By Al Bevilacqua
A crisis exists in wrestling.
Wrestling has been under attack since the early 1980’s and has seen hundreds of colleges and high schools eliminate wrestling programs through the misinterpretation of Title IX.
Wrestling has also been unable to rally or defend the tragedy for many reasons some of which are too few participants, fans and financial resources.
Wrestling now has an opportunity to change the direction in America by mainstreaming the sport nationally to every major city, suburb and rural area of wrestlingnation.
The Living the Dream Medal Fund is an opportunity to rally the entire sport of wrestling from Youth through the Olympics.
Mike Novogratz and Dave Barry have asked me to help in driving the medal fund campaign to a successful completion. They will continue to seek corporate contributors as Stewards of the Fund.
Throughout their professional careers, these two individuals have always invested in success. People like to contribute to successful programs that do good things for people.
All they ask from the wrestling community is to give anywhere from $5- $5,000. Each to do whatever is comfortable to get on “THE LIST”.
More importantly is the commitment in helping the fund continue past 2012 expanding investment in all areas of development especially at the grass roots level. It is at that level where the “DREAM” begins!
Our goal is 5,000 wrestling people out of the million or so who have some affinity to the sport as former wrestlers, parents and fans.
As a member of the United States Wrestling Federation and USA Wrestling since 1970, I have served in every capacity within these two organizations.
Wrestling is a transformational activity that helps boys and girls find the passion required that often leads to a healthy and successful life.
The wrestling community, and especially the leadership from the national organizations all the way down to the fans, is being challenged.
Wrestling people have always enjoyed challenges and the sport is at the crossroads facing our biggest challenges yet. Visibility & Acceptance!
Visibility! The vast majority of people in America do not know much about our sport or us.
Acceptance - Many of the mainstream media does not even post the results of our NCAA Championships in their newspapers.
The Living the Dream Medal Fund is not just for our top-level wrestlers; it is for all of us, the collective wrestling community.
The financial reward that will be given to our Olympic Champions represents a commitment that exceeds any other national governing body for winning a Gold Medal in the 2012 London Olympics. That it is truly amazing and I applaud the New York Times for running an article announcing the program!
We have to respond with “action” and we are asking the entire wrestling community to contribute because of what we have asked from these young men and women along the way.
We taught: work hard, be dedicated and fulfill your dreams.
When one of our athletes comes through our system and wins an Olympic Medal, all of us win a little piece of that medal.
These athletes are “all in” because of the entire wrestling community who encouraged and “lit their fire” during their formative years participating in kids, cadet, junior & senior level programs.
Many of us have witnessed, as fans and supporters, their development, admired their dedication, their commitment to excellence and a burning desire to excel on the world stage.
Lives, families and careers are placed on hold to pursue a dream that we all helped by inspiring them. Now they need us! Cheers are not enough – we need to increase the resources in order to find national media outlets and sponsors.
It will not come to be if we are unable to accomplish one simple task,
getting wrestling people on “The LIST.”
If we can get a few thousand names of wrestling people giving to the fund, others outside of wrestling will contribute or sponsor.
It is simply “wrestling people helping wrestling!
The 2009 World Team is being challenged as well. We want more Americans on the award’s podium in Herning, Denmark.
I hope some of you can join me at the Championships. If you have never been to a World Championships, now is the time to come.
"It just shows how close-knit the wrestling community is," said Jake Herbert, the U.S. national champion at 185 pounds and a first-time world team member. "This sport brings all these amazing people together for a great cause. It's everybody helping everybody."
And supporters of the Fund won't be disappointed, Herbert promised.
"We've got a young world team, a hungry group of guys and now there's a huge, huge pot of gold behind that gold medal at the end of the rainbow," he said. "It's going to be a good four-year cycle. We've got a great team, and we're going to do great things."
The Olympic Games captivates the entire world for two weeks every four years.
Who will ever forget Michael Phelps and his quest for 8 Olympic Gold Medals?
The entire wrestling community had one exciting moment to witness Henry Cejudo winning an Olympic Gold Medal.
Unfortunately, it did not appear live on national television. It was shown live on the NBC Universal website for people who awakened early enough in the morning to view it.
Mike and Dave invited Henry to the annual Golden Night Beat the Streets Gala & Benefit as a guest speaker. There was 8 other Olympic Champions invited as well.
He stared at the audience of 500 people who supported the event raising over $500,000 for the New York City program and spoke quite eloquently to the audience. His first words were “I am a Beat the Streets wrestler. I know what it is like to be poor; wrestling saved my life.”
For the 63 men and women who make-up our national teams have lives that are not much better than Henry’s. Most of their support comes from family, part-time coaching jobs and small stipends from USA Wrestling and the nationally recognized clubs in America.
We are asking the wrestling community to contribute because of what we asked from these young men and women along the way. We taught: work hard, be dedicated and fulfill your dreams.
They are “all in” and now they need us. Lives, families and careers are on hold to pursue a dream.
When one of our athletes comes through our system wins an Olympic Gold Medal, we all win.
It is not the amount of the donation. It is the commitment of writing a check, envelope, stamp and mail. Or simply donating online.
Numbers are the name of the game – with huge numbers it speaks volumes to commitment and demonstrates to the "stewards" that what are “all in”.
We are building something good for wrestling and America.
The wrestling community will follow its leadership. People give to people. If you ask friends and families to join you and be on THE LIST they will follow.
Give whatever feels comfortable but please give.