USA Wrestling And NUWAY

NUWAY is thriving in CA. In less then three months they have 118 clubs registered and have run 20 events. The USAW arm can now focus on the international styles and providing value to its members. It is about time that the leaders of CA Wrestling stepped up and did something to fix the state. I as a parent am thrilled at the prospects of the next six years for my boys. We have been on two team trips and are doing another one in November.

That's the beauty of this all. NUWAY will be focused on our folkstyle needs and USAW will be focused on our international needs. This is the best way for our country to truly get better. And for those who are telling everyone they have to choose between the two, that is just wrong. No one is saying you can't do both. In fact, we should be doing both. What we're saying is though, each organization can focus on one style each. More attention will be given to each style and both will thrive. The very thought that NUWAY states are somehow destroying the Olympic movement is completely ludicrous and coming from people who are being vindictive and have some personal things they may lose from less USAW card sales, like salaries.

To be honest, both organizations can exist in this country if some folks will allow it and really benefit all kids in this country.

These two organizations are wrestling different styles one Folkstyle and one Olympic Style it really only depends on your individual goals.

That was after they deleted several posts and banned numerous people. CA USAW people are moderators of the forum as well.

So if they're trying to stop this event, why do I go to the CA message boards and see the NUWAY Americas Cup Thread "BUMPED" to the top by "TCW" -- the site administrator? Something doesn't check out here. BTW, the only people it seems that are talking trash are the vocal NUWAY side of things. Just a thought.

Perfect example of why USAW needs to be out of the picture now. Today, I was informed CA USAW had NUWAY folks banned from their forum for 3 months because they promoted their America's Cup event in June. CA USAW is apparantly afraid of NUWAY and will try and shut this down by any means necessary. Basically, they've sent the message that rather than use some common sense, they'd rather see CA wrestling crumble at the seams so they can keep their power and stipend. This event is supposed to help benefit Cal-Fullerton and CA wrestling in general and CA USAW wants to shut it down. Wow, is all I have to say. These are the kind of people "leading" our sport? It's time to speak with our wallets folks and get rid of these people once and for all. They only care about themselves, not about wrestling.

Why does there need to be a war? If people choose NUWAY because its a better product and more beneficial to our kids, then let it thrive. Why do USAW people feel the need to bully and berate people into submission? USAW had their opportunity to make wrestling better, they lost their ways so now its time to step aside and let NUWAY concentrate on folkstyle and let USAW concentrate on FR/GR, which is what they are supposed to be doing in the first place.

No amount of threats from the USAW execs can stop a wrestling evolution from occuring.

As CA goes so does USAW. Watch and learn. The worst USAW state organization resides there with largest member base in the country. A buddy in CA told me that they have a bunch of NCAA national champs, and NCAA All Americans on board and if you look at their board all of the top schools on the state are involved. In addition my friend said that all kinds of teams from OR, WA, NV, and AZ go there for the winners so these top programs are already reaching out to border states.

I smell a blood bath here. I was talking with a high up USA guy here the other day and there is real concern. If the west falls your talking about the beginning of a war. I watched Deans video and he seems a little crazy to me, but these NCAA champs and AA's in CA are really causing me to wonder what is driving this. In my state USAW does a good job, but like I said we only have 3000 wrestlers.

I would say the people who are part of the problem are the ones sticking very close to USAW. People I wouldn't really trust with anyones kids. The people who are part of the future and are in this sport for the right reasons, are the ones getting involved with NUWAY.

dumbest post ever

The people I have the most respect for are staying with USAW. The people who I hold in little esteem are going to NUWAY. I have not made up my mind yet, but I find this fact interesting.

Weak? NUWAY Nationals is only in its 2nd year. Wait until more states get involved and you'll see a huge improvement in the coming years.

Yeah, and as far as money goes, the money goes back into the state at the youth through college levels and not into the pockets of a few individuals sitting at the top who really don't give a crap about folkstyle wrestling. Heaven forbid they send the money where it SHOULD be going in the first place.

yeah,

they put money back into kids and into college programs. That is really an alarming investment now, isn't it?

