Shawn Johnson, Michael Phelps and Shaun White are all millionaires. Mike Zadick, Dremiel Byers and Kristie Davis are not. All six have worked tirelessly to be the best America has to offer in their respective sports and all have won medals in world championship competition. There’s really only one difference – Johnson, Phelps and White excel at sports embraced by the American television viewing public. Zadick, Byers and Davis wrestle.
No American wrestling in the three international styles is doing so to get rich. They are driven by the competition – by the quest for excellence. To be able to continue their careers they become assistant collegiate coaches, run camps or take on other jobs. The best of the best receive small stipends from USA Wrestling. For many of our wrestlers the lure of potential big earnings in the Mixed Martial Arts octagon is too great and they forego world level freestyle and Greco Roman careers.
Last year USA Wrestling and a small group of wrestling’s biggest supporters – people like Michael Novogratz, Dave Barry, Art Martori and Al Bevilacqua – created the Living the Dream Fund. The concept behind the fund is simple – it’s only right that we financially reward these hard working athletes for success on the world and Olympic stage. Under the plan, world champions will receive a check for $50,000. Silver medallists earn $25,000 and bronze winners receive $15,000. The stakes are higher in the London Olympics in 2012, where a Gold Medal will be worth $250,000, a silver will bring $50,000 and a bronze $25,000. In the program’s first year freestylers Jake Herbert and Tervel Dlagnev, and Greco Roman wrestler, Dremiel Byers, all received checks from the Living the Dream Fund.
It’s wrestling supporting wrestling. We’re not waiting for help from the government or anyone else – you and I and our friends in the wrestling community are doing it. Olympic heroes like Gable, Smith, Sanderson and Baumgartner have donated to the fund. Coaches, wrestlers, wrestling business owners, wrestling media and – yes - you “nameless” denizens of the internet have given to the fund. We’ve made progress, but there is much more to do.
This Friday, August 20th you’ll have the chance to join an elite group – those who step up and act to support the “world’s oldest and greatest sport”. The leaders of the Living the Dream Fund will be holding an online telethon and benefit. You’ll be able to call in your pledges or bid on several auction items including 2 tickets to that big football game in Dallas next February whose name I can’t mention without fear of lawsuit (hint – it will have XLV after the name). Air fare and hotel room are included in that package. The telethon will run from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Mountain Time and will originate from the USOC in Colorado Springs. You can watch on either www.themat.com or www.flowrestling.com.
Special guest will be former University of Missouri All-American wrestler, Greg Warren. Greg is one of the funniest stand up comedians working today and several of his routines feature his days as a Tiger wrestler and being the son of a high school wrestling coach. If you’ve never seen Greg, be prepared to laugh.
If for some reason you have to miss the webcast, just go right now to the Living the Dream site and make your contribution.
Showing posts with label Living the Dream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Living the Dream. Show all posts
Monday, August 16, 2010
Monday, September 21, 2009
Filled with hope
Today is the last day of summer. The transition to autumn has traditionally been a time of hope – hope for a bountiful harvest – hope for the new school year – hope for a winning football team.
The World Championships begin today in Herning, Denmark. Danny Felix, Trent Paulson and Jake Varner will take the mat for the United States first. For me, this is the end of the season. Take heart – the new season is just weeks away. Many of the nation’s top high school wrestlers will compete in the Super 32 Challenge on October 24th at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC. USA Wrestling will hold Preseason Nationals the following week (October 31st) in Cedar Falls, IA at the UNI Dome.
I am filled with hope as we transition from one wrestling season to the next. Here are some things I hope to see in the next 12 months.
More kids on the mat.
Kids have innumerable ways to spend their time. Few options can teach them perseverance, mental toughness and self-reliance like wrestling. Family life is strengthened by any activity that gives an opportunity for parental support – but there just seems to be something extra there within wrestling families. If you don’t believe me just watch a wrestling mom at a tournament.
Success at Cal State Fullerton.
The Cal State Fullerton administration has mandated that the wrestling team become self-supporting. According to coach Dan Hicks they need to raise $200,000 in cash by May 1, 2010 and another $200,000 in pledges by August 1, 2010 to keep the program alive. The National Wrestling Coaches Association is helping by holding the annual college All-Star Classic in the Titan Gym. You can buy tickets to the All-Star Classic or donate to the team at the Save Fullerton Wrestling website.
