If you are thinking about going for a day, or two, or six then you need to get busy on buying airplane tickets, tournament tickets and reserving your hotel room for the event. Book your tickets now at www.vegasworlds2015.com.
This is your assignment for the week. (No, I make no extra money if you attend.)
Q: Zero medals for the U.S. at the Junior Worlds in Greco-Roman. The lack of success for the U.S. Greco-Roman program on the senior level in recent years is well documented. What needs to change to make the U.S. more competitive internationally in Greco-Roman?
-- Mike C.
Foley: The USA is a top 15 nation at the senior level in Greco-Roman, but junior-level success has been fleeting at best.
There are efforts to develop all levels of the program. Matt Lindland is just outside of his first year and anything he is looking to implement -- from culture to technique -- will take time to mature.
The larger question is what the expectations should be for the U.S. Greco-Roman team. Do we think they'll ever compete with the Iranians, Azerbaijanis, Russians, Hungarians and Georgians when there is no support at home? Those other nations wrestle Greco-Roman YEAR-ROUND from age 5. They compete in the club system within their country and travel to events in Europe 4-5 times a year and attend 1-2 training camps.
Can the United States afford the ramp-up costs to compete? With attention and resources focused so heavily on folkstyle, freestyle and women's freestyle, there is significantly less available to the Greco-Roman team than in European countries.
Everyone wants to be No. 1, but when it comes to Greco-Roman and the coming years there should be more attainable goals for Team USA, such as multiple medalists at this year's World Championships and to qualify all of the Olympic weight classes.
Q: What do you think about the Virginia Tech hiring of Mike Zadick and Derek St. John?
-- @takedow1
Foley: There is a lot of talent that comes from Iowa and I don't think it's surprising a few of their best guys end up coaching with fellow alums of the program. Virginia Tech has been powerful over the past five years and if Coach Dresser feels that this duo can pack an added punch, I tend to trust they will.
Overall the ACC has been acquiring a lot of top talents. Remember that U.Va. has NCAA champions Jordan Leen and Keith Gavin on staff and Coleman Scott just signed on as UNC-Chapel Hill's new head coach.
Good luck to the Iowa guys in Blacksburg. I'm sure they'll find the culture in that part of Virginia is similar to that what they enjoyed in Iowa.
Isaiah Martinez celebrates after defeating James Green in the NCAA semifinals (Photo/Rob Preston)-- Mike C.
Foley: Who was looking at the undefeated freshman NCAA champion with any light other than favorable?! Imar is a generational talent and what you saw this year is just his opening act.
Want a guy who can challenge Jordan Burroughs in 2017? Imar might be your MAN.
Q: I really need the slip rule explained! I don't like it, but I also don't understand it so I need it clarified.
-- @wrestlingnomad
Foley: In order to promote action, wrestlers who attempt and miss a throw are not penalized. There are wrestlers who will be losing position (especially in Greco-Roman) who then try a bad throw in an attempt to draw a slip. That behavior is almost always caught and takedowns are awarded.
It's a weird rule for sure, but without it there may never be a big throw attempt, and in Greco-Roman there needs to be as many incentives as possible in order to promote action.
The rule is also present in men's freestyle and women's freestyle, though you see it much less frequently given the ability to attack legs.
Q: What are your thoughts on David Habat representing Slovenia in wrestling? See others do it just so they can be an Olympian, World Team member.‬
-- @nathanjohn_319
Foley: "… just so they can be an Olympian."
You miiiiight be underestimating how difficult it can be to make the Olympics. Remember that you must qualify from your continent or at a last-chance qualifier. Those are stacked tournaments with every country entering their very best athletes to each competition. If Habat qualifies then he deserves to be in the Olympics, regardless of what nation is on his singlet.
David Habat (Photo/Rob Preston)Does Habat owe his entire future to the fact that NBC sells beers and cars to millions of viewers based on national pride?
No.
Q: Who takes over as head coach of Team USA's men's freestyle program after 2016?
-- Mike C.
Foley: My top candidates:
Cael Sanderson
John Smith
Tom Brands
Brandon Slay
Sean Bormet
Q: How likely is it that we'll see Tervel Dlagnev on the mats again?
-- @ShogunOfSonoma
Foley: I don't know the extent of injury, but the answer is one-hundred percent.
After Rio, or the qualifications? Zero percent
Q: What are your thoughts on Coleman Scott becoming the new head wrestling coach at UNC? Does this mean he's done competing? Or is he still training for the 2016 Olympic Games?
-- Mike C.
Foley: From all accounts Coleman Scott is a talented coach. His success on the mat will play a large role in his recruitment of future athletes and with a stable of active alumni I think we'll see the program expand in several meaningful ways.
I assume that this signals the end of his competitive career. Keeping up with Brent Metcalf, Logan Stieber and the rest of the stable at 65 kilos is not an easy task if you train year-round. It is significantly more difficult with an 80-90 hour-a-week job. If Scott wants to compete then he'll have blessings all around.
If he chooses to spend his little bit of downtime with the family nobody will cast a doubt. If they do, I recommend he just hold up that Olympic bronze and shh' them from the room.
Q: World Championship preparation. Few questions!
1. What countries will be represented in Vegas?
2. Does the U.S.'s entire squad get to wrestle? The guys didn't have to qualify, did they?
3. Who besides our guys should we be looking out for? I'm not familiar with the foreign wrestlers (much). Who do you think is really exciting to watch?
-- John G.
Foley: Answers below.
1. All. The only qualification for the World Championships is that you enter a wrestler at that weight class during the continental championships. The motivation for this year's bloated continental championships was that the top six finishers at the World Championships automatically qualify their weight class for the Olympic Games. For many countries that is their best shot to qualify for Rio.
2. Yes. All of 'em.
3. Men's freestyle: Every Russian is entertaining to watch, as are the Iranians. Each has their own style, but they are equally active and beautiful in their execution.
Women's freestyle: Japan dominates, but also look out for Azerbaijan, China and some of South America's wrestlers. Sleepers are the Cuban women who are love-to-throw former judokas who compete at one-hundred percent for six minutes.
Greco-Roman: Georgia is looking solid, but Russia and Iran are more likely to win matches with moves that get your blood going. However, the No. 1 most entertaining wrestler in the world right now is world No. 1 Rasul Chunayev (Azerbaijan) at 71 kilos -- a throw a minute. Incredible to watch.
Q: Can you dive into the Corey Mock decision and how this affects C.D. Mock's future? Also, since there are many high school coaches and wrestlers that read your article, please address the issue that males will always be assumed guilty before innocent in issues of sexual assault. I think this is an issue we need to address with our athletes and the ramifications it can have on someone's life (ex. Corey Mock and Jordan Holm).
-- Tim H.
Foley: The decision of the court to rule that Corey Mock was denied due process has no bearing on C.D. Mock's choice to publish blog posts about the sexual assault crisis on college campuses. Corey may have been denied due process and the court overturned it, but that wasn't because of C.D.'s public relations campaign. It was because the judge saw the legal argument.
Disparaging women is juvenile. Yes, they make mistakes and of course one-hundred percent of accusations are not true, but to use the court's ruling to buoy some knuckle-dragging theory that some tiny percentage of women are ACTUALLY sexually assaulted and that the rest lie is bogus.
C.D. was fired because he wasn't protected by academic freedom to espouse any belief he wish. He was hired as a wrestling coach, not a sociology professor. He represented the university in his role as a coach and when he embarrassed them he was shown the door. He also wasn't winning enough matches.
But again, to be clear, this ruling does NOT exonerate Corey or C.D., it simply says that the former was denied due process on a college campus, something that many advocates on both sides have pointed to as a weakness of prosecuting sex crimes on campus.
Q: I have a question. How are you doing on this fine day?
-- @maggiehendricks
Foley: I woke up in Brazil, watched wrestling and got to write. Today was a great day!
RANT OF THE WEEK
By Jacob R.
Aside from Flo's immature shenanigans and their extremely biased reporting of U.S. wrestlers, I would have to say the organization provides a good service. I usually only pay for Flo Pro when the U.S. Open and World Team Trials are underway. Doesn't really make sense to pay money to watch ESPN matches from the NCAAs that are dubbed over with their screaming.
Anyways, I have noticed that a lot of the matches on their pay-per-view service involve a lot of our youth and amateur ranks. I am curious if the youngsters competing in Fargo, the Junior World Championships, and other events that are within the Flo Pro umbrella get any of the profits. I would assume no, which leads me to ask, "Shouldn't a high school athlete who competes in an event that is broadcast over a pay-wall network get something from her or his hard work?" Similar to college football and basketball, if it wasn't for the athletes and their abilities there really would be no need to broadcast an event and have people pay money to watch it.
Now this leads me to ask if the senior level wrestlers get any money from Flowrestling covering their events. Obviously, Flo has some sort of deal with USA Wrestling and I think they even struck a deal with United World Wrestling to do coverage of Junior Worlds and the Senior Worlds. My question is shouldn't the senior level wrestlers get a cut instead of the governing body?
It appears that wrestlers, both in the U.S. and worldwide and dare I say athletes in many of the non-professional uber popular ball sports are relegated to a weird limbo in which they are kinda sorta amateurs who will get paid if they win World or Olympic gold, but likely get very little from the revenues yielded from the broadcast of their triumphs. While I dig the confidence that is exhibited from Burroughs and the plethora of other senior level wrestlers in the U.S., it sure would be nice if they approached Flo with a "Show me the money!" attitude. I would probably be more inclined to pay for a full year's subscription to Flo Pro knowing that the wrestlers are actually benefiting from it.
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