I am glad someone is challenging USAW. Bill DeSanto is right that too many yrs w/o a rival has led to a closed organization who does do anything but charge$$$$$$ the heck out of kids and parents and refs for everything. I surprised USAW doesn't charge us for toilet paper at these events. But don't kid yourself b/c NUWAY has plenty of problems too. NUWAY tournaments have weak competition. Real weak. Kids who didn't place at a USAW state being in the top 3 at both NUWAY state and national tournaments. I see this happen plenty. And NUWAY likes them $$$$$ too, they just send them to different places.

I wonder how long it will take before NUWAY is in every state? I predict in the next 5 yrs.

17000 CA-USAW members
less then 2000 total kids compete in open state greco and freestyle events at youth, cadet, and high school levels

The other 15000 compete in what? Folkstyle only and the 2000 that do wrestle greco and freestyle also wrestle folkstyle
You want wrestling to get stronger use folkstyle revenue to protect folkstyle wrestling and the lower and middle tiers will improve causing more parity. The result of more parity is the elite improve at a faster level due to better average competition
Now what Mr. Bender doesnt want you to know is that if this system were in place then he would have to fire his 17 executives that are allowed to not deliver results in areas such as marketing, sponsorship, fund raising etc due to the trickle up resources from the state.
Oh yeah I know the European style is much more entertaining right? Anyone notice the empty seats at the open? We as a national body need to reform our system and take our destiny in our own hands.
The money grab and ponzi scheme is over boys
There is a NUWAY
http://www.nuwaywrestling.net

USA Wrestling is a great body... but they have gotta change. They allow way to many youth events to be poorly run. I never seen an empty mat at a MYWAY event. But at USA Wrestling local tourneys there are tons of open mats and kids waiting and no bout sheets to be found. Slow pairings and wasting people's time have become the hallmark of any USA Wrestling event at the local or state level.

History lesson. As of the mid-90s, USAW ran fs/gr while schools pretty much ran folkstyle, other than the rare AAU folk tournament. USAW got concerned b/c they saw a hole their armor. USAW thought another rival organization could rise up and fill the void as a national controlling body for folkstyle, and get all that dough. So USAW told all states around 1996 to start offering folk tournaments in addition to fs/gr. Right at that moment, USAW shot itself in the foot without even knowing it!
Well, by the early 2000s the USAW folk tournaments were packet, but the fs/gr competitions were showing lower numbers every year. USAW killed the very foundation it was built upon. Then as fs/gr numbers plummeted in the last 4 years, the economy tanked too. Add to this that USAW local tournaments were taking until 7 p.m. at night to finish and the suicide was nearly complete. Then NUWAY comes along and offers cheap entry fees, quick tournaments where you are home by 1 p.m. So USAW’s cash cow of folk is being abandoned for NUWAY tournaments and USAW effectively killed their own fs/gr bases, so they have little left.

The balkanization of wrestling really concerns me. In Michigan we see the west heavy with folkstyle and the east having more fs/gr tourneys. In Indiana, we see the North heavy with folkstyle (and going to Michigan for folk too) and the south with more fs/gr/fk balance. I think this is dangerous to our future.

My perspective is from the K-12 level of competition in Indiana and Michigan.
NUWAY PROS: Efficient operation; tourneys are quick; costs are inexpensive for both local & national tourneys; no required camps to attend nationals; virtually no down time or empty mats @ tourneys.

NUWAY CONS: Immature organization occasionally leads to lack of command & control; promotes FALSE conclusion that wrestling only folkstyle breeds success; history definitively shows wrestling all three styles (FS/GR/FK) is the path to success; creates a balkanization of wrestling national & locally (Michigan- West vs. East; Indiana- North vs. South).
USAW PROS: Mature organization; strong control keeps people safe from criminals (like bad coaches, child endangers); excellent history of building Olympic medal winners; ties the U.S. wrestling community together.
USAW CONS: Charges fees of an arm & a leg for everything! (i.e., $1,000 to attend Fargo, $75 to wrestle FS/GR at state tourney, $200 to attend state required camp for Fargo); funds Olympic wrestlers on the backs of 10 and 11 year old kids tournament fees; excessive coaches fees ($50 for a coaches card each year, plus requires Bronze Cert. coaches clinic at $75 a pop.); even charges people to be a VOLUNTEER official ($50 per year); if you are a dad who volunteers coach & official and has a son going to state & Fargo add up all the costs above.

