Want to grow wrestling? Look to the cities
By Mike Powell and Caryn Ward
Everyone calls him Jules. He moves like water. He’s a hardworking and dedicated athlete. But Julian Valtierrez wasn’t built for basketball. Or football. Or baseball. He’ll be a senior at William Howard Taft High School in Chicago this year where he’ll wrestle at 113 pounds. Valtierrez has an impressive resume for someone who only started to wrestle as a freshman; one match away from all-state as a junior and a Fargo qualifier. For all he’s accomplished in a short time, imagine what might have been if he’d wrestled sooner. If all of the future Julians in Chicago knew of wrestling at a younger age, had it as an easily accessible opportunity and knew the names of its stars, the sport would have an abundance of riches. While those riches go widely untapped, overall participation numbers for boys in both youth and high school wrestling are down. According to surveys by the National Federation of State High School Associations, participation has dropped in four of the last five years. Based on those same surveys, the sport has lost nearly 24,000 boys in those years for an average of almost 4,800 per year.
But it doesn’t have to continue that way. The solution to slowing, reversing and then building our youth and high school numbers lies in our most populous areas and that’s where Beat the Streets is positioned to spearhead the effort. There are currently eight Beat the Streets programs recognized by our umbrella organization, the newly created Beat the Streets National; Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Boston, Providence and Chicago. The combined population of those eight cities, not including the suburban populations surrounding them, is nearly 18 million people. This is almost as populous as New Mexico, Nebraska, West Virginia, Idaho, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, the District of Columbia, Vermont and Wyoming combined. Historically, wrestling has been dominated by small town heroes and programs. Doug Blubaugh, Dan Gable, John Smith conjure images of small-town kids going on to become global champions. Oklahoma State and Iowa have combined for 57 national team titles. But there are only so many USA memberships that can be sold in Del City, Oklahoma.
Rest of the story at http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/22194?fbclid=IwAR3Fo5aUacoSZyN7ceY7Vc6osIH6i1ZHW2ao94V8ihPZqtg4ubffAzok_Zs
Wolfpack Pop-Ins Podcast: Ep. 51 – Summer Update from Pat Popolizio
RALEIGH, N.C. – Finally checking back in with NC State head wrestling coach Pat Popolizio to get some summer updates on what’s going on with the Wolfpack program. Join host Brian Reinhardt, the 2018-19 NWMA Division I Wrestling SID of the Year, for episode #51 of the #PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Check out their podcast at https://gopack.com/news/2019/7/30/wrestling-packmentality-pop-ins-podcast-ep-51-summer-update-from-pat-popolizio.aspx?mc_cid=8880af0d10&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Lander coach LaHaye hopes camp inspires youth wrestlers
R .C. LaHaye looked forward to the opportunity to introduce wrestling to local kids in Greenwood this week. The first-year Lander wrestling coach said it’s important to him to have children participating in the sport at an early age in order to get them interested in wrestling. LaHaye accomplished that goal with a beginners’ wrestling camp that took place Monday and Tuesday at Finis Horne Arena. “Historically in Greenwood, kids don’t start wrestling until they’re freshmen in high school,” LaHaye said. “So being able to introduce these kids to wrestling at four, five, six, seven and eight years old, is awesome. It exposes them to the sport. But at the end of the day, we just want them to have fun.”
The kids received instructions, participated in matches and learned wrestling techniques from LaHaye and incoming freshman Chandler Smalley, who was a four-time state champion at Abbeville High. He signed with Lander in February. “I’m glad he was able to assist,” LaHaye said. “He’s local, and a lot of the kids already know of Chandler, and they look up to him. It’s nice that he was able to help out and really be a motivational figure for these kids.” Smalley is part of the inaugural Lander class, which will participate in the Bearcats’ first wrestling season in 2019-20. Rest of the story at https://www.indexjournal.com/sports/lander-coach-lahaye-hopes-camp-inspires-youth-wrestlers/article_13831cb3-8ff0-50a9-8e4f-658c6af704e4.html?mc_cid=8880af0d10&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
What wrestlers, parents and coaches need to know about NCAA recruiting rules
In April, the NCAA Division 1 Council announced changes to recruiting rules to more closely align with that of the general student body. “We feel strongly that it’s an incredible enhancement to our current situation and how students are being recruited,” said Justin Sell, athletics director at South Dakota State and chair of the Student-Athlete Experience Committee. “At the end of the day, these changes will eliminate students in the ninth grade and younger being recruited while still providing access to our campuses early enough to make informed financial and educational decisions on where to go for college.”
