Last fall there was a lot of talk about haveing a wrestling summit in Nebraska and getting people to work togehter. I'd like to know if anything has really changed or if there is a plan that will finally move wrestling forward in this state.

Every year we have great wrestling or what seems like great wrestling in the high school state tournament. Then things like Cleveland serve as a wake up call. Eventhough we love wrestling in this state we really aren't as tough as we could be.

I think one of our biggest problems is that there are too many competing organizations in this state AAU, Huskerland, USA. But no one really takes the lead, and there are very limited training opportunities for wrestlers at the junior high age and ones that want to train year round.

How can Nebraska do better?

I can only speak for myself on this issue, but here's my take:

There has been a lot of talk and at least three meetings in the last year, but there has been no real discussion and no consensus as to what we should do next. I think we're all in agreement that we should do SOMETHING, but nobody seems to want to stick their neck out.

One thing I have been very disappointed with has been the fact that, of the three statewide organizations, only Huskerland has made any kind of an effort to support NWI and use this magazine as an effective advertising and marketing vehicle for their organization.

Some of that is my fault, as I haven't put as much effort into aggressively seeking advertising as I should. Still, communication is a two-way effort and, in all honesty, there hasn't been much from AAU or USA and both sides of the fence (AAU/USA and NWI) should share the blame with that.

Do we have too many organizations in this state? I don't believe we do, but I think the summit meetings last summer showed that all three CAN coexist. I think there are a number of other issues that need to be discussed...including the NSWCA's future involvement in spring/summer wrestling...and the sooner it is done the better for our wrestlers.

I really dont believe that the number of organizations has that much to do with it... if u just boil it down and look at whant states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey has over us its the Participation in the sport, In a state that tends to be so Football dominated and has about half of the amount of people it is tuff to get a large number of wrestlers. I think a much higher level of advertisement of junior clubs to the general public is imperitive to getting better participation and naterally when u get more athletes into the system the intensity of the sport here is going to go up. Also More clubs in the junior level need to start earlier around the october months and have the availablility of summer wrestle and i believe this also needs to be advertised more. Make sections in the paper about upcoming camps and such and give out handouts at practices a large number of kids are attending.Also the kids should be introduced to the national level more often, This is just my opinion on what it will take to make nebraska one of the higher level wrestling states in the country and also this could have a direct affect on the universities.

Mike I thought you were going to monitor a State wide calender. They only thing close to this is the Huskerland Calender, but it still seperates its (sanctioned tournaments) from the others in the state.

...but I didn't receive dates and information to put it up on the calendar. Again, that's a communication problem on both sides and hopefully we can get that cleared up for the future.

MikeyC why should USA and AAU support NWI Magazine? You sound very selfish. These organizations are putting what money they earn back to the kids not to support your magazine. That brings up another point, it really irks me that you are asking not only these organizations but the kids organizations to buy advertising to support you. These kids organizations are trying to earn money for the kids and you are asking to take a portion of those kids money. I believe the money should go back to the kids not to support you. Find businesses that can actually benefit from your advertising don’t take it away from the kids.

MikeyC, what have YOU done for the kids?

I'll answer the last question first, and I'll answer it with a series of questions: What kind of statewide coverage of wrestling was out there prior to the startup of NWI? How often did you see a wrestling story in the World-Herald before NWI? In fact...outside of the state tourament, how much wrestling PERIOD did you see in the statewide media outlets?

The existence of NWI has been - and continues to be - to publicize and promote the efforts of our wrestlers here in Nebraska. Before NWI, wrestling coverage in the state of Nebraska was, to be quite honest, horrible. Some local newspapers wouldn't walk across the street to cover the local wrestling team. The Omaha TV stations couldn't even spell wrestling (WOWT, to this day, pronounces Zach Stalder's name as "Stadler"). Before NWI, I couldn't walk into a wrestling tournament without hearing at least a half-dozen people A- thank me for being there to cover the event and B- get off a complaint about how horrible wrestling coverage is in Nebraska.

Now, in order for NWI to exist, it requires a financial commitment. Not being made of money, I have two alternatives: A- charge subscriptions or B- call on those interested and involved in wrestling - from local businesses to clubs - to advertise. (And if things don't turn around in the economy soon, I am seriously considering doing both.)

