Good Morning! My name is Justin Condreay, I am a senior at Sterling High (who is in a co-op with Nickerson High for wrestling) and for my senior project, I am trying to get Sterling their own wrestling team.

Everyday, as a team, durning the brutal winter, we jump on the highway and travel 10 miles to Nickerson (Not to safe I think). After speaking with the Administration (Who totally gives me their support on the matter), it has been concluded that the reason Sterling doesn't have a team is 1) No where to practice and 2) No mats.

For my senior project, I am trying to obtain Corporate funding to supply the mats (The school has better things to spend money on). I personally have no idea how much a new, offical high school size wrestling mat will cost. The practice location is not a problem- There are plenty of empty barns out here we can practice in. The mats are the HEART of this project. If I get the mats- we get a team. No mats, no team. We already have a coach, and the school has agreed to pay for team apperal.

Any ANY ANY imput would be much appriciated. Names of Company's you think would be interested in helping out a highschool? (We even talked about putting the name of the donators on the mat, I.E JCAM CHEM SHS) How much a new mat will cost, or any good deals you find? The process you would reccomend on me taking? Names of people I can contact?

Agian, any help would be appriciated. I'm trying to expand the wrestling community just a little bit further.

Thank you and God Bless!

You could try out my sponsors: Wonder Bread, Powerade, Fig Newtons, Taco Bell, and Goodyear.

But seriously try getting someone to sponsor it and let them put their names on it. I have been in several gyms that the scoreboards are sponsored by Coke and Powerade.

Justin,
One way we purchased a mat for less was to buy it at the 4A-6A tournament about 5 years ago. Companies often provide mats to state tournaments in hopes that when the coaches/schools see the quality of their product, they'll want to purchase one. We got a great deal, at least that's what the former coach said, on a mat that was used during the tournament, but had no lettering on it. It's not fancy, but from what I understand, we got it for almost half price (rumors range from 3,000 to 5,000). You might also check into a used mat and getting it reconditioned. Hope this helps.

Hi,
I am President of the Rice County Wrestling Club and I also live in Sterling. Talk to AB or your wrestling coach at the High School. And he will tell you how to get in touch with me, and hopefully others. And we can get the ball rolling!!!

Justin,

I hope everything we talked about today works out just right. God is good. I am sure we found Justin a mat today and all within 30 minutes of me reading his post.

Good Luck to one of my old NW boys.

Ms. Jenni

Truly, TRULY unbelievable. The Eddison's continuous outward generosity and willingness to help out with ANYTHING anybody needs help with, is a gift to all of us. Thank God for the Eddison's. My family sends their love! Thank you agian! Even if this doesn't work out, it is still an eye-opener! You can always count on these people!

Now- What would be the next step? Would I go to a School board meeting at the USD 376 building and get a wrestling program OKed by them? Or would I go through KSHAA? Thank you!

I would go to your administration (principal and athletic director) and get them for sure on board with you and take it to the school board together as a unified front.

Justin,
I'm not sure you are at the point to go to the school board yet. Most school boards yield to community pressure first and foremost. I would suggest you get as many supporters within your district together first and as a group decide on a course of action. The more people involved the stronger your position with the school board becomes. The support of administration is valuable but often times matters little to the school board.

Justin:

That is a great gift and Coach Ed and family are wonderful. Your next step is probably going to need to be — even before you go to the board — is to scare up enough interest in the school to be able to justify the cost.

What your local school board is going to look at are these things:
1 — Are there enough kids interested both in the high school and lower grades to justify starting the program? You need to have kids now, but also know you will in the future.
2 — What will the cost be? You have to figure out what it will cost to pay coaches, transportation and equipment.
3 — Find community support. If there are people in the community (not just potential wrestling parents) that would be willing to go the board and speak on behalf of starting the program, that would be great. Maybe even have the Nickerson coaches come in.
4 — Where will you practice? You need to make sure you've already identified potential locations for that.
5 — Once you have the answers to these questions, you need to go to your athletic director and let him know what you want to do and see if he will support it as well.

My experience in dealing with boards has shown me that these are the questions you'll get asked when you go to them. And if you don't have the answers, they'll probably send you back to get them.

Whatever happens Justin, keep fighting for this. You're doing a great thing already, just keep it up!

School Board meeting is coming up- I have administrators and football coaches speaking on my behalf. Also, I have sent out surveys to the jr. high and grade school kids asking about intrest in wrestling. I have a petition with hundreds of names of local suportors for the team.

I thought it would be good to talk about not only about how wrestling will help the kids physically, but mentally as well. Do any of you out there know of any sources or websites/stats that I could show that talk about how wrestlers are GENERALLY smart and well disciplined?

Anything else i should throw in there?

Justin -

I have followed your efforts over the past few weeks. I think it is great the way you have approached and organized your Senior Project to get a high school wrestling team started at Sterling High School.

In your last post, you mentioned wanting some quotes/statistics on the impact that wrestling can have in the classroom, in life and maybe even in other sports. There is a great guide that we share with your Club Wrestling Parents called the "2005 Second Edition Parent's Guide to Youth Wrestling." You can download the PDF version of this book at: http://www.youthwrestlingguide.com/

On pages 5 to 12 are many of the positive benefits of wrestlng. There are also some notable figures that have wrestled on Page 19. This publication was endorsed by USA Wrestling and may be of use to you.

In addition to my job as a technology coordinator and coach, I also manage a technology consulting company. In the past several years, Integrated Technology Consultants has donated wrestling statistics software to high schools that have started new teams in eastern Kansas.

I would like to offer to your planning group, a donation of Champion Wrestling Stats 5.0 if your school starts a wrestling team. This will be a new,licensed to your school, version that is valued at $70.

Every little bit helps. You might even be able to find a couple of tournaments in your area that might waive the entry fee to their tournaments the first year as another incentive to help you get started???

Good Luck in the coming weeks! Let me know via e-mail once you get the official decision.

Doug Vander Linden
Burlington Wrestlng
dougvanderlinden@hotmail.com