More intercollegiate wrestling opportunities.
High school wrestling participation continues to grow. However, the opportunities to follow in the footsteps of people like Dr. Norman Borlaug, John Irving and Senator John Chafee – and have wrestling as a part of the college curriculum – are not keeping pace. I hope that there are forward-thinking athletic directors who are considering adding wrestling – both men’s and women’s teams.
Butts in seats.
Nothing demonstrates support like buying a ticket and cheering on your favorite team or wrestler. The upcoming college season may be as excitedly anticipated as any in recent memory. The debuts of heralded freshmen like Jordan Oliver and Tyler Graff, the potential for tight team races in several divisions and the move of Cael Sanderson from Ames to Penn State are all generating a lot of preseason buzz. I hope that interest translates into new attendance records. Come on you PSU fans – can you average 5,000 people a meet?
More support for the Living the Dream Medal Fund.
So far 320 of America’s most avid wrestling fans have donated to the Living the Dream Fund. Designed to keep our best athletes in the sport by offering financial incentives for success, the fund is the brainchild of people like Michael Novogratz and Dave Barry. By this time next year I hope to see 10,000 more names on the contributors list. Click here to add your name today.
Oh – I almost forgot – I’m hoping for a Metcalf/Caldwell rematch, too.
The World Championships begin today in Herning, Denmark. Danny Felix, Trent Paulson and Jake Varner will take the mat for the United States first. For me, this is the end of the season. Take heart – the new season is just weeks away. Many of the nation’s top high school wrestlers will compete in the Super 32 Challenge on October 24th at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC. USA Wrestling will hold Preseason Nationals the following week (October 31st) in Cedar Falls, IA at the UNI Dome.
I am filled with hope as we transition from one wrestling season to the next. Here are some things I hope to see in the next 12 months.
More kids on the mat.
Kids have innumerable ways to spend their time. Few options can teach them perseverance, mental toughness and self-reliance like wrestling. Family life is strengthened by any activity that gives an opportunity for parental support – but there just seems to be something extra there within wrestling families. If you don’t believe me just watch a wrestling mom at a tournament.
Success at Cal State Fullerton.
The Cal State Fullerton administration has mandated that the wrestling team become self-supporting. According to coach Dan Hicks they need to raise $200,000 in cash by May 1, 2010 and another $200,000 in pledges by August 1, 2010 to keep the program alive. The National Wrestling Coaches Association is helping by holding the annual college All-Star Classic in the Titan Gym. You can buy tickets to the All-Star Classic or donate to the team at the Save Fullerton Wrestling website.
More intercollegiate wrestling opportunities.
High school wrestling participation continues to grow. However, the opportunities to follow in the footsteps of people like Dr. Norman Borlaug, John Irving and Senator John Chafee – and have wrestling as a part of the college curriculum – are not keeping pace. I hope that there are forward-thinking athletic directors who are considering adding wrestling – both men’s and women’s teams.
Butts in seats.
Nothing demonstrates support like buying a ticket and cheering on your favorite team or wrestler. The upcoming college season may be as excitedly anticipated as any in recent memory. The debuts of heralded freshmen like Jordan Oliver and Tyler Graff, the potential for tight team races in several divisions and the move of Cael Sanderson from Ames to Penn State are all generating a lot of preseason buzz. I hope that interest translates into new attendance records. Come on you PSU fans – can you average 5,000 people a meet?
More support for the Living the Dream Medal Fund.
So far 320 of America’s most avid wrestling fans have donated to the Living the Dream Fund. Designed to keep our best athletes in the sport by offering financial incentives for success, the fund is the brainchild of people like Michael Novogratz and Dave Barry. By this time next year I hope to see 10,000 more names on the contributors list. Click here to add your name today.
Oh – I almost forgot – I’m hoping for a Metcalf/Caldwell rematch, too.