Advertising can be looked upon in two ways, I believe: promoting your business, club or organization OR supporting those who support wrestling. A number of the clubs and businesses who have sponsored ads in NWI look upon their sponsor ads as the latter and have been very generous in their support, and I can't thank them enough.

There's an old saying that you have to spend money to make it, and a number of clubs that have sponsored state tournament bracket ads PROMOTING their club tournaments have used this opportunity, hopefully, to bring in more bodies that may not otherwise have shown up to their tournaments. Would it not make sense to spend $100 in advertising that will generate an additional $200 in entry fees?

The economy is a struggle for all of us right now, and we're all having to pinch pennies to make ends meet. But I can tell you that I can no longer continue NWI in what has been, for the most part, a self-funded venture. What revenue that has been generated has gone back into the magazine, and I will support those businesses, clubs and organizations that support NWI. Those organizations that support NWI will, in all likelihood, be better publicized in the future.

I don't want to pull the plug on NWI. I think we can all agree that the magazine has done wonders for wrestling coverage in Nebraska, and that is an accomplishment that is due in no small part to the coaches, wrestlers, parents and fans out there who download the magazine, print it out and keep it in their scrapbooks. But I can't do it alone, and I realize that it takes all of our efforts to make it happen.

I'm not saying that NWI is the end-all of media coverage of wrestling. But I'll end this long-winded response with this thought: if you want to go back to the way it WAS, then don't support NWI.

MikeyC you need a lesson on how to deal with people especially people you hope to sell advertisements to in the future. You come on this forum banging people and expect them to turn around and buy advertisements from you? Especially when you admitted yourself that you have not put much effort in selling to those people. Maybe USA and AAU are not familiar with what benefits you have to offer. A good salesperson will go to those people and show them how they can BENEFIT from advertising with you. Not publicly voice your disappointment for not receiving their “support” and threaten to quit covering them if they do not “support” you. You Gestapo tactics do not work in sales but will only kill your sales.

Another thing, you start narrowing who you cover, you start narrowing your readership, which narrows the potential advertisers and reduces the benefits of the current ads which results in current advertisers reducing or eliminating there ads all together. You cut your own throat.

I also notice how you bang on others opinions and I am not the only one who notices. Yes you have every right to your opinion and the right to express it but you don’t have the right to berate people for theirs and call them a-holes and other names. I used to respect you when you first came out with NWI but I lost a lot of that respect with your comments on this forum. I still think you have a great product and thank you for it, just lost some respect.

Thank you, Col. Klink, for your comments. Your comments are certainly things for me to think about as I plan for the future of NWI (which, I hope, is a long and prosperous one for all involved).

As far as others' opinions go...being a champion of the First Amendment, I certainly respect others' rights to speak freely, and hope that those individuals respect my rights to argue against their points as they have with mine. That's what makes our nation the great nation that it is...the ability for us to speak our minds and, if all else fails, peacefully agree to disagree.

In Iraq...the dissenting party would no longer be arguing ANY points, as they would have been target practice for the Republican Guard. I don't know about you, but I would hope that I wouldn't be the dissenting party in this case. There's something about bullets entering my body that just doesn't sound all that appealing.

As far as the a-hole card goes, there's only one individual that I recall having tagged with that moniker, and while I regret having lowered myself to his level, you will notice in posts since then that my tone has been much different.

Hi guys,

The summit stuff is not over yet. I would like to have a third summit at State Freestyle this year to further develop the ideas that are on the table. I think we can have it in the same room at UNK. I think Mike C. could help get the word out. I hope that Ross can be there and that we can get input from more people than ever.

We are on the edge of putting wrestling in Nebraska in an order that will work. However, it cannot be the efforts of the few that get it done. I know that it will take us all to get organized in a way to be the most efficient. If we want to be like Kansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and such, we have to have a pattern and then we have to have cooperation from the wrestling faithful.

For right now, we have started a pilot training site in Omaha, and there is another in GI. We want to make this grow into something big and worthwhile.

