When the violence began Sunday night it was reported that a recently sacked vice president was attempting to manage a coup. As the hours passed and stories started to emerge it was evident that the factions weren't being made along party lines, but tribal.
I was in Juba hosting a two-part "Wrestling for Peace" tournament through my non-profit Wrestling Roots Foundation and our partner the John Fetzer Institute. Fetzer, whose mission it is to promote "love and forgiveness" through sports, science, education and other fields, was our primary source of financial support.
The first tournament was completed last Saturday and by all accounts was s success. We had more than 8k fans show up to Juba Stadium, including fans and athletes from more than a dozen tribes. In the moment, the tournament was a snapshot into the country's hope to evolve from tribe-focused difference, to South Sudanese nationalism and cultural similarity.
There is much more to write out about what happened in Juba, but for now it's too fresh to detail with competency or care. (I'm writing this on the plane ride home to the states.) This was a major diplomatic event that requires vigilance in retelling.
However, one thing is certain: We're lucky to have a blue passport that reads United States of America. As the Air Force landed their C-130's and used their Special Forces unit to set up a perimeter in the tall grass surrounding the runway, there were others in Juba -- those dedicated to promoting peace, love and forgiveness -- who were stuck inside a city in the grip of violence, death and insecurity. My friends lost members of their family and have seen their homes hit by tank fire, RPG's and the spray of bullets from AK-47's. I was carried out unharmed by our Armed Forces, and for that I'm fortunate and grateful.
I'll bring you much more about our friends, the tournament and the violence in Juba over the next several weeks. Until then, please keep South Sudan in your thoughts. More than most any place on the planet, the people there are in need of a Christmas miracle.
To your questions ...
Q: When I was a kid it was always fun to see a growing field of old and young talent at the Midlands. Why do you think not as many older wrestlers are entering?
-- Eric L.
Foley: Wrestling hurts! You may remember that I gave this tournament another chance in 2011 and was handily defeated in two of three matches by wrestlers who were in much better shape. Conditioning is a large component of being a successful collegiate wrestler, and if you're like me and of modest talent, but not training, stepping onto a mat with a 20-year-old who is four months sober, wrestling six-times a week and lifting every other day, will likely end with a darkening glimpse of the rafters.
Thought there is some great talent showing at this year's event. Your question reminds me that we need to find a more democratic and inviting form of wrestling for our former wrestlers with the physical and mental want to compete. As always, I think it's a takedown-only style that we see across the world. This extends wrestling from a sport with a primary age focus of 10-22, into one that is for 10-45.
Wrestling is fun. We just have to learn to relax the focus on mega-conditioning for the old farts like myself who don't mind a few minutes of sparring, but can't absorb four seven-minute matches on a Saturday.
Q: You recently answered a question about coaches who are "program builders." I'll take it a step further. Which current wrestler (NCAA or National Team pool) will be a future coaching superstar? In other words, who will be the next Cael Sanderson or John Smith?
David Taylor? Kyle Dake? Jordan Burroughs?
-- DZ
Foley: You mentioned the greatest freestyle wrestler in American history and the greatest collegiate wrestler in American history, leaving me to think that the next great coach will need a similar background.
Jordan Burroughs, who is undefeated through 67 matches and owns three World titles, is starting to fit into that schematic. He's engaging which is helpful, and from what I know of him as a person and a wrestler he's a hard worker and polite. He's my second choice.
My top choice might be Kyle Dake, if only because he's seen Rob Koll do it firsthand and is one of the most popular, and fiercely-competitive wrestlers in the world. Though it would be a big cut, it's conceivable that Dake could make a World team at 70 kilos and later challenge Burroughs again for 74 kilos. That would give him the international street cred, but he's already secured an argument for GOAT after his recent 4-4-4 at the collegiate level.
Q: An interesting article about the demise of BU wrestling. I wrestled for Coach Adams years ago and have a lot of respect for the man. I also accepted your premise that he just did not do enough to show the administration that the program is still relevant. This article, however, takes a different and interesting spin on events, speculating that the program being dropped had more to do with corporate sponsorship and the promotion of lacrosse. Now if Coach Adams was more of an innovator and marketer it likely would never have come to where things are today. If you have time and are interested, please take a read as I would be interested in your thoughts.
-- Jordan B
Foley: I'm hesitant to absolve Boston University and its alumni for not creating a more profitable and exciting program at Boston. The components were/are there and if there was more vigilance much of what is transpiring never would have occurred.
That aside, the idea that Boston would sell off wrestling in favor of a shoe contract for their new lacrosse program is infuriating. The main rub is that the school won't come out and admit that there was a calculus for creating the decision to drop wrestling, that had been influenced by the New Balance cash. Was it illegal? Doubtful. Immoral? Welcome to the NCAA.
