"I'm probably online about 12-14 hours a day," laughed Hipps, the publisher of the Internet news source, InterMat.
Hipps actually does more than uses his eyes when it comes to doing his job. The native of Chaska, Minn., also uses his fingers to call those who make national wrestling headlines. Those stories are then posted on the well-known website that Hipps and his brothers purchased from the National Wrestling Coaches Association a year ago.
And if there is a national event happening, one will find Hipps or one of his six writers bringing these moments to the countless numbers who type in www.intermatwrestle.com on their computers.
"It's a 24-7 job," said Hipps. "(The website) always has to have fresh content on it, which I enjoy because I love breaking stories. I'm passionate about what I do."
And that passion is just one reason why Hipps was named Journalist of the Year by WIN for this past year.
"The thing I appreciate so much about Andrew and InterMat is that he actually goes to the events to give the wrestling community an on-site report. This takes event coverage to another level. It requires a ton more work than writing a story remotely and it can be costly. It's obvious he loves the sport and what he's doing," said Bryan Van Kley, WIN publisher.
In an era when internet sites and blogs continually come out at an increasing rate, Hipps believes InterMat continues to offer something special to readers.
"I like to think it's the quality of writing," he said. "Anybody can start a blog. It's hard to put in words. When you read an article, you can tell the difference. To be honest, I just love telling the story. There are so many stories in wresting and so many that need to be told."
Hipps said he experienced moderate success as a former high school wrestler in the Minneapolis suburb, but was "always thirsty for wrestling," beginning in 1996 when he attended NCAA Division I national tournament as a high school freshman.
"After that I was hooked on the sport," said Hipps, whose participation in wrestling ended once he started college at Iowa State, but not his interest. "I loved my experiences there and my love for the sport continued to grow. I developed a lot of friendships with a lot of the wrestlers."
Hipps was also one of the first people who understood and used the internet as a news source.
"Back then, the internet was basically new and hard to get information on the sport," Andrew said. "I'd search the internet with a dial-up connection back then."
Hipps' interest in the internet also led to his first job: working for TheWrestlingMall.com in 2004.
"I worked with Matt Krumrie (once the editor of the former website based in the Twin Cities)," Andrew recalled. "He was the one who believed in me. I had a great experience working for Matt. I still go to him for guidance. He was a great mentor for me and was part of the reason I started up my own venture."
That venture was a new website called RevWrestling.com. Andrew and his older brothers, Jeremy and Jon, used their love for wrestling and publishing skills to create the site in 2005.
"I wanted creative freedom," said Andrew. "We all brought a unique skill-set to the table. It's been a great experience."
And after four years, the Hipps brothers took on an even bigger challenge: purchase and run InterMat, which was started by Tom Owens in 1995 and eventually run by the NWCA until the spring of 2009.
"(NWCA executive director) Mike Moyer called me and wanted to get out of the wrestling news source," Andrew said. "They liked what we were doing and made an offer to us."
Since then Andrew increased the size of his editorial staff and covers all facets of wrestling on the high school, college and international level, while also focusing on the growth of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). But the biggest challenge for InterMat is keeping up with recruiting commitments in an editorial era where the demands are never-ending.
"People want the news now," Andrew said. "It's important to have different writers who know different aspects of the sport. When a kid commits to a college, within 20 minutes, I'm writing a story and publishing it on InterMat.
"Every day is different and I never know what each day is going to bring. There are so many different personalities in the sport. I'm so proud of our writers, who carry the site. I am so blessed to have such a great group of writers."
Andrew, who posts all the information on InterMat, knows that enjoying a week-long vacation is impossible now. But the demands of the job are minimal after seeing his life-long best friend, Justin Kukowski, die from brain cancer in 2007.
"I remember him saying, 'Life is too short not to do something you love,' " Andrew said. "His words have always stuck with me and I don't take anything for granted. Him dying certainly has put my life into perspective. I don't get stressed as much."
Andrew said he tries to put as much passion into his job as wrestlers do in their sport, especially those from not-so- well-known teams.
"One moment that sticks out in my mind happened in 2009 when I covered the national junior college tournament in Rochester, Minn.," he said. "That was an incredible experience for me. I had never been to the event before and was amazed with the passion that these guys had and how much it meant to them to win a national title.
"I remember interviewing Jeremy McCoy of Ellsworth who had won the national title at 141 pounds. He just lost it emotionally after winning the championship. It showed me how much it meant to him. No one had taken much interest in him during his career.
Andrew said amateur wrestling needs to copy the publicity page used by the MMA in their rise to success.
"I want our writers to dig deeper more than what is on the surface," Andrew said. "Anybody can look at results or what they've accomplished in the sport. I want our writers to find out what people don't know.
"I get excited about writing the in-depth profile where you interview six to eight people like a wrestler's grandfather or brother, who don't necessarily get interviewed a lot and they have insight on that wrestler."
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