we have competed at Nuway for the last 3 years. (which is every year that it has started). The sky is the limit with Nuway. We are from Ohio and wrestle on Ourway which has grown like no other. the growth of these tournaments have doubled each year with the competition that you seek. Nationally tested kids, and with more states jumping on board with Nuway, it will grow and continue to improve with each passing year. I can't wait til next year.

If every state switched over to NUWAY for folkstyle, I think USAW may actually see a huge increase in kids wanting to wrestle freestyle, which makes our olympic movement even better.

Did you host a tourney?

My age and involvement is irrelevant to the conversation. From the beginning of MYWAY, the original purpose of the league was to create a "statewide" competition forum. MMWA did not provide that. MMWA was located pretty much in the I-75 region from Saginaw to I-94, a very inclusive region. MYWAY sought out to create a true state championship, in which they did. NUWAY is using that exact same forumla. Create a true national champion. It will be interesting to see how far they go.

Did you guys know that the Churella brothers didnt start wrestling until 8th grade and was wasnt allowed competetion until high school. Thier reason was, "My dad said we have the best coach. (Mr. Churella) so there really wasnt a need to start wrestling early. We will catch up with competetion will the technique our dad teaches us." So they played other sports. I think one of a big time soccor player before he even touch foot on a mat.

Out of state people dont know what MMWA is anyways. So they really cant comment. It was setup the same way as MYWAY except on a state level. You can give MMWA the credit for developing all the wrestlers that ever AA in Michigan before 2010. MMWA never got credit for not selling out to USA or AAU. In fact them leagues hurted when MMWA was at its best. All the best wrestlers knew the competition was in MMWA.

Brandon Mohr MYWAY wrestling makes a lot more than a asst or head coach at the college level. Pretty sure it makes more money than Michigan State University wrestling prgram as a whole. Brandon Mohr how old are you, and when did you get involve in the sport.

NUWAY is going to be the best thing that has ever happened to our sport.

Amen Anonymous Coward. I notice you post on here alot, quite often contradicting yourself. This time, you got it right. The MYWAY system is accountable.

The bottom line is that NUWAY does exactly what it sets out to do, spends the money where its generated, has a great product for folkstyle wrestling and doesn't shell out large sums just to fatten up the USAW pockets.

What you find along this process is just how much some are in it for the right reasons and others who are in it for themselves. You find our who your friends really are, who can really be trusted and who wants what's best for the entire state and not just their kid. NUWAY, has way of weeding out the corruption that is USAW and its state orgs and gets the REAL people involved with the sport.

I would bet Dave makes about 2X as much as Chandler.

Except for a few programs I do not see college coaches making large sums. That is why I could not blame Cael for going to PSU. That was at least twice as much as anyone I have heard making at college coaching.
I just would not think that an assistant in a non-revenue sport makes more than 40-50K and I am sure many would be glad to get that type of money. I am still amazed at what PSU did.
But I have very little actual knowledge. Maybe those guys are making 60-100K as an assistant. That would be very cool.

I am probably not smart enough to weigh in on this discussion but here it goes. To answer the question, yes, either of these organizations can play a bigger role in growing wrestling at the collegiate level.
As for pros and cons, it does not have to be an either or discussion. This year in North Carolina we successfully merged both systems under a single governing body. I, for one, have seen no degradation in wrestling in our state as a result. I have seen growth, positive growth, in both opportunities and participation. I believe we will continue to see growth. Competition between entities can be a good thing; it can also be very, very bad. Particularly when those entities refuse to compromise, or simply come together to discuss larger issues, which, when it comes down to it, they all share the same fundamental belief. This is the continuing challenge in our state and I have seen glimpses of this at the regional and national level. I am looking forward to June this year when the NCAWA and NCAAUW sit down at the table together to discuss scheduling conflicts. I hope we invite the "wildcat" organizations as well and they join us at the table. We may not all agree on how to do things but, at least on the local and state level, we all really want to accomplish the same thing.

