There were many great stories from this year's US freestyle and women's teams at the 2017 world championships.
The american greco-roman team however, was not included on that same list of fond memories in Paris.
Coach Lindland and his staff have the next 3 years to try and solve this puzzle before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Just one area that pops up is the current feeder system for GR athletes as well as available GR specific RTC venues.
Retention of the top 3 athletes placing at the FARGO NATIONALS in each weight class from 2010-2014 is almost at zero!
A recent bright spot was Cohlton Schultz winning the 2017 Cadet Greco-Roman world title (100kg) in Athens, Greece.
Also most of the BETTER WRESTLERS have chosen to wrestle collegiately then transition into freestyle & forego GR all together.
(see attached files)
USA Greco evaluating breakdowns in Paris
PARIS — Robby Smith has had enough of this (bleep).
He’s tired of the fruitless pursuit of a World medal. He’s tired of the criticism he knows is coming after USA Wrestling’s Greco-Roman squad struck out in Paris. He’s tired of doing tournament wrap-up interviews when there’s still medal matches to wrestle.
“I’m tired of doing this bull (bleep),” Smith said in perhaps the most polite way possible Tuesday. “I’d rather be asked and talked to after I win a medal. It’s not fun doing this right now, honestly.”
Indeed, Tuesday wasn’t a blast for those associated with the American Greco program. Neither was Monday. For that matter, there an abundance of fun since 2007 when the Americans hoisted the team title trophy.
In past decade, the United States has collected three World-level medals — Dremiel Byers’ silver in 2009 and a pair of bronzes from Andy Bisek in 2014 and 2015. That’s it.
There’s no sugarcoating what transpired the past two days inside AccorHotels Arena. The Americans went 5-9 in matches and all eight got bounced before the quarterfinals.
“It looks bad on paper, but I know my guys tried hard,” Smith said. “That’s what really hurts me, because we’re going to get blown up — Greco didn’t win another medal. But everyone on this team is an awesome, awesome human being and we worked our asses off. We had a camp that was harder than (bleep) from Hungary all the way up to this place and everyone did it. … People were going through (bleep), but we pulled together and came here.
“I know it’s going to be blown up and people are going to get on our (bleep) and say Greco did it again, but they can go you know what to themselves.”
Nobody should question the character of this Greco squad. It’s an unusual mix with some tremendously compelling stories. Ildar Hafizov won a Green Card lottery and moved to the United States after making four World and Olympic squads for Uzbekistan. Cheney Haight came out of retirement three years ago and made his second World Team at the age of 32.
Ellis Coleman and Ben Provisor bounced back from injuries, each reviving his career after national stardom in their younger years.
G’Angelo Hancock nearly gave up wrestling all together at the age of 16 when he was helping his family scrape by and four years later has become one of the bright, young stars giving the Greco program hope for a better tomorrow. World Team rookie Mason Manville is part of that group, too, and USA Greco coach Matt Lindland sees World medals in Pat Smith’s future.
Then there’s Smith, a member of the past five World and Olympic squads. He wore out his opponent so badly two years ago in the World bronze medal match that he — not the victorious Russian — celebrated afterward.
That type of fight is what Lindland wanted to see across the board in Paris.
“Getting your ass kicked at the World Championships,” Lindland said, “hopefully these guys are suffering a little bit, because that pain should burn inside of them and they should feel that and it should light a fire underneath them, so they’re going to get off their ass and fight a little bit next time.”
If this doesn’t ignite a change, Lindland thinks a crop of rising young stars will. In addition to Hancock and Manville, there’s Kamal Bey, the ultra-entertaining Illinois native who earlier this month became the first American to win a Junior World Greco title in 18 years, and Cohlton Schultz, who made the Cadet and Junior World Teams and has shown well against Senior-level training partners.
“Either you’re going to step up and fight this young man,” Lindland said, “or he’s going to take your spot — one of the two. Either way, we’re going to have a warrior who’s going to step out on the mat at the World Championships and he’s going to fight. And that’s what I’m looking for.”