Monday, August 17, 2009
If Tiger Woods were a wrestler
Y. E. Yang out shot Tiger Woods yesterday to win the PGA Championship. It is the first time in 15 tries that anyone has been able to overtake Woods when he has lead at the beginning of the final round of a “major” championship.
That wasn’t the only news in golf last week. The executive board of the International Olympic Committee recommended the inclusion of golf in the Olympics beginning in 2016. Tiger Woods is leading the charge.
Said Woods, “I think that golf is a truly global sport, and I think it should have been in the Olympics long ago. If it does get in, I think it would be great for golf and especially some of the other smaller countries that are now emerging in golf. I think it’s a great way for them to compete and play and get the exposure that some of these countries aren’t getting.”
The entire IOC council will vote on golf’s inclusion this coming October. Golfing legends like Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam, Arnold Palmer and Lorena Ochoa are joining Woods in lobbying for acceptance. I suspect that companies like Callaway, Titleist and Ping are waiting in line to become Olympic sponsors. American broadcast rights for the 2016 games have not yet been awarded, but I’d guess that the competing networks are salivating over the possibility of four days of air time for Tiger – one of the biggest ratings boosters in all of sports. Millionaire athletes, major corporations and TV networks – does anyone else think that that’s too much influence to ignore?
Wrestling is one of the original Olympic sports. Milo of Croton, who won six Olympic championships between 540 B.C. and 520 B.C., may have been the world’s first superstar athlete. Wrestling continues as an Olympic event today and has had a women’s division since 2004.
It’s almost certain that the first golfers to tee it up for the United States in the Olympic Games will be millionaires. It’s also almost certain that the next American wrestlers to step on the mat in the Olympics will not be.
With a couple of exceptions, American wrestlers toil in relative obscurity. Unless they wrestle at one of the top ten college programs they are accustomed to competing in almost empty arenas and gyms. And they don’t seem to care. Few wrestle for the “glory” of it – and I doubt if any of them expect to be financially rewarded for all of those grueling hours spent “in the room”.
But – shouldn’t they at least expect to make a living while they pursue their Olympic dreams? And more importantly – shouldn’t they be rewarded for excellence? Some of our greatest past Olympians think so. USA Wrestling recently announced the creation of the Living the Dream Medal Fund. Money from the fund will be used to reward those athletes that take on the best in the world and excel. In the upcoming and all future World Championships, American gold medallists will receive $50,000, a silver medal is worth $25,000 and a bronze gets $15,000. Beginning with the 2012 London games, Olympic champions will get $250,000, silver medallists $50,000 and bronze medallists $25,000. Former Olympic champions John Smith, Dan Gable, Bruce Baumgartner and Brandon Slay and former World Champion Zeke Jones are among the first to contribute to the fund. These great champions of the past obviously care about the champions of the future.
As of July 28th, 170 of America’s most ardent wrestling supporters had joined those greats by donating to the fund. Many of the names on the donor list are familiar – they’re people who contribute to wrestling at every level. You may not recognize all of the donors – but you can be sure of one thing – they love wrestling.
Is your name on the list? If not – why not? Don’t you want to see young freestylers like Jake Varner and Dustin Schlatter stay in the sport for a long time? Heavyweight, Dremiel Byers, has represented the US in Greco-Roman competitions around the world for ten years – winning a World Championship in 2002 and a bronze medal in 2007? Doesn’t he deserve your support? And what about the real pioneers – the women? How can you not want to reward an athlete like Deanna Rix who had to learn the sport by wrestling boys – and twice placed in the Michigan boys high school tournament?
Don’t put this off any longer. If you truly love wrestling, go right now to the Living the Dream website and add your name to an elite list.
That wasn’t the only news in golf last week. The executive board of the International Olympic Committee recommended the inclusion of golf in the Olympics beginning in 2016. Tiger Woods is leading the charge.
Said Woods, “I think that golf is a truly global sport, and I think it should have been in the Olympics long ago. If it does get in, I think it would be great for golf and especially some of the other smaller countries that are now emerging in golf. I think it’s a great way for them to compete and play and get the exposure that some of these countries aren’t getting.”
