Truly the One Wrestling Organization
by Stan Dziedzic, former USA Wrestling President

There are several organizations that offer access to wrestling opportunities. Each is able to provide tournaments, practices and club activities. Wrestlers, parents and coaches have to choose where and with whom to allocate their resources and devote their time. When you weigh these alternatives there is only one of these organizations that has the depth and unparalleled platform to strengthen our sport at all levels. As a wrestler, coach or fan there is one organization that after review provides opportunities and programs that I am confident will compel you to join. It is the only organization that your membership makes a difference in strengthening our sport in the United States.

What is this 'one organization?’ The answer is very clear. It is USA Wrestling, the National Governing Body for the Sport of Amateur Wrestling in the United States, and the only organization recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee as the Governing Body for the Sport in America.

What does it mean to be the National Governing Body and recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee? Please allow me to fill you in on one of the best amateur sports organizations in the World. Then as you contemplate your many choices, I believe you will agree with me that there is only one that is a "must" to be a member.

USA Wrestling offers the wrestling community a comprehensive package for an extremely reasonable price. USA Wrestling:

• Conducts four levels of coaches' education that includes the latest techniques and philosophies in the sport.
• Conducts quality local, Regional and National level events for nine different age groups in four different styles: Folkstyle, Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women's wrestling.
• Developed the well known "Ultimate Challenge Series of Folkstyle Wrestling" and “Folkstyle Tour of America.”
• Conducts camps and clinics for athletes to enhance their wrestling skills and build strong character.
• Developed TheMat.com to provides coaches and athletes an educational tool that offers in-depth visual aids, both still and live action, demonstrating wrestling technique. The 'live action' wrestling techniques alone are worth the price of membership. This is an invaluable catalog of techniques as used by the best in the world.
• Provides the membership with USA Wrestler, a publication with all the results and highlights of the wrestling season, published six times a year.
• Has contributed financial and human resources to save the sport from extinction by working to change the misinterpretation of Title IX.
• Has the largest and strongest mat and pairings officials association in World.
• Supports real wrestling role models for young athletes to look up to like Cael Sanderson, Rulon Gardner, Henry Cejudo, Kristie Marano and Patricia Miranda.
• Provides many opportunities for female competitors to become involved in the sport and compete in every possible level including the Olympic Games.
• Offers outstanding insurance coverage. The Sports Accident insurance, which is secondary non-duplicating, provides coverage up to $100,000 per benefit period and $1,000,000 lifetime in coverage. A one-time yearly deductible does apply to all covered claims. General liability coverage of $5,000,000 per incident with no general aggregate for club administrators, event directors, volunteers, coaches, state association leaders and officials is included.
• Provides opportunities for young talented athletes to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center with world class athletes and coaches.
• Provides support for U.S. Olympic-caliber athletes to win medals at Olympic and World Championships. Membership in USA Wrestling assists our elite athletes in providing opportunities and resources to train and prepare under the best conditions possible. This is truly important if wrestling expects to survive and thrive in the new world of sports.
• Sponsors the National Team program in all three styles, including full-time professional National Coaches, as well as direct financial support to athletes.
• Provides an array of educational and promotional videotape materials.
• Provides the wrestling community with access to wrestling information through the nation's best amateur wrestling website, TheMat.com.
• Represents the USA in FILA, the international governing body for the sport wrestling worldwide.
• Works to preserve the history of wrestling with support of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and various museums across the country.

I hope this introduces the vast array of programs and opportunities USA Wrestling provides its membership and the public. USA Wrestling is doing so much more than any other organization to develop coaches and athletes of all levels, and in all styles. More importantly, USA Wrestling does more than any other organization to build and strengthen the sport of wrestling.

In addition, USA Wrestling has focused on moving wrestling forward in the United States, with plans for the wrestling community to succeed in a flooded and competitive sports market. When you take the time to look at wrestling organizations nationally, ask this simple question, "does every membership dollar directly funnel back to the sport?" Not being a member of USA Wrestling limits the resources that the National Governing Body has to fight issues that threaten our sport.

USA Wrestling focuses on the mission of promoting wrestling at all age levels. The organization does not divide its energies or loyalties with other sports. Coaches like the legendary Dan Gable, John Smith, Bobby Douglas, J Robinson, Tom Brands, Mark Manning and Greg Strobel, just to name a few, are strong supporters and members of USA Wrestling and its programs. Every year, these coaches and many more visible members of the wrestling community work hand in hand with USA Wrestling to build our sport.

John Smith, Olympic and World Champion and the Oklahoma State University Head Coach, recently said of USA Wrestling, "I could not have been an Olympic Champion without, No. 1, an opportunity. USA Wrestling at the state level and at the National level gave me an opportunity to fulfill that dream to be an Olympic Champion."

Dan Gable, Olympic and World Champion and a World and Olympic Coach, said of USA Wrestling: "USA Wrestling is a comprehensive organization that strives to be the best in supporting beginning kids to the elite senior athletes. USA Wrestling is poised to provide the services and offerings necessary for every coach and athlete to be successful in America's oldest and greatest sport!”

USA Wrestling is an organization composed of 49 state associations with grass roots leaders, coaches, officials, volunteers and parents working to provide opportunities and activities for all levels of membership. It is an organization of Olympians, business men and women, coaches, administrators, armed services and those who truly believe in the sport and what it provides its participants. It is an organization that continues to strive to be the best in the world at every level. Whether it be the kids level, elite level, the novice level or the expert level, USA Wrestling's mission is to provide the services and tools necessary for each individual in their own way to be successful in the sport.

USA Wrestling is also a sport of family, bringing every element and person associated with the sport together. The sport of wrestling becomes a way of life. It is an excellent lifetime activity for health and well being for everyone involved. Within USA Wrestling's program structure, young athletes learn perseverance, determination, goal setting and commitment. Athletes and coaches learn self-discipline and self-control. The "family" is also exemplified when people from all across the country gather at regional and national events rekindling friendships that will last for a lifetime. USA Wrestling is committed to its family and strives everyday to build the ever-growing family of members.

Cael Sanderson, 4x NCAA Champion, World Silver Medalist and one of the greatest wrestlers ever, had this to say about the USA Wrestling programs: "For me, it was a great way to learn to wrestle. For our family, we got to spend time together and travel together. It kept us a very close family."

I hope this begins to provide you with a clearer picture of what USA Wrestling is really about. If our sport is to flourish, it is incumbent upon the wrestling community to coalesce our support and resources. I encourage you to join USA Wrestling and become a member of our wrestling family.

Sincerely,
Stan Dziedzic

Coaches cards will remain the same.

$12 or $21 there are funds being spent that really don't benefit the majority of our members. This is, for the most part, impossible for us to control.

I’m going to go out on a limb (although it seems like a pretty strong branch) and guess that you are aware that $2 is going to be paid to Kathy as compensation for her position as state membership director. There was never any effort to hide this fact – all of the board members were clearly informed about it and I was going to make a special point of calling attention to it at our state body meeting when the fee increase and financials were discussed. Here is the reasoning for adding this stipend.

For the past several years, I have had board members recommend that Kathy should be properly compensated for the vast range of duties which the state imposes on her. Most, if not all, of the other states with our types of numbers pay their staff, but I was resistant. I have always been a volunteer for this organization, whether it was when I was club director, district director, Kids’ state director or now that I am state chairman. That may have been unfair to Kathy, who in some ways just got pulled along for the ride, but she was a good sport and went along with it. A few years ago, the board decided to begin paying her 50 cents per card, which wasn’t much based on the number of hours that she works, but it was a nice honorarium nonetheless.