Namwen,

Stan Dziedzic’s article was specifically designed to highlight the advantages of USAW over other groups, including AAU. Many of the items that he hit on dealt with the advantages of belonging to an organization that is entirely devoted to wrestling, with all of the funds going towards that end. AAU cannot claim this. He also emphasized USAW’s unique position as the national governing body for wrestling, giving it both the obligation and the opportunity to manage our national teams. AAU cannot claim this. AAU does provide insurance and event sanctions roughly on par with what USAW offers.

Concerning USAW's perceived ambivalence over the affect of card price increases on its members, I would note that USAW has not increased the cost of their competitors’ cards in nine years. During that time period, inflation has eroded the value of the dollar by 20% (based on the CPI as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics). While all of their costs were being affected by inflation, USAW has held the line on competitor card increases for almost a decade!

Finally, I would emphasize that after the card increase USAW will only collect $21 from each competitor card, with the balance staying in our state to fund our operations. The comparison with an AAU card should begin from that level.