The entire IOC council will vote on golf’s inclusion this coming October. Golfing legends like Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam, Arnold Palmer and Lorena Ochoa are joining Woods in lobbying for acceptance. I suspect that companies like Callaway, Titleist and Ping are waiting in line to become Olympic sponsors. American broadcast rights for the 2016 games have not yet been awarded, but I’d guess that the competing networks are salivating over the possibility of four days of air time for Tiger – one of the biggest ratings boosters in all of sports. Millionaire athletes, major corporations and TV networks – does anyone else think that that’s too much influence to ignore?
Wrestling is one of the original Olympic sports. Milo of Croton, who won six Olympic championships between 540 B.C. and 520 B.C., may have been the world’s first superstar athlete. Wrestling continues as an Olympic event today and has had a women’s division since 2004.
It’s almost certain that the first golfers to tee it up for the United States in the Olympic Games will be millionaires. It’s also almost certain that the next American wrestlers to step on the mat in the Olympics will not be.
With a couple of exceptions, American wrestlers toil in relative obscurity. Unless they wrestle at one of the top ten college programs they are accustomed to competing in almost empty arenas and gyms. And they don’t seem to care. Few wrestle for the “glory” of it – and I doubt if any of them expect to be financially rewarded for all of those grueling hours spent “in the room”.
But – shouldn’t they at least expect to make a living while they pursue their Olympic dreams? And more importantly – shouldn’t they be rewarded for excellence? Some of our greatest past Olympians think so. USA Wrestling recently announced the creation of the Living the Dream Medal Fund. Money from the fund will be used to reward those athletes that take on the best in the world and excel. In the upcoming and all future World Championships, American gold medallists will receive $50,000, a silver medal is worth $25,000 and a bronze gets $15,000. Beginning with the 2012 London games, Olympic champions will get $250,000, silver medallists $50,000 and bronze medallists $25,000. Former Olympic champions John Smith, Dan Gable, Bruce Baumgartner and Brandon Slay and former World Champion Zeke Jones are among the first to contribute to the fund. These great champions of the past obviously care about the champions of the future.
As of July 28th, 170 of America’s most ardent wrestling supporters had joined those greats by donating to the fund. Many of the names on the donor list are familiar – they’re people who contribute to wrestling at every level. You may not recognize all of the donors – but you can be sure of one thing – they love wrestling.
Is your name on the list? If not – why not? Don’t you want to see young freestylers like Jake Varner and Dustin Schlatter stay in the sport for a long time? Heavyweight, Dremiel Byers, has represented the US in Greco-Roman competitions around the world for ten years – winning a World Championship in 2002 and a bronze medal in 2007? Doesn’t he deserve your support? And what about the real pioneers – the women? How can you not want to reward an athlete like Deanna Rix who had to learn the sport by wrestling boys – and twice placed in the Michigan boys high school tournament?
Don’t put this off any longer. If you truly love wrestling, go right now to the Living the Dream website and add your name to an elite list.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Living the Dream
By one account, Michael Phelps has a net worth of $40 - $50 million. Shawn Johnson has gone from Beijing to Dancing With the Stars winner to millionaire. In comparison, fellow Olympic gold medallist, wrestler Henry Cejudo, got a pat on the back and a bag of chips. Oh sure, there were those charming few minutes with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show and a variety of other brief television appearances, but by now – less than a year later – Henry has faded from the minds of the general public. He definitely has not reaped the financial rewards that many other Olympians have.
No youngster takes up wrestling with the thought that it will one day make him or her wealthy. Most kids try the sport because Dad wrestled – or a big brother – or a cousin – or the next door neighbor. When they first step on the mat there are no dreams of Olympic glory either.
Somewhere along the way something seems to happen to a select group of those kids. They fall in love with the sport. Because wrestling teaches you to do so – they set goals – win a kids’ tournament, then a high school state championship - maybe even four or five of them. For some, nothing less than being the best in the world will suffice. So they sacrifice. They train harder than any other elite athletes (as former USA Wrestling resident freestyle coach, Terry Brands, likes to say, “We do things that would make a billy goat puke.”).
They make these sacrifices fully aware that there is no pot of gold – maybe just a couple of round pieces of it – waiting for them. Dan Gable, John Smith, Lee Kemp, Bruce Baumgartner, Tricia Saunders and Cael Sanderson – all were athletes that dominated American wrestling much as Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez and Peyton Manning have dominated their sports.