Roger Chandler is the Head Assistant Coach at a Big Ten university. I am sure he is not hurting for money. Dave Dean is an administrator at Lowell High School. I also believe he is not hurting for money.

Both have teaching/coaching jobs that pay well.

Really? Are you serious there are teaching jobs that pay well? Where are you living that teachers are getting paid well?

MYWAY/NUWAY gives kids the opportunities to compete. It is simple as that. They in turn take the money that they make and give it back to the local programs. Right here in Michigan, MYWAY has given money to local universities and also helps with training centers. Dave Dean/Roger Chandler are not in it for the money. Both have teaching/coaching jobs that pay well. They are in it for the kids. I, first hand, have felt the ripple of effect of MYWAY and them helping out kids.

To comment on Dan, I am 100% in agreement with you. I believe that getting kids developed in motor control/coordination and mental toughness is way more important than a state title at the age of 6. The problem is, we don't control what other parents do. Parents will do what they believe is right for their kids. We might not like it, but that is not something we have control over.

I actually agree with you but it is not the faunlt of the organization as much as the parents. They are just trying to get kids exposed to the sport.

And you are very correct about Russia. My daughter who is very driven was in competitive gymnastics until we felt all the benfits had been gained. And her coach is a former Russian National wrestler. He thinks that in the USA we let the kids compete too early. And too intensely.
I guess my point is that as a parent you have to try to use the system and leagues available to best benefit your child. I would say that all youth wrestling coaches stress fun and keeping it fun. It is the parents screaming at their kids that make things really out of control. And I am not sure how you fix that without losing all the benefits.
Hard to argue that money does not play a part. But if Nuway limited the ages then you would have parents lying on Birth Certificates or starting another league.

the problem is much larger than wrestling Dan. By 5th grade many parents have determined if they are going to be hockey players (put that in for you), indoor baseball, lacrosse, soccer, baseball etc. I am in agreement by and large with the development in the younger ages, you need to really have a handle on how much is taken out of the kid mentally.

There are some that think that the government knows how to parent and manage (the liberals) and then there are some that think it is on the parents themselves (conservatives). Just depends on who you are and how much confidence you have in your own ability to parent I suppose.

Sean, the pressure from both organizations is not to do what you described. There is no money in limiting competition for kids who may not be ready yet. This is an unintended consequence of having to fund a large organization, you have to get more and more kids at an earlier and earlier age, and then make it seem like it is the right thing to do. And to Anonymous Coward, I never said anything about wrestling wrecking kids. Early competition promotes bad physical and mental habits that kids sometimes never work out of. Many of the best Russian programs do not start their kids in competition until age 14, and it is not because they can't afford it or don't know what they are doing. We have a more is better, and earlier is better mentality in this country, and we train 6 year olds like they are miniature high school kids because we don't know how to do anything else. How about a little bit of creativity and common sense with our K-3 kids. Is the goal to have a 3rd grade state champion, or to have 3rd graders who are excited about wrestling in 4th grade? As long as these organizations promote state tournaments for 3rd graders, that is what we are going to get.

On to Nuway vs USA wrestling.

The first post I think summed it up best. Nuway is great for local competition and growth of the sport. In Michigan Myway has benefitted the whole State of Michigan way more than MMWA. MMWA is great and I actually prefer how they run the tournaments. But Myway has brought wrestling to every corner of the State.
USA is exactly what they sound like. They are the face of the USA's international Wrestling teams. The do a decent job of pushing Free and Greco. I think the issue is how to get better training and more kids doing the internation styles at a younger age. And I am not really sure how that would be changed. It may be best that the kids who make it through the folkstyle ranks then get educated in Free and Greco. It may serve as a good development system.
I talked to a guy once and I think if USA Wrestling was to take a top down approach to wrestling they should look very closely at USA Gymnastics. I tihnk the model they follow is awesome. All of my kids have been in gymnastic for varying lengths and it is great early development for all sprts and skill levels. I can not think of the program at the moment but they have a talent search and development program that is second to none. Great concept and they also use it to spread the latest in training and goals.

