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Celebrities and dignitaries come out in force at the United 4 Wrestling Gala at the Los Angeles Memorial Arena (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)The movement to #SaveOlympicWrestling has so far been a great success story. From the hopelessness of the IOC's original decision the wrestling community has adapted and can now begin to see the rise of a new, progress-driven community. For once we are accepting and promoting new products and ideas.
The always-engaging Teague Moore is promoting TourACW, a series of post-graduate wrestling tournaments focused on scoring, excitement and paying athletes. FLIPSWrestling has focused the marketing of their innovative headphone technology on the wrestling community. InterMat, Flo and AWN are all making changes and improvements to their sites in response to record levels of traffic. Even FILA has improved its media outreach and is looking into adding a referee-held camera for matches. These ideas, along with dozens of others, have scrambled their way from the mind of the wrestling community and into operation.
As positive as these changes seem, there is a concern that if wrestling is brought back into the Olympic family in September that our attitude toward change will revert back to widespread contentment. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Complacency and the smoldering remnants of disagreements among leaders and individuals are always a threat to progress. It's an extreme example, but you only have to look to Egypt to see what can happen after the revolution -- when leaders assigned to make change fall into old habits and petty disagreements that hamper their stated mission and goals. Egyptians have once again fought to establish the progressive changes it seeks from their leadership. It's a third chance that the IOC or NCAA won't offer the wrestling community.
There are examples of other nations in Africa that have taken horrible circumstances and matured the urged for immediate action into a long-term plan for improvement. Rwanda, best known for one of the world's most destructive wars and genocides, adopted a leadership model that focused on economic development and the elimination of corruption. Now, in a country where ethnic violence meant beheading and kidnappings, the people are building skyscrapers and enjoy an almost litter-free living area. Though imperfect in many ways, the once war-ravaged country has become a model in adapting to substantive and progressive changes.
Like Rwanda, the wrestling community can't think of the last four months as a brief sojourn through change. We have to continue to make a mantra out of the buzzwords: progressive, change, adaptation, innovation, and excitement.These words need to become part of a collective mission statement about the future of our sport.
There are signs of growth within the wrestling, but concern remains that without a sustained approach to the adoption and implementation of these changes we're likely to fall back into our pre-elimination method of operation. Don't let that happen. Keep up the pressure on your local communities and search for opportunities to make substantial, positive changes to our sport. Be an advocate of improvement, even if it might not be of immediate benefit to your program. See the broader picture and act in the best interest of the spot at-large.
Wrestling is as much about adaptation as it is strength, so let's apply that to our leadership and governance. It's up to all of us to make sure that our leaders stick to their promises and continue to make the changes necessary to grow our sport.
To your questions ...
Q: Having such incredible talent at 74 kilos with Kyle Dake, Jordan Burroughs, David Taylor, and Andrew Howe, would it benefit the U.S. World Team and U.S. for the Olympics if one of them would go up or down a weight? I understand it's 20pounds either way to the closest weight, but it just seems like a large waste of talent to have three of the those four wrestlers sit out of the Olympics and World Team tournaments.
-- Evan G.
Foley: There are two thoughts on the concentration of talent on a roster. The first is that the internal competition helps all the wrestlers improve, and provides for backups of world medalist talent. The second is that they should disperse and look for opportunities to strengthen the lineup. Both have merits, but neither is fully correct.
Adding weight could be difficult for Andrew Howe and Kyle Dake, leaving them undersized on a move up to challenge current World Team member Keith Gavin. Though he's had mixed results on the international stage, it's too early to tell how Gavin (and others) will respond to aggregate scoring and longer periods. I suspect he'll improve, and therefore could be a roadblock for any 74-kilo wrestler looking for easy insertion into the American lineup. Like you stated, we aren't talking about a few pounds, we're talking about 22 pounds of muscle.
The larger issue is that wrestling has been forced to prune its Olympic weight classes, leaving more congestion of talent at the middle weights. That won't improve at the Olympic level for several years, but there is precedent for wrestling to add weight classes to the World Championships. That effort can show the viability of having more weight classes, and should we start generating substantial income and interest at the Olympics could one day be approved to add more spots.
That will take time and powerful leadership to accomplish, but we've never been in a better position to succeed. More wrestling is ALWAYS better.
Kyle Dake (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)-- Frank R.
Foley: Kyle Dake believes he is the best in the world. Changing styles and jumping weights would essentially be admitting that he wasn't the best in the world. Based on everything we know about Kid Dynamite, that type of admission is far from happening.
Q: Quick opinion of Nick Nevills to PSU. With Thomas Haines already in fold, I was surprised by this. Any inside info on the situation?
-- @kingston1990
Foley: Great Googly Moogly. Penn State is reloading. With the recent addition of Chance Marsteller they could be acquiring the best recruiting class in this history of NCAA wrestling.
Q: How do you think your boy Scott Moore will do at Lock Haven?
-- Mike R.
Foley: Congrats, Scooter!
Like many of the recent hires at the Division I level, Scotty will be good at everything required to be a successful CEO coach. High school kids love his energy. He's excellent on the mat, and with time he'll be pulling in major donors. I'm proud of my former teammate, and can't wait for the chance to call him out in a future mailbag! Stay sharp, Scotty. I'm watching!
RANT OF THE WEEK!
By Chuck P.
(More like a "SUBSTANTIVE EMAIL OF THE WEEK," but "RANT" is fun for building dramatics.)
I STILL think the following would simplify the scoring and make things better for everyone:
1. One 5-minute period and no breaks
2. Takedown=1 point
3. Takedown, feet to exposure=3 points
4. Back exposure=2 points
5. High amplitude throws with exposure=5 points
6. Escape=1 point
7. Technical fall=12 point advantage
But HERE IS THE KEY:
1. First passivity=caution and choice of position for active wrestler
2. Second passivity=caution and choice of position for active wrestler
3. Third caution=DISQUALIFICATION for passive wrestler for the bout AND the tournament.
This last notion -- disqualification from both the match AND the tournament -- would guarantee aggressiveness from the competitors. It would also reward aggressiveness.
This also means that ALL REFEREES will have to grow a backbone and absolutely ENFORCE PASSIVITY as it was intended.
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