USA Wrestling
 |
|
| Formation | 1983, originally founded as the United States Wrestling Federation in 1968 |
|---|---|
| Type | amateur wrestling |
| Headquarters | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
|
Membership
|
State wrestling federations, amateur wrestling associations, and individuals ranging from wrestlers, coaches, officials, parents, and devotees of wrestling |
|
Executive Director
|
Rich Bender |
| Website | http://www.themat.com/ |
USA Wrestling (formerly known as the United States Wrestling Federation and as the United States Wrestling Association) is the organization that currently governs freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States. USA Wrestling is also the official representative to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and to United World Wrestling (UWW) and is considered the national governing body of the sport at the amateur level. Their mission statement is, "USA Wrestling, guided by the Olympic Spirit, provides quality opportunities for its members to achieve their full human and athletic potential."
When amateur wrestling, especially freestyle wrestling, gained prominence as an amateur sport after the Civil War, the Amateur Athletic Union first began to regulate it, sponsoring national tournaments and local athletic clubs in amateur wrestling. But collegiate wrestling (particularly in institutions of higher education and secondary schools) began to differ from freestyle wrestling. With the larger crowds drawn to the wrestling matches sponsored by schools than by the Amateur Athletic Union, the AAU's prominence soon gave way to governing bodies such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The decline of amateurism in the United States loosened the AAU's hold over the governance of amateur sports. Yet because the AAU regulated a vast assortment of sports, the collegiate wrestling authorities still had little say about its governance. The lackluster performance of the United States Olympic teams sponsored by the AAU in 1964, and a similar performance by its World Teams the following year, prompted many to call for a national wrestling federation that would challenge the AAU in its regulation of the sport. The efforts were led by Terry McCann, a 1960 Olympic gold medalist who was then stationed at the U.S. Jaycees national office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Myron Roderick, a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1956 and who later became wrestling coach at Oklahoma State University. Supported by such officials as Walter Byers, then the executive director of the NCAA, wrestling officials sought to establish a new national governing organization.
...
Wikipedia