What destroys kids is crappy parents. It is the job of the parent to educate their kids not the schools. And it is the job of the parents to develop their child in athletics and competition at a rate and intensity that will benefit the child the best. I have 4 children. I boy and he wrestles. He is average at best. I do not enter him in many tournaments becasue he is just now starting to understand the level of agression it takes to be successful in competition. But I still have him train and he enjoys the learning. I also have a 9 year old daughter who is extremely agressive and compettitive. I put her in the highest level of competition of the sports she enjoys. While my 8 years old plays house leagues on the least competitive team I can find.

Your job as a parent is to bring each child along at a pace that benefits them the most, NOT what you as a parent envision them at or want them at.

Yeah, Tell 'em like it is Dano! Does that guy know what he is talking about?

DK. Sure, OK. Let's hear about your incredible success rate. To help you out a little, let's remove any kids who started at an early age like the Sanderson brothers, Kolat, the Schlatters etc, as an anomoly.

Good. You go right on believing that, denying statistical reality, and thinking that your kid somehow has an advantage because you paid more tournament entry fees than the parent of another kid. I will keep training the kids who will beat him.

Dan Kurth - I apologize in advance in not reckognizing your authority on this. What wrecks children is dysfunctional parenting, not wresting.

Both of these organizations make their money through memberships and tournaments. The casualty of this war is development, and I mean true development. Competition for 90% of kids younger than 10 is negative and destructive, yet I'm sure I will get hammered for saying that because it is not popular. Kids in grade K-3 should be doing combative games and basic skills related activities that develop in them a love of the combative nature of the sport of wrestling. Instead, we put them out their on the mat after being "trained" by a dad to do headlocks because that is what wins matches at age 6. Why do we do this? Because we are told that if our sons (and now daughters) are not wrestling by age 4, they will never have a shot at being a state champion. And, because there is no money in practices, just tournaments. All things being equal, give me a 12 year old who has never wrestled before, which means that he is not yet technically destroyed, and within 2 years I will make him perform at a much higher level than the kid of equal ability who has been wrestling since age 5. But, as long as there are thousands of dollars being made on tournaments with 8 year olds who will wash out of the sport by Junior High, who really cares what the long term damage to the sport is. Oh, by the way, I'm not talking about my kid. He has "loved" wrestling since age 5 and cannot wait to compete every weekend without complaint. And practice, he would practice 24/7 if we could get into the wrestling room. I mean all of the other kids, cuz my kid is different. Sorry to rain on the parade of all of the debators trying to figure out which organization is destroying kids wrestling futures at a faster pace. I think both of them are doing a bang up job, just look at the money they make.

One example of why USA Wrestling is dying off, is some of the dumb decisions they consistantly make. They move West Jr's and the US Open out of Vegas and the numbers pretty much disappeared. 147 kids wrestled this past weekend in what used to be one of the premier wrestling events. Just another reason why USAW cares nothing about the West Coast and only cares about the Iowa's and Oklahoma St's of our country. I remember hearing a story at Fargo last year, about how John Smith was watching a match and told his buddy, "this is pointless, let's go golfing." Here's one of your premier freestyle athletes and he could care less about freestyle now. WOW

NUWAY is the future and USAW is the past. Let them stick with freestyle and greco and let NUWAY run folkstyle.

how internatioal wrestling before usawrestling was the governer body ?? how was it when AAU ran USA international wrestling ? What made them change it from AAU to USA wrestling ??

I like one comment on here that NUway being the premier grassroots program and Usawrestling should put more focus on jr high and beyond. USawrestling should use some of the youth money they spend every year by funding more regional training spots with top coaches. Usawrestling needs to start paying national team coaches to make sure when you get to the jr. high or high school level that kids are getting proper training than the local youth coaches only can take you so far. The national level needs to fund and put in the best coaches instead of state level.