On Monday, Aug. 5, high school juniors (Class of 2021) can begin taking official visits to colleges, as well as have off-campus contact with members of a college. While the official date for sports other than basketball, football, men’s hockey, lacrosse, softball and baseball was set for Thursday, Aug. 1, the NCAA imposed a dead period for wrestling that takes place July 28-August 4, which is the Monday before the NWCA Convention through the day of adjournment of the convention. During the dead period, college wrestling coaches cannot have face-to-face contact with a recruit or their family. Rest of the story and details at
http://matbossapp.hs-sites.com/blog/what-coaches-parents-wrestlers-need-to-know-about-ncaa-recruiting-rules?mc_cid=8880af0d10&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
‘The Wrestling Drill Book’ by Welker wins national award
The Wrestling Drill Book by Dr. Bill Welker has found its way onto the shelves of thousands of school libraries, wrestling coaches’ offices and homes of high school wrestlers. Now this classic instructional has earned a place on a national book awards list.
Bill Welker with his books (Photo/Kim North)The second edition of Welker’s book has been named winner in the Sports Non-Fiction category by the 2019 Independent Press Awards Program judges which include independent publishers, writers, editors and professional copywriters. “Wrestling has been a major part of my life for over 60 years, and I have been writing about the sport since 1974,” Welker told the Wheeling (W.Va.) Intelligencer, the newspaper serving the community he now calls home, where he has coached and served as a mat official. “The first edition of my drill book was published in 2005 and was so well received that my publishing company, Human Kinetics Publishers of Champaign, Ill., commissioned me to write a second edition of the bestseller in 2012.” Rest of the story at http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/22191?mc_cid=8880af0d10&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Commentary: Making a case for more high school wrestling
Often-overlooked sport holds important lessons for student- athletes
By Dennis Begley, Correspondent
During my high school years with the Monty Tech wrestling program, I often wished there were more teams in the region. Besides the Bulldogs, there were only two other local programs: Leominster and Nashoba Regional.
That fact felt, and still feels, like a missed opportunity. The sport of wrestling still has so much to offer local athletes, and there are plenty of reasons for high schools to work toward investing in programs of their own.
The effort pays off
Anybody who knows me will tell you I’m a horrible athlete. In middle school, however, I discovered wrestling, and it changed my life. I had found a sport that truly was all about how much work you were willing to put in. If the effort was there, you would be successful. For kids who want to be part of something, but lack the size, speed or coordination to excel at other activities, a sport that separates athletes into weight classes and relies as much on dedication as natural ability is a perfect fit.
A different winter sport
After the fall season ends, football players are told to either start lifting or find a winter sport. Since some can’t shoot a basketball or skate to the level of their peers, lifting it is. Wrestling gives these players a different way to keep in shape and keep that competitive mindset during the winter season.
Many professional football players credit wrestling for their success on the gridiron. Included among those ranks are Balitmore Ravens legend Ray Lewis and former New England offensive lineman Stephen Neal, who never played NCAA football and was actually a world-champion wrestler before moving on to a career in football, where he won three Super Bowls with the Patriots. Hall of Fame coach John Madden once said he would have all his offensive linemen wrestle if he could.
Read more at : http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/sports/ci_32752282/commentary-making-case-more-high-school-wrestling#ixzz5vC72eZoB
Brighton’s Amine brothers wrestling internationally for San Marino
TDR Ed.’s Notes ; Certainly an unique story.
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As they moved up the ranks in their wrestling careers, Malik and Myles Amine of Brighton dreamed of competing in the Olympic Games. It’s a dream that may very well come true — just not in the colors they originally envisioned. Rather than competing in red, white and blue as natives of the United States, the Amines are wrestling on the international level for the San Marino, a small nation contained entirely within the borders of Italy.