Funding is a problem now and will be in the future. I want to make funding somewhat of a priority so that kids have a cost effective way to wrestle and that our coaches get taken care of. Huskerland cannot foot the entire bill for it all. Right now AAU and USA both struggle financially, but that doesn't mean that they don't work hard to contribute. The NSWCA does not fund (very much) off-season National Wrestling for our scholastics. By that I mean, Huskerland threw out 15 grand in actual financial aide, and I think the NSWCA had less than 1 G, but I might be wrong.

I tried to work with the NSWCA on a plan that would help in the funding area, but it has fallen on deaf ears (so to speak). So, unless someone else wants to work that arena, I will not.

There is much more to say, and not a lot of room to write, so I hope this gets some dialogue started. Oh, and by the way, Mike, NOBODY sticking their necks out?????? Mine is nearly gone after the battle with the NSWCA!

I didn't think it was your NECK that took the beating with the NSWCA.

Did you get my e-mail in response to the one you sent out last week? If so, give me a jingle so we can do something for the next issue.

The Summit as it is called has accomplished things that has improved or put wheels into motion to improve wrestling in the state of Nebraska. You cannot expect to see drastic changes immediately. While there have been some changes as a result of the Summits, some of the goals has yet to be accomplished.

The major accomplishment has been the bringing together of the three major organizations in Nebraska. In the past, the three organizations did their own things not because of egos but because they just ran their organizations as they felt they needed without considering the others. What this Summit did is bring them together and help them understand that it would be beneficial to each other and more importantly to all the kids in Nebraska if they worked together as much as possible. Each organization has its own strengths and weaknesses; working together they cover all the wrestling needs in the state of Nebraska. Some examples of the organizations working together are as listed below.

AAU and USA have been supporting teams for many years to travel to several different national events. AAU and USA have financially supported as many events as their finances would allow. Recently Huskerland stepped up to help with additional financial support to increase the number of national events the kids may attend by sponsoring both AAU and USA teams in the past. The three organizations in Nebraska have worked out their major event schedules so that they are not interfering with each other.

One topic brought up at the Summit was training sites. A training site was started at Millard South and from what I hear Grand Island. Anyone in the western, northern, or southern part of Nebraska that is willing to host a training site is encouraged to step up and find out how to get one started. These sites are for kids at all ages and for kids that want to continue in the off season.

Another major topic of the Summit was to create a one card system for the state of Nebraska. Unless you truly understand why these organizations carry the cards, their purpose, and that two of the organizations are required to follow the national organizations guidelines; you will not understand how difficult it is to create a one card system in Nebraska. There has been much discussion on this matter and a proposal put on the table on how to accomplish this. Since the majority of the people attending the Summit are coaches, once the season started these discussions were put on hold. While the one card system in theory sounds great, in order to bring it to reality will take a commitment by many clubs across the state and time commitment by some individuals outside the coaching profession. The coaches can be part of but cannot operate the organization in a way that it can be successful; there is too much time commitment in some areas. Coaches should coach and not overburden themselves with other commitments or else their kids may suffer. Just ask Frank Solich why he gave up the offensive coordinators position.

One of the last major topics was the calendar. The timing was not great because the decision was made close to the beginning of the high school season so getting the word out and getting people to respond was difficult. Maybe next season we will have more success on the calendar.

As far as the number of organizations, I do not see any problems with having the three organizations. They have all been working together recently and all fit different needs for all the different types and levels of kids in Nebraska. Right now as I see it Huskerland fits the needs of kids from the beginners to intermediate, AAU fits the needs of the intermediate to elite, and USA fits the needs of the intermediate to elite with a little more emphasis on elite. With the majority of the kids falling in the Huskerland category, Huskerland has more financial ability but lacks the national opportunities. AAU and USA have more national opportunities but do not have the funds that Huskerland has to offer. This is where they have really begun working together.

With all this being said, I would have to respectfully disagree with you Mike that no one has stuck their neck out (especially grapplinman) to do something because things have been done and are being done, it just takes time.

Well said Badger. I can't say it any better, you have said it all. Mike we have all tried to move on these items but it just takes time.

Awesome reply by Badger!

The key issue is time and we have to be patient about our advancement. Nebraska has a lot of logistics to work out in order to get things accomplished. However, I feel confident that we can get together for the benefit of our wrestlers and for Nebraska wrestling.