Look at what has happenned to folkstyle as USA Wrestling has worked to marginalize folkstyle. Every last dollar into the olympic movement. Most of it, raised off of folkstyle youth wrestlers. I think that is what the NUWAY vs USA thing is all about.

what will happen to our international wrestling if USAW is marginalized?

Whats the Big advantages to USAW and NUWAY?

i dont care for the demise of davison because everyone in Michigan know that davison was a mix between Lapeer and goodrich.

Loretts could of let the other side of the state in, but she and the rest of the MMWA adminstration wanted to controll all the money too. The same people been in office in MMWA for more than 25 years. They have no kids involve in the sport and really is not involve in the sport at all. Theyre kids are problably over the age of 30. So what benefit Loretta and the crew from running MMWA ????

I'm blaming NUWAY for the decline of the Eastside of the state. I like NUWAY a lot. I just dont like the idea of NUWAY trying to exterminate MMWA. Nuway also steals teams from MMWA. USAwrestling, NUway, MMWA are all in it just to make money. Dont let them think because they are rebelling against USAwrestling that they dont have the same purpose. I understand that they are a new breed of wrestlers but Nuway is just taking away from one side of the state because of greed.

There is a whole new breed of cats comming out in Michigan and a whole lot of them

You are blaming NUWAY for the decline of Davison? Give us all a break.

(I was there), your right. Its like they wasnt trying to lose a fight to the new guys on the block. Loretta and the rest of board pretty much know they lost the fight now. But Loretta and MMWA deserve some type of credit for developing Michigan wrestling to what it is. Dean is from the Flint area and he has to aleast get that area involve. The Flint area benefited from MMWA. Now the tables are turned and the west part of the state is dominating now. It wasnt even close in competetion like 10 years ago. There were hardly any fargo All Americans that came from the westside of the state. You can blame NUWAY for the regression of Davison wrestling club and the Flint area.

I remeber being at a meeting in Lansing where the MMWA was going to support the people in the central and west part of Michigan in building programs and not just the Flint area. Must have been about 10 years ago now. I remember the woman (Loretta?) from the MMWA board getting up in front of the 200 + people and telling Dave Dean, "Not at this time". I guess people should reconsider when they tell Dave no or at least, think real hard about why and who they are telling no to.

Smitty is Mfume ??? We dont have healthcare problems. One more question ? If we have a universal healthcare system, do we still need to buy a USA card for insurance purposes ??

is Mfume

But i also had a problem with NUWAY trying to trump a successfull league in Michigan called MMWA. It was one of the toughest youth leagues in the Nation. At first the peopole was saying that Dave Dean is all about making money. How many of you heard of MMWA and how successfull was it before NUWAY ? The rise in Michigan All Americans over the years was a direct link to MMWA. Not NUWAY. In a few years NUWAY can start taking credit.

Well NUWAY started this idea from MMWA and it was not sanction by USA or AAU. Dean is making it to a national level for folkstyle kids. These league will delevope stronger high school teams and the parents are able to support their kids future high school team from the start. NUWAY shows more loyalty to the local clubs. When people hear about good Michigan wrestlers that they never hear of before, majority of them wrestlers grew up wrestling MMWA. They been studs there whole life but hardly get any looks because they only wrestle folkstyle and instate. Then when they get to programs like Central Michigan Univeristy, people think that Borrelli got these guys and they started from scracth. NUWAY seems more of a democratic league the USAWrestling trying to dictate everything. NUWAY is new so time will tell, but the most important part for wrestling right now is everybody as a community support every college program in the nation. I'm glad we got rebels in our sport that will revolt from the BIG wrestling league. American as a whole need to do it also. I dont care if you black, white, democrate or replubic, black panther or nazis, we as people has to come together for the common people that makes or great sport work and thats means, YOU.

