-socon-a-patriotic-preview/?mc_cid=cbfa48fa54&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

7 } – NWCA’s Moyer Works Tirelessly To Improve Sport
An argument can be made that Mike Moyer loves wrestling more than anyone — ever. He has become the sport’s megaphone for the values and virtues that only wrestling can provide.  Here’s the irony: he doesn’t watch much wrestling. Sure, you’ll see him at all the major wrestling events across the country but his head is usually buried in or on his cell phone. Moyer famously goes to the NCAA Wrestling Championships every year to not watch wrestling.  He’s always making calls. He’s always sending emails. He’s always crafting texts. He’s always making connections. Ask him about the top wrestlers in the country and he might know a few of the bigger names like Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake, or Spencer Lee — but that’s about it. You’ll be disappointed if you want him to rattle off the line-ups of Penn State or Iowa. You’ll be lucky if he knows more than two wrestlers on each team.  Moyer is your guy if you want to know about the worst wrestler on a high school team. He seeks out those stories and celebrates them as victories for the sport. His interest lies in the transformative properties of wrestling more than gold medals or national titles. His role as executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and Wrestlers In Business Network (WIBN) serve him well. Moyer will let everyone else watch wrestling while he’s shaking hands. He wants to find a business leader or an astronaut or a law enforcement officer or a doctor or politician or actor who applied the values of wrestling into another profession. … rest of story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1625806277451&twSessionId=fwowclxyix&postId=1203974135&mc_cid=e094d4aecd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

8 } – GREG STROBEL’S MEMORIAL IS PLANNED FOR AUGUST 21 IN BETHLEHEM, PA.
A Celebration of Life for Greg Strobel, Hall of Fame Distinguished Member, legendary wrestler, and coach, who passed away on October 8, 2020, has been scheduled for Saturday, August 21, 2021 in Bethlehem, PA, at Packer Memorial Chapel on the Campus of Lehigh University, 18 University Drive. Services will take place at 1:00 and the family will receive relatives and friends from 10:00 A.M. until the time of the service. The service will also be live streamed and may be accessed on Greg’s obituary page on the funeral home website or by visiting the following link
Greg Strobel Celebration Live Stream
Contributions: In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Greg Strobel ‘Beyond the Mat’ National Teams Leadership Academy, which has been created to continue Greg’s legacy of teaching others and unleashing human potential in all areas of life. Founded on his core beliefs of family, accountability, discipline and creating a lifetime of good habits, the Greg Strobel Leadership Academy will support current and future National Team athletes. Please send contributions, made out to USA Wrestling, to the following address: Greg Strobel Leadership Academy, USA Wrestling, 6155 Lehman Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80918.
Greg’s official obituary from the family is available by clicking below.
Official Greg Strobel obituary … rest of story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2021/July/14/Greg-Strobel-Memorial-information?mc_cid=f4f15d3e7b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

9} – SEASON 5, COLUMN 4: ALL THE WORLDS AN EMPTY STAGE; VMI SCORES A DOUBLE TAP; RANDOM RAM-BLINGS; & SO COOL, SO HOT, SOCON
The word is in, the World is out. Tokyo 2021 will roll out its 2 week extravaganza without international fans. This is the best idea for an impossible situation: throwing the greatest sporting party on Earth while letting the World indulge only 2 of its 5 senses. What will be especially interesting will be the dynamics between the decision makers and the personal entourage that so many of the Olympians have. Who gets to bring how many support staff? Who gets preferential treatment, who gets turned down for access, and how does that play into the competition? Forget the City wide state of Covid-19 emergency or the brutal chemical war being waged on the Transgender front. Nobody makes it this far without MANY helping hands (1). Who has all or most of theirs, and who misses theirs the most just may be a BIG headline from Tokyo.
TWICE THE NICE, KEYDETS STYLE
Just a short time back in this column space (Season 4, Column 7) the recent fine academic and athletic achievements of Coach Jim Gibsons VMI Keydets received a modest amount of recognition. Further back still (Season 3, Columns 11 & 12, 11/11 & 11/18) you’ll find forward focused interviews with Head Coach Jim Gibson and Assistant Ty Schoffstahl. However, it turns out theres layers to Gibsons career and … rest of story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2021/07/10/season-5-column-4-all-the-worlds-an-empty-stage-vmi-scores-a-double-tap-random-ram-blings-so-cool-so-hot-socon/?mc_cid=d1b37a6e41&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