It would be foolish to think that American wrestlers will ever be compensated like Woods, Rodriguez and Manning. However, an alliance led by USA Wrestling has set out to improve the landscape for our elite wrestlers. Last month they launched the Living the Dream Fund. Starting in 2010 a World Champion will be rewarded with $50,000. Silver medallists will earn $25,000 and bronze medallists will receive $15,000. The group will up the ante for the 2012 London Olympic Games. A gold medal there will be worth $250,000, a silver earns $50,000 and a bronze earns $25,000.
Some of wrestling’s biggest supporters are already on board – Michael Novogratz, Dave Barry and the Martori family, for example. The program is also endorsed by the United States Olympic Committee. But – they can’t do it alone.
It’s a sad fact that far too many members of the wrestling family are willing to sit on the sidelines and watch when challenges arise. How ironic that some people who love this sport and everything it embodies, won’t battle for it!
Then - there are those precious few – God love them. You know them – they have a closet full of tee shirts that say things like “Save Oregon Wrestling”. They give $50 or $100 every time someone in wrestling needs help. It doesn’t matter to them: an ailing wrestler needs help fighting cancer – they’re in; a college team is working to become self-sustaining – they’re in; a high school team needs a new mat – they’re in. If we could only have more of them.
If you’re not already a member of that exclusive fraternity that fights for wrestling – here’s your chance to join. You can donate on line right now to the Living the Dream Fund or send a check to
Living the Dream Fund
C/o USA Wrestling
6155 Lehman Dr
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
I’m in – how about you?
No youngster takes up wrestling with the thought that it will one day make him or her wealthy. Most kids try the sport because Dad wrestled – or a big brother – or a cousin – or the next door neighbor. When they first step on the mat there are no dreams of Olympic glory either.
Somewhere along the way something seems to happen to a select group of those kids. They fall in love with the sport. Because wrestling teaches you to do so – they set goals – win a kids’ tournament, then a high school state championship - maybe even four or five of them. For some, nothing less than being the best in the world will suffice. So they sacrifice. They train harder than any other elite athletes (as former USA Wrestling resident freestyle coach, Terry Brands, likes to say, “We do things that would make a billy goat puke.”).
They make these sacrifices fully aware that there is no pot of gold – maybe just a couple of round pieces of it – waiting for them. Dan Gable, John Smith, Lee Kemp, Bruce Baumgartner, Tricia Saunders and Cael Sanderson – all were athletes that dominated American wrestling much as Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez and Peyton Manning have dominated their sports.
It would be foolish to think that American wrestlers will ever be compensated like Woods, Rodriguez and Manning. However, an alliance led by USA Wrestling has set out to improve the landscape for our elite wrestlers. Last month they launched the Living the Dream Fund. Starting in 2010 a World Champion will be rewarded with $50,000. Silver medallists will earn $25,000 and bronze medallists will receive $15,000. The group will up the ante for the 2012 London Olympic Games. A gold medal there will be worth $250,000, a silver earns $50,000 and a bronze earns $25,000.
Some of wrestling’s biggest supporters are already on board – Michael Novogratz, Dave Barry and the Martori family, for example. The program is also endorsed by the United States Olympic Committee. But – they can’t do it alone.
It’s a sad fact that far too many members of the wrestling family are willing to sit on the sidelines and watch when challenges arise. How ironic that some people who love this sport and everything it embodies, won’t battle for it!
Then - there are those precious few – God love them. You know them – they have a closet full of tee shirts that say things like “Save Oregon Wrestling”. They give $50 or $100 every time someone in wrestling needs help. It doesn’t matter to them: an ailing wrestler needs help fighting cancer – they’re in; a college team is working to become self-sustaining – they’re in; a high school team needs a new mat – they’re in. If we could only have more of them.
If you’re not already a member of that exclusive fraternity that fights for wrestling – here’s your chance to join. You can donate on line right now to the Living the Dream Fund or send a check to
Living the Dream Fund
C/o USA Wrestling
6155 Lehman Dr
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
I’m in – how about you?
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