I'm newer in the game, but very much like USAW, however, realize this isn't a driving support network for collegiate wrestling. To know there is another organization pushing the envelope is very refreshing! Perhaps by the time my program (HS) has some momentum, there will be multiple options for HS kids to wrestle locally in college! D 1 2 3 NAIA..who cares. As long as the sport can gain some momentum at the collegiate level and NUWAY could bolster that for sure! If all the CA College coaches get on board? Lookout! Would LOVE to see Morgan McIntosh stay in CA and start dominating! P.S. Watch out for Stanford, Cal Poly, Fullerton. They keep pulling CA HS talent.

big NUWAY Movement in

Big NUWAY movement starting in CA. I hear all of the major programs are on board and they have a few NCAA champs on there executive board. From what I hear the USA wrestling people are very worried. People in CA are angry and that coupled with the top coaches in the state behind it could really make it spread like a wildfire.

Here in PA or at least in the area I am from, USA wrestling has lost popularity. The PAWF has been under scrutiny for years for how things are run and have lost many of our best kids and club teams which feed USA wrestling at the HS and youth level. PA has never been big in youth freestyle/greco because of our indepth folkstyle programs which have been in place for 3000 years. You start to see a trend or at least did see a trend to freestyle in HS. In 2004 the freestyle/greco state tournament was held at Penn State. The depth and numbers were great - since that time gradually USA wrestling has become less popular in PA. Not that the kids and coaches do not enjoy or see a need to compete in freestyle/greco but becuase of the favoritism and cash cow the PAWF has become. Its a shame do to the opportunities that freestyle/greco with usa wrestling have to offer. Here is what I would be interested in seeing NUWAY do - add a freestyle and greco component to thier organization. Promote opportunities that USA wrestling only could offer but take the overwhelming cost and politics USA wrestling has been able to jam down our throats by being the only girl in town and see what happens. You take the politics and make sense of the where the dollars are going and you'll get an organization that is supported by the people.

I ran a HYWAY club last year and never saw a dime from them.

Nuway is pushing the limits...USA Wrestling is going to have to adjust to keep pace. The problem with USA Wreslting is they are reactionary. NuWay is authentic and will always be ahead of the curve.

Both organizations are noble in their intent to serve wrestling and bring out the best in rising athletes. How they serve their markets, however, seems to be their defining qualities. As a Michigan native, over the past ten years, I have seen an explosion in wrestling at the youth level. New clubs spring up every year. The grass roots approach where program building is predicated upon local desires to organize, creates ownership. Along with promoting folkstyle wrestling at the youth level, MYWA (NUWAY) gives dollars back to the clubs and to the local college wrestling programs. The spirit and objectives of NUWAY is undeniable. Each state has built-up an infrastructure on a need-only basis. Just take a look at the burgeoning NUWAY organization map...If there was not a need for NUWAY it would not be expanding...Just like if whale oil had been good enough Thomas Edison would have been out of a job. NUWAY works because its bottom-up, its like wrestling populism. USA on the other hand has been the coca cola of wrestling. It's the top choice that emits a variety of emotions depending on what your tastes are. If you're a top level athlete is it your lifeblood, if you're a top college athlete its your future, if you're a local wrestling dad chances are you know very little about it. In fact, beyond the national team concept (which NUWAY and the state organizations seem to be building) its hard to find a common youth wrestler involved in our area. This may be a regional phenomenon or even just a state one, but USA seems like the ivory tower of wrestling & competition reserved for the wrestlers that make it through the ranks (at least this a perception held by the average club member). There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, look at most other sports: basketball, baseball, football, mma, etc...They all have a similar local-regional-national set of overlapping, and sometimes competing, organizations. But we are not like those sports, we've become accustom to one governing body and it bothers some people that there is another rival, growing entity. If wrestlers are true elitists, meaning we enjoy the battle to become the best, then why would we get "bent out of shape" over a friendly competition between two honorable organizations? NUWAY is quenching a thirst that was left untended to (as it seems in states like Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, etc.). As far as answering the initial question Joe, USA seems to inspire college athletes to continue and NUWAY inspires youths to begin wrestling. If viability is two things, it is participation numbers and cash. If college wrestling is going make it, we need both...which organization creates the most participation and which is going the most back to help college wrestling?