10 } – Dan Gable likes the direction wrestling is headed
Former Hawkeye coach enjoyed seeing another Gable win gold
Dan Gable watched his wife, Kathy, watch wrestling during last week’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. “She really likes to watch the wrestling,” said a man who won wrestling gold at the 1972 Games in Munich and later coached the University of Iowa to 15 NCAA titles in 21 years. “She was really into it.” One match in particular caught her attention. Minnesota wrestler Gable Steveson battling three-time world champion Geno Petriashvili for gold.
“That was big to me,” Gable said of Kathy’s reaction. Steveson — full name Gable Dan Steveson and, yes, named after the Iowa wrestling legend — won the gold medal. Another gold for another Gable. Pretty cool.
“It was pretty exciting,” the original Gable said. Dan Gable was more than a little excited to see the United States shine so brightly on wrestling’s biggest stage. This was, after all, the year — or rather the Games — wrestling was supposed to go away from the Olympics.In 2013, the International Olympic Committee voted to drop wrestling from the Summer Games, effective in 2020. A sport that was part of the original Olympic program in 1896 in Athens — in the form of Greco-Roman — and has offered freestyle since 1904 was getting dumped. Thanks to the efforts of people like Gable, however, the sport was reinstated. … rest of story at https://www.thegazette.com/hawkeye-wrestling/dan-gable-likes-the-direction-wrestling-is-headed/?mc_cid=79d2b15df8&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

11 } – Jacob Newby and leaving when at the top – The MatBoss Podcast Ep. 61
The conclusion of an interview with Jacob Newby. Jacob talks about the events that led to him leaving the Oklahoma St. wrestling program while ranked #1 in the country.
About MatBoss: Created by coaches for coaches, MatBoss for iPad® integrates wrestling stats directly into the video you record for each match, completely replacing the need for labor-intensive pencil and paper scoring systems. It’s the wrestling stats app our sport has been waiting for.

Focus on coaching, not busy work
Improve through video analysis
Make data an advantage
Eliminate scoring errors … rest of story at https://www.mattalkonline.com/podcast/intermat/matboss/jacob-newby-and-leaving-when-at-the-top-the-matboss-podcast-ep-61/?mc_cid=108a6e3c7b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

And Mike Macch Joins to Talk Brand Deals, Olympics, NIL, World Team Trials
NCAA Champion Mike Macch is back on the show as he fills in for co-host Cenzo today as we catch up with Macch and talk brand deals and what’s next, and talk about the Olympics, the impact Olympics has on the World Team Trials, Suriano News, and more. This show is brought to you by ATAC!  ATAC is a new sophisticated training app, with very cool gaming components, for wrestlers and other high-level athletes, with coaching and technique from stars like Jordan Burroughs, Sarah Hildebrandt, and Reece Humphrey, among others! And, the app is available NOW in the Apple App Store.. Download today! … rest of story at https://www.baschamania.com/podcast/mike-macch-joins-to-talk-brand-deals-olympics-nil-world-team-trials?mc_cid=108a6e3c7b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

12 } – SEASON 5,COLUMN 5: FINDING FARGO; PLAY COLLEGE-VILLE, WIN @ LIFE; RANDOM RAM-BLINGS; & SO COOL, SO HOT, SOCON
The great state of North Dakota is once again, and for the umpteenth year, playing host to hundreds of coaches, a thousand or more wrestlers, and millions of dreams. Americas aspiring young mat stars will slug it out in Fargo. Competition is held in both international styles of wrestling, Freestyle and Greco-Roman. Their tangible prize: a large, gorgeous wood and metal stop sign. It indicates they put a halt to every other champions hopes for this tournament in their respective weight class. Its that rarest of opportunities: to be able to conclusively say that for this glorious fortnite, they ruled as the best of the best. To their coaches, its affirmation of direction and effort for both their stars and the states they wrestle for. And, for the college recruiters in attendance, its days and days and nights of non stop shop till you drop. Officially, its the United States Marine Corps Junior and 16U Nationals, with 17 weight classes for the 16U group, 15 for the Juniors. Every athlete who places here is a hot prospect, folks. Every single media member, fan blogger, or bleacher buzzard makes this pilgrimage, or needs to. Call it crazy, call it overblown, call it Mat Mecca for ‘Murica, but at least once call it your Summer Vacation plan. Not this year, ND, but soon, very soon.(1)
BIG SUCCESS, SMALL SCHOOL STYLE
Attention college bound wrestlers, especially those with pre-med plans and/or an interest in a top flight liberal arts education. There’s a school you might not know of but need to. A small school with a big time wrestling legacy, great financial aid options, close to major metropolitan (read: high employment options) areas, and the best Philly Cheeseteak in America. OK, only 3 of those things are really accurate, but they’re the important ones in Collegeville, PA, home to Ursinus. Founded four years after the Civil War, Ursinus has 60 courses of study and competes in the Division III Centennial Conference. Head Coach Joe Jamison heads into year 3 after a decade of the grind that … rest of story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2021/07/16/season-5column-5-finding-fargo-play-college-ville-win-life-random-ram-blings-so-cool-so-hot-socon/?mc_cid=fb87a783fb&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

September 4, 2021 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment