NCAA championship and networking event bring wrestling community together
Emotion, anxiety, excitement and enthusiasm rippled through the walls of Madison Square Garden on the last day of the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championship as the final group of athletes competed for a national title in front of a crowd of over 18,000 people.
While only ten individual competitors left as national champions last weekend, former wrestler and business CEO John Bardis said the NCAA tournament brought the community together and represented more than a simple athletic competition. Bardis said that he hopes the popularity of this year’s tournament will inspire an even greater interest in the sport leading up to the Olympic Games this summer, as the champions in each of the ten weight classes earned a chance to compete at the 2016 Olympic Trials in Iowa City next month.
“I think it verifies and underscores the reality of what it means that so many people know and love the sport, and they’re willing to travel anywhere including a busy, great city like New York to show their love of the sport and what it means for them and what it’s done for them,” Bardis said.
Just before the final round of the tournament, Bardis spoke at a wrestling networking event hosted by the Wrestlers in Business Network and the National Wrestling Coaches Association, and he emphasized the importance of unity among supporters of the sport in an interview before his public address. Bardis praised WIBN and USA wrestling for coming together to support the young athletes in the professional world.
Wrestlers in Business Network includes over 16,000 members, ranging from athletes to coaches to families, and the organization strives to connect its members with one another across the country. The networking group centers its efforts on “supporting current and former wrestlers and the sport,” according to its website, and Bardis said WIBN plays a major role in helping wrestlers meet each other and celebrate their success. WIBN hosts events throughout the year and its next event will include a presentation from former Olympic champion Dan Gable.
“For many years, we’ve had wrestlers go on in public service or business or education and do great things, and we’ve never had affinity groups where we could draw back to each other through our common bond with the sport to find what we might do together to benefit not only the sport, but our country,” Bardis said. “So that to me, that’s what this is about. It’s about engaging with the wrestling community through our common experience and finding ways to serve our community.”
According to James Ravannack, the president of USA Wrestling, support from Wrestlers in Business Network and events like the NCAA Championships will help build a stronger Olympic team and encourage young men and women to embraced wrestling as a sport that builds lifelong character.
“Having a tournament in Madison Square Garden, it’s just the hub of the whole world, it’s just a great venue,” Ravannack said. “Wrestlers in Business Network and the things that we are doing altogether between USA Wrestling, everyone combining and helping fund things further, you know, my task is to get the world an Olympic team, and these guys are standing behind us to help us hold events, and especially educating our younger kids.”
Teague Moore, the head coach of American University and a member of the Washington, D.C. WIBN chapter, said the experience of coaching his athletes at the tournament this year reminded him of the bond that all of the athletes share and the power of the wrestling community for competition, promotion and support. A former University Freestyle World champion himself, Moore understands the international level of the sport and said sometimes the closeness within the wrestling community inspires athletes to compete harder.
“You get back in these tunnels and it’s AU alumni, it’s people that you’ve wrestled with in college, it’s people that you’ve coached with in prior programs. It’s an extremely tight-knit group. It is not a six-degree of separation, it is one degree of separation from the guy that’s sitting across from you in the group,” Moore said. “So, I think that sometimes fuels the fire and the passions, but it’s good. Now that we can capture and show it to the world, I think people can appreciate what these young men do and how the sport grows people.”
Moore brought three athletes to the tournament to represent American University, including David Terao, a senior who finished fourth at the tournament to a standing ovation in what Moore describes as a historic career finish.
“I would be willing to bet that in the history of the NCAA, he might be the only fourth-placer that ever got a standing ovation, and I think that just shows his heart, and I think that shows his commitment and his passion, and these people appreciate that,” Moore said.
For Rick Dellagatta, former wrestler and president of the US Consulting Group, the excitement of the crowd at Madison Square Garden, the passion of the athletes wrestling in each of the matches and the high attendance at the WIBN event showcased the growing popularity of wrestling across the nation.
“It’s becoming more of a mainstream sport,” Dellagatta said. “I’m excited to be here. Madison Square Garden sold out, fans going crazy, everybody is starting to see how important our sport is for our young people. Our sport teaches discipline and teaches honor, it’s a great sport for america’s youth, it’s a very difficult sport too.”
Shannon Scovel is a junior journalism student at American University where she serves as the Editor-in-Chief of her student newspaper, The Eagle. Originally from Cary, North Carolina, Shannon has a passion for sports and previously worked as a correspondent for the Raleigh News and Observer and USA Today College.