Lacrosse is a rapidly growing sport in the Northeast, where this is a high concentration of wealth and a population of mothers and fathers keeping their kids off the football field to avoid head traumas. Lacrosse is a more controlled sport with less physicality. Lacrosse is also a culture, and with the long hair and bro-isms comes a mini-economy of gear sales, clothing companies and shoes. Lacrosse is easy to commoditize and thus is more attractive to the school.
Wrestling still hasn't figured out how to profit from its culture. We are a lower to middle income sport, but the problem really stems from traditionalism and an unwillingness to adapt. Boston wrestling can't be blamed for that cultural failure, but parallels can be seen in the pre-decision apathy of the alumni and coaching staff in wanting to create new revenue, or excitement about the program.
Q: Did you know the BU-Penn State match at BU was a sellout and the largest crowd ever to witness any sporting event (including basketball) at Case Gym?
-- Pat D.
Foley: That is a great 'did you know!' Despite my tough feelings on the matter, I do hope we can see Boston take the mats for the 2014-2015 season and beyond.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Link: South Sudan: On the brink of collapse?
Q: As an advocate for women's wrestling I wanted to thank you for all of the coverage and work that you do for the future of the sport. I also believe that the women's side is the future for wrestling.
I know of a coach that is trying to build a women's program smack dab in the middle of Pennsylvania, and maybe you have heard of him. His name is Terry Fike. He coaches a women's club team at Lock Haven University.
It's called Women's Wrestling Project. Terry has a Facebook page for this and a website.
-- Beau E.
Foley: I'm going to send Terry an email. This is a great step forward and indicative of a culture that is starting, albeit slowly, to accept that women are wrestlers, too! It's still my opinion that when the wrestling community embraces the participation of women, we'll see a rapid rise in participation and some support for our men's programs that often don't have a companion sport to keep them off the radar of Title IX lawyers.
Pennsylvania is the right place to focus these developments. Coaches, parents, friends and family have all grown up with the sport and respect the winners within -- male or female.
Kyle Dake and David Taylor's rivalry, which started when they were young, has continued on after college wrestling (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)-- Marcus R.
Foley: The Taylor-Dake rivalry was an organic phenomenon that won't be repeated again soon, but here are some that might reach that level, or have the ingredients. I realize most of these are just the top two wrestlers, but they are all competitive matchups that could heat up in the second half of the year due to proximity, name ID or past history.
125: Jesse Delgado (Illinois) vs. Nico Megaludis (Penn State)
133: Tony Ramos (Iowa) vs. A.J. Schopp (Edinboro)
141: Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. Logan Stieber (Ohio State)
149: None. Weight class is too wide open.
157: Derek St. John (Iowa) vs. Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State)
165: None. Taylor is too dominant.
174: Chis Perry (Oklahoma State) vs. Andrew Howe (Oklahoma)
184: None. Ruth is too dominant.
197: Taylor Meeks (Oregon State) vs. Scott Shiller (Minnesota)
285: Mike McMullan (Northwestern) vs. Tony Nelson (Minnesota)
Q: What are the current NCAA uniform guidelines regarding wearing a singlet in competition? I am guessing that a team would be prohibited from wearing fight shorts for a dual meet, but could a wrestler wear fight shorts while competing at Midlands? How about an open preseason tournament?
-- Matt T.
Foley: Wrestlers are still able to wear a doublet, which is spandex shorts and a spandex rash guard. However, I think that just makes for more material rather than a more conservative look.
Midlands doesn't allow fight shorts, and I haven't heard of any preseason tourneys that are allowing this sensible solution to our sport's uniform crisis.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
By RT
I was fortunate to attend the Cliff Keen in Lost Wages, Nevada. There were some great matches.
My top five performances:
1. Robert Kokesh giving Andrew Howe all he could handle.
2. Daniel Mitchell taking down Taylor Meeks.
3. Johnni DiJulius handling Joe Colon and then pinning Cody Brewer.
4. Brian Realbuto giving James Green all he could handle.
5. Logan Stieber's two-minute tech fall in the finals.
My biggest disappointments:
1. Devin Carter's season-ending injury, mainly for Carter himself but also for the fans that were anticipating a Stieber-Carter final.
2. The often classless behavior of some members of a Big Ten program's coaching staff. During many of this team's matches I watched, certain coaches were consistently whining about calls, stepping onto the mat during matches, seemingly trying to intimidate opposing coaches, and confronting the referees.
I understand passion from coaches (my college coach was an NCAA champ and he would be often be on the floor next to the mat during our matches -- literally wrestling them with us!) However, he had class and would argue only egregious calls.
One of the many great qualities of wrestling (and especially wrestling as a character builder for kids) is the ZERO tolerance for the kind of punkish behavior we see on football fields and during other sports.
I know the rules of sportsmanship for wrestlers but am curious about the rules for coaches? Seems to me it would have been appropriate for the Cliff Keen refs to reprimand certain coaches for their inappropriate behavior.
InterMat senior writer T.R. Foley answers reader questions about NCAA wrestling, international wrestling, recruiting, or anything loosely related to wrestling. Questions can be sent to Foley's email account or Twitter.
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