USA Wrestling

USA Wrestling Preseason Nationals, named for late Brian Keck, set for Oct. 30-Nov. 1

USA Wrestling has named its popular Preseason Nationals tournament after the late Brian Keck, who helped create the event and served as its event director for more than a decade.

The 2020 USA Wrestling Brian Keck Memorial Preseason Nationals will return to Hyvee Hall inside the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, October 30 – November 1.

Keck worked with USA Wrestling to found the Preseason Nationals in 2008, a major early season national folkstyle wrestling event for athletes of all ages. The first event was held in Des Moines, then spent nine years in Cedar Falls, Iowa, before returning to Des Moines in 2018. During its 12 years with Keck’s involvement, the competition grew in size and prestige.

Keck tragically passed away at the age 48 during a trip to Mexico in November, 2019.

Continue readingUSA Wrestling Preseason Nationals, named for late Brian Keck, set for Oct. 30-Nov. 1

USA Wrestlings Senior Nationals, featuring nations top Olympic-caliber wrestlers, set for Coralville, Iowa, October 9-11

USA Wrestling has announced that it will host its Senior Nationals, featuring the nation’s top international-style wrestlers, at the new Xtream Arena & GreenState Family Fieldhouse in Coralville, Iowa, October 9-11. The event will highlight competition in the three Olympic disciplines: men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman.

The Iowa City/Coralville region is considered one of the world’s hotbeds for wrestling, and has hosted numerous major USA Wrestling competitions in the past. Think Iowa City, the convention and visitors bureau for the Iowa City/Coralville region, is serving as the local organizing committee.

“USA Wrestling is very excited to again partner with Think Iowa City on another one of our country’s significant wrestling competitions. With their long history of staging some of our sport’s best wrestling events, we are confident that the Senior Nationals will be another one of those awesome experiences for our sport. Obviously, we will work closely with the local organizing committee, the local public health officials and others to insure athlete safety is paramount. We are hopeful that this will be a milestone for our sport as we battle back from this worldwide pandemic,” said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director.

Continue readingUSA Wrestlings Senior Nationals, featuring nations top Olympic-caliber wrestlers, set for Coralville, Iowa, October 9-11

Catching up with Gable Steveson

At 20 years old, Gable Steveson has already accomplished a lot in life. A two-time Cadet World champion and 2017 Junior World champion, Steveson is currently No. 2 on the National Team and a legitimate contender to make the Olympic Team and compete for a medal.

Earlier today, Mike Willis caught up with Gable to discuss a variety of topics including his ever-expanding social media presence and his WWE aspirations. View at teamusa.org

Return to the Mat Guidelines updated to reflect how local health requirements are being instituted

USA Wrestling has updated its “Return to the Mat Guidelines” document, which are guidelines and recommendations for the wrestling community as it makes decisions on a local level regarding when and how to safely resume wrestling activity.

Updated USA Wrestling Return to the Mat Guidelines

The reason for the update is to make the guidelines better align with the ways that state and local governments and public health departments are implementing their requirements concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

The changes appear in the Phase 3 portion of the document (pages 10-14), a period when public health authorities allow small group activities.

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USA Wrestling releases Return to Events Guidelines to help event organizers with planning and operations protocols

USA Wrestling has released the “Return to Events Guidelines” document, which are guidelines and recommendations for the wrestling community as it contemplates holding local- and state-level events, with extensive recommendations on event operations protocol in the current COVID-19 pandemic environment.

The document includes specific chapters on Venue Selection, Government and Medical Expert Adherence, Event Groups, Medical Plan, Infection Mitigation Procedures, Communication, Operational Plan and an Appendix of additional resources.

The Operational Plan is an extensive document that can be downloaded as a pdf, which includes a step-by-step checklist of specific actions that are recommended in a variety of event-related operations. USA Wrestling highly encourages potential event hosts to use both the Return to Events Guidelines and the downloadable Operation Plan during planning and when they are on-site at a wrestling competition.

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USMC Junior and 16U Nationals in Fargo, N.D. cancelled, with focus turned to local, state and regional events

USA Wrestling has announced that the 2020 U.S. Marine Corps Junior and 16U National Championships at the Fargodome on the campus of North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D. has been cancelled.

The competition, recognized as the largest wrestling tournament in the world, had been scheduled for July 17-24.

With input from its state leadership as well as its COVID-19 Special Committees, USA Wrestling believes that this is the responsible thing to do in order to maintain the long term viability of the sport. As has been the case since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the health and safety of USA Wrestling members and the entire wrestling community remains the No. 1 priority for the organization.

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Dream delayed: Tony Nelson continues to prepare for Olympic challenge

This was supposed to be Tony Nelson’s final year as a competitive international wrestler.

And his plan for 2020 was simple: Earn a trip to Toyko as a member of the United States Olympic wrestling team, then retire in a blaze of glory on the Olympic stage.

“My original goal was to be done after this year,” Nelson said. “I have three kids, so that adds a factor to training. I had even given my wife a timeline. And then this happened.”

“This” is the COVID-19 pandemic that has put everyone’s life in stasis. For Nelson, his dreams have been deferred to 2021 as the Olympic Trials, the qualifying events for the U.S. Olympic team that were scheduled for early April, were postponed, as were the Tokyo Olympics.

Nelson, a 2009 graduate of Cambridge-Isanti High School, won two state titles in high school as well as two NCAA titles at the University of Minnesota. Nelson had a 141-18 record with the Bluejackets and was 131-16 with the Golden Gophers. Continue reading at hometownsource.com

USA Wrestling releases Return to the Mat Guidelines to assist wrestling community in making local decisions

USA Wrestling has released the “Return to the Mat Guidelines” document, which are guidelines and recommendations for the wrestling community as it makes decisions on a local level regarding when and how to safely resume wrestling activity.

The document was initially drafted by one of USA Wrestling’s special committees created during the pandemic, the Return to Practice and Competition Committee, which includes medical experts and event operations professionals. It has been reviewed by USA Wrestling’s COVID-19 Advisory Committee, a group of experts who advise the organization on medical, scientific and government matters pertaining to the novel coronavirus.

This document includes recommendations from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and numerous other sources, including public health agencies and other sports organizations.

Continue readingUSA Wrestling releases Return to the Mat Guidelines to assist wrestling community in making local decisions