Hello Everyone,
Today I'm all over the place- I apologize in advance. I didn't realize all that Mark was juggling, he kept a lot compartmentalized. Overwhelming is an understatement, so thank you all for helping me through this past first month. I value your thoughts and appreciate all the work you are doing!
1. The following link contains Nationals and Duals separation criteria, policies and qualifying procedures for 2022:
Note F. and G.
We will be taking 4 per weight class, per style, per age division- I'm proposing 3 from State and 1 from the last chance. Note that team limits do not affect the girls.
2. It's time to start pushing the recruiting showcases and qualifiers -personally I'm all about Greco and Freestyle at this point but the transition from folkstyle may allow us to capture more members and hopefully encourage kids to get full use out of their cards. During the State Chairs call, the push from USAW was to get State Champs involved! They have already qualified.
On the membership side, the reality is, for 2021-22 Missouri has 10,000 memberships, Kansas 12,000 and we are nearing 3000 right now. Start encouraging your athletes to purchase memberships. I think this is a somewhat normal trend for Iowa, as our kids make the transition from folkstyle.
Here is the Recruiting Showcase info and their qualifiers again:
Boys in Cedar Falls
https://usawrestlingevents.com/event/2200002302
Girls: in Vegas
https://usawrestlingevents.com/event/2200002502
Nearest Qualifiers: Kansas City MO; Milwaukee, WI
3. Currently there are 31 participants signed up for the March 5th, Wrestling Leaders Clinic at SEP. Keith Massey has added a clinic at Powerhouse in Council Bluffs on March 12th and Michael Doyle is interested in having one in Independence on March 27th.
4. Removed.
5. Use social media accounts to direct people to our website and information. We must improve our communication to the membership.
6. All USA Club Board Members should be members of USA Wrestling and need to be SafeSport certified. 1/1/2022 was the date to be in compliance.
7. USA Wrestling will be sending some best practices for State Team Travel in the near future. These will include clearly defined expectations for behavior, codes of conduct for anyone responsible for or in charge of children. Head Coaches will need to assign rotations of duties to staff and this should be communicated to parents- athletes should always have supervision while under our care.
9. From SafeSport: We are all mandatory reporters. If you hear it, you have to report it, even if you think 10 other people already have. Failure to report is serious. Make sure to get something on file that you reported the incident.
10. Frank Popolizio is running the Journeyman World Classic in Troy, NY. First time bringing Foreign athletes on US soil (20 countries, 135 boys and girls) without requiring the $120 UWW License for US Competitors. There will be 4-5 tournament matches for everyone, plus duals and a camp. Competitors will be World Level to Novice and everything in between. Dual Tournament is April 9-10, Juniors, Middle school, and girls divisions. Marketed as a duals event but must participate in the round robin tournament on the 11th.
Here is the link with more info:
My Brags:
Quite a few of you had great championship seasons during February. Mark Reiland set the example that if you give your kids opportunities against the top competition from around the country, they will rise to the occasion during the IHSAA State Tournaments. I know a lot of coaches work really hard but no one traveled more than Mark. He laid the blueprint for all to follow.
Class 3A-
Coach Eric Whitcome, Scheduling Director Brett Wheelan and W-SR won the State Duals and placed 3rd in Traditional with three state champions and 9 place winners.
Coach Jake Agnitsch and SEP won the Traditional Title and finished runner up in Duals, with one state champion and 9 place winners.
Class 2A-
Coach Jeff Voss (long time tournament host) and West Delaware won the State Duals for the 4th straight year. They also finished 3rd at the traditional with one state champion and 6 place winners..
Coach Michael Doyle (Board Secretary,) Keith Donnelly (Fundraising Director) and Independence finished 2nd at the State Duals.
Coach Brent Jennings ( Junior Director,) Coach Thatcher Goodale, and Osage Finished 2nd in traditional, 1/2 point behind Former IA/USAW Coach Bill Plein and WBND. Osage crowned two state champions and had 7 wrestlers place. They also finished 3rd at the State Duals!
Class 1A-
Longtime Coach Brad Smith, former coaches Dean Happel, Brian Hall and Lisbon finished as Runner up at both the State Duals and Traditional. The Lions had two champions and 8 place winners.
Asst. Coach Jeff Ziegler (Kids Director) and Underwood finished in 4th at the Traditional with 5 state place winners and two state champions.
How about the commentary for the IHSAA State Tournament from our Cadet Director, Dustin Roland? I heard nothing but great comments on the outstanding job you did. Dustin provided some great insight, well done! Thanks for heading our uniform package committee as well. I look forward to hearing the results.
Best of luck to all of our college coaches in the upcoming weeks at your national tournaments and or qualifiers.
Being a spectator now makes me appreciate all that our coaches and board members do for our membership. There is a direct correlation between involvement in our organization and results. So many of the kids that "made the stand" spend their time wrestling Greco and Freestyle in the spring and summer and that is a direct reflection of your leadership. Congratulations and Thank You!