They have Sammarinese citizenship because their mother’s grandfather came to the United States from San Marino in the early 1900s. “The Sammarinese women, when they marry, their kids when they have children get citizenship,” said their mother, Marcy (Mularoni) Amine. “So, it passes down to their kids. My kids have had citizenship since they were born. Between their 18th and 19th birthday, they have to reaffirm their citizenship.” The process of getting the Amine brothers eligible to wrestle for San Marino took about a year and a half, with their mother doing much of the heavy lifting to make it possible. By doing so, they forfeited the opportunity to wrestle for the United States. The Detroit Catholic Central graduates competed in freestyle for San Marino for the first time at the European Championships in April in Romania.
Rest of the results and story at https://www.livingstondaily.com/story/sports/olympics/2019/07/29/brighton-brothers-wrestling-internationally-san-marino/1782001001/
What we learned from college wrestlers’ summer 2019 freestyle seasons
By SHANNON SCOVEL of NCAA.COM | JULY 29, 2019
With the 2019 U23, junior and senior wrestling world teams nearly decided, it’s time to take a look back at how some of the nation’s top college wrestlers fared during these summer freestyle tournaments. First though, here’s a little more on this style of wrestling if you are not familiar with it. Freestyle, which differs from the college wrestling style of folkstyle, is the style of wrestling showcased in the Olympics and across international tournaments. The two styles are scored and structured differently. Folkstyle matches are set up as three periods of a total of seven minutes and freestyle matches are two periods for a total of six minutes. Freestyle style runs at a faster pace than folkstyle and focuses on back exposure. Wrestlers can earn points for riding time in folkstyle— holding an opponent down on the mat and working to score — and cannot in freestyle. The next two years will be particularly important for wrestlers to compete in freestyle as the Olympic Trials get closer given that the Tokyo Olympics will be contested in freestyle. Rest of the story at https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2019-07-25/what-we-learned-college-wrestlers-summer-2019-freestyle-seasons?mc_cid=be8f44f47e&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Corey’s Stories: The walk-on who joined a college team with no wrestling experience
Mark Tiernan walked-on the wrestling team 25 years ago at Mount Saint Joseph University. We were students on summer break. Tiernan played football. We’d joked with each other for months about him wrestling the upcoming season if I played football. I was six years removed from high school JV football. Tiernan had never wrestled. Of course it was a joke.
Tiernan threw down the gauntlet early that summer. “Seriously,” he said, “if you come out for football, I’ll wrestle.” Tiernan was a psychology major. Perhaps he was conducting an experiment. Maybe attempting observational hours on insanity. “If you’re promising you’ll wrestle,” I replied, “I’ll do it.” I don’t remember if we sealed the pact with a handshake. I don’t recall much except that we were at Maloney’s Pub and I never once made a good decision at Maloney’s.
I’d lost hearing in my right ear the summer after my sophomore year in high school after colliding with a teammate in a baseball game. There was surgery and doctor’s orders I sit out football the upcoming year. I never went back — until I fulfilled my end of the deal that fall. I played football. Mostly, I watched football. After finishing the season with some special teams penalties — and roughly nine total minutes of actual playing time — my Division III college football career was in the books. It was Tiernan’s turn to pay up. And he did. Tiernan is married now with three kids, living in Cary, N.C. I called him recently to catch up. Rest of the story at
https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?postId=1673211132&mc_cid=a8740c076f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Registration now open for USA Wrestling Preseason Nationals, set for Oct. 25-27 in Des Moines
Registration for the 2019 USA Wrestling Preseason Nationals, one of the biggest preseason wrestling tournaments in the nation, is now open. The first 50 wrestlers that register will receive a free event t-shirt that you will pick up at the head table during the tournament. The event is set for the last weekend in October, with high school competing on October 25th and 26th and wrestlers entering eighth grade and below as well as all open divisions competing on October 27th. It will be held at the Iowa Events Center (Hyvee Hall) in Des Moines, Iowa.
The field is only open to the first 1,500 high school boys, 1,500 eighth grade and below, 400 girls and 200 open division wrestlers. THIS WILL BE THE LARGEST USA WRESTLING PRESEASON NATIONALS EVER. LAST YEAR WE SOLD THIS EVENT OUT. MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS OUT AND REGISTERED ASAP. We DO NOT have a change weight fee at anytime so you can change your weight all the way up to the weigh-ins without a fee.
NEW FOR 2019 – The High School Division is now two days and will start wrestling on Friday, October 25th at 3:00pm. This includes High Boys and High School Girls. Rest of the story at
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/July/25/Preseason-Nationals-registration-now-open?mc_cid=10f2fb985a&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