Right now I am working on the financial budget for wrestling this off-season. I can only tell you that to date Huskerland has put about 2500 into the middle School Nationals dual team that earned 3rd place. We also have put over $1000 in sending coaches with the Senior Nationals team. We are also renewing our commitment to the Disney duals by funding entry fees. All total, we are looking at putting $15000 into wrestling for Nebraska.

I had hoped to get the Coaches Association (NSWCA) aboard as a part of the wrestling movement, but have had little success. Basically, the NSWCA has nearly $25,000 but spends little of this money to support wrestling on the National scene. This could be a powerful source of HELP for our kids and coaches. I don't think, under the present regime that we can tap into this resource unless coaches at the high school level are willing to make their thoughts known to the NSWCA board.

I think we can work in the areas of the calendar, the unified card payment system, wrestler training programs, coaching programs, and other important areas in the near future. The next summit might point us in the direction of what is doable in the upcoming year and what is not. I think it is worthwhile to interested individuals to attend any and all summit meetings. Every voice is a voice that can and will be heard.

Any criticism of this post can do directly to Dennis Miller since he likes that kind of stuff! (what is it April 1?)

According to the Constitution of the NSWCA found at http://www.nswca.com/constitution.pdf

ARTICLE I
Name and Purpose
Section 1. The name of this association shall be the Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches
Association.
Section 2. The purpose of this association shall be to stimulate and promote the growth of wrestling
and officiating at all levels, promote sportsmanship and friendly understanding among
coaches, officials, and wrestlers and to assist the NSAA whenever a professional voice
concerning wrestling is needed.

It appears to me that they are unwilling to follow their stated purpose. How does helping to fund national teams not "stimulate and promote the growth of wrestling"?

Here is a list of the board members to contact regarding this issue.

http://www.nswca.com/board.htm

RR

I have dealt with this group before. Personally, I think that as long as Sheryl Barry is involved, the group will go nowhere. I know Dens has tried to get this group to ante up. He's been snubbed every step of the way. The only way that the NSWCA can live by their own constitution is if all the coaches let the board members know what they want. Still, I think Barry will thwart any efforts. She basically IS the organization. She wants no part of wrestling growth. I'm not a member or a coach, but I would say that people wanting change should raise the roof with these people or boycott them.

Red Rocker, I made the above post from Dru's login earlier this morning, inadvertantly of course. Can you switch it to my login? If not, please simply delete it entirely. I can always repost under my own login.

Personally I sense there has already been huge advancement as a result of the initial Summit meetings. Any underlying animosities previously felt, sometimes also said, between the 3 wrestling groups were openly addressed just by meeting with each other and agreeing that each had the same goal. I believe the majority of the wrestling community can already ' feel ' the difference here in Nebraska. I believe it will take years to work out all the dynamics of cooperation between these groups, but I suggest that is a positive thing; forcing further improvement year after year in a controlled and organized manner. From my point of view it seems the biggest immediate hurdle is financing and I don't mean just for elite wrestling team travel. The wrestling community has taken coaches for granted forever, assuming their love for wrestling will translate into untold volunteer hours in the offseason. Parents can volunteer all they want but there are very few that can actually be deemed a qualified coach/teacher of the art of wrestling. I could go on and on citing specifics of how I feel Nebraska wrestling has ' jumped ' forward and upward in just this past year. The critics need to exercise some patience and give some credit to the distance already gained, bring further positives to the table and be a part of what's coming. The public doesn't really know all the principals involved nor do they have any idea of the time and effort it takes. Just the proverbial tip of the iceberg has been seen in just the last 2 or 3 years, the gigantic one year leap in media coverage is proof.

[This message was edited by Red Rocker on April 01, 2003 at 08:30 PM.]

I couldn't change the login name so I copied and pasted it under "TK by RR"

RR

Some questions about the NSWCA

1. Where in the constitution does it say that there is an "Executive Director". I only saw "Executive Secretary-treasurer" then in several places on the web-site saw Sheryl Barry was called the "Executive Director". Is she the one who runs the show instead of the coaches who make up the membership?

2. Is this a non-profit organization? If so what are they doing with $25,000?

3. What were the reasons given for not wanting to support teams?