USA Wrestling Senior Greco.docx
JNC2010-2014.docx
There were many great stories from this year's US freestyle and women's teams at the 2017 world championships. The american greco-roman team however, was not included on that same list of fond memories in Paris. Coach Lindland and his staff have the next 3 years to try and solve this puzzle before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Just one area that pops up is the current feeder system for GR athletes as well as available GR specific RTC venues. Retention of the top 3 athletes placing at the FARGO NATIONALS in each weight class from 2010-2014 is almost at zero! A recent bright spot was Cohlton Schultz winning the 2017 Cadet Greco-Roman world title (100kg) in Athens, Greece. Also most of the BETTER WRESTLERS have chosen to wrestle collegiately then transition into freestyle & forego GR all together. (see attached files) USA Greco evaluating breakdowns in Paris PARIS — Robby Smith has had enough of this (bleep). He’s tired of the fruitless pursuit of a World medal. He’s tired of the criticism he knows is coming after USA Wrestling’s Greco-Roman squad struck out in Paris. He’s tired of doing tournament wrap-up interviews when there’s still medal matches to wrestle. “I’m tired of doing this bull (bleep),” Smith said in perhaps the most polite way possible Tuesday. “I’d rather be asked and talked to after I win a medal. It’s not fun doing this right now, honestly.” Indeed, Tuesday wasn’t a blast for those associated with the American Greco program. Neither was Monday. For that matter, there an abundance of fun since 2007 when the Americans hoisted the team title trophy. In past decade, the United States has collected three World-level medals — Dremiel Byers’ silver in 2009 and a pair of bronzes from Andy Bisek in 2014 and 2015. That’s it. There’s no sugarcoating what transpired the past two days inside AccorHotels Arena. The Americans went 5-9 in matches and all eight got bounced before the quarterfinals. “It looks bad on paper, but I know my guys tried hard,” Smith said. “That’s what really hurts me, because we’re going to get blown up — Greco didn’t win another medal. But everyone on this team is an awesome, awesome human being and we worked our asses off. We had a camp that was harder than (bleep) from Hungary all the way up to this place and everyone did it. … People were going through (bleep), but we pulled together and came here. “I know it’s going to be blown up and people are going to get on our (bleep) and say Greco did it again, but they can go you know what to themselves.” Nobody should question the character of this Greco squad. It’s an unusual mix with some tremendously compelling stories. Ildar Hafizov won a Green Card lottery and moved to the United States after making four World and Olympic squads for Uzbekistan. Cheney Haight came out of retirement three years ago and made his second World Team at the age of 32. Ellis Coleman and Ben Provisor bounced back from injuries, each reviving his career after national stardom in their younger years. G’Angelo Hancock nearly gave up wrestling all together at the age of 16 when he was helping his family scrape by and four years later has become one of the bright, young stars giving the Greco program hope for a better tomorrow. World Team rookie Mason Manville is part of that group, too, and USA Greco coach Matt Lindland sees World medals in Pat Smith’s future. Then there’s Smith, a member of the past five World and Olympic squads. He wore out his opponent so badly two years ago in the World bronze medal match that he — not the victorious Russian — celebrated afterward. That type of fight is what Lindland wanted to see across the board in Paris. “Getting your ass kicked at the World Championships,” Lindland said, “hopefully these guys are suffering a little bit, because that pain should burn inside of them and they should feel that and it should light a fire underneath them, so they’re going to get off their ass and fight a little bit next time.” If this doesn’t ignite a change, Lindland thinks a crop of rising young stars will. In addition to Hancock and Manville, there’s Kamal Bey, the ultra-entertaining Illinois native who earlier this month became the first American to win a Junior World Greco title in 18 years, and Cohlton Schultz, who made the Cadet and Junior World Teams and has shown well against Senior-level training partners. “Either you’re going to step up and fight this young man,” Lindland said, “or he’s going to take your spot — one of the two. Either way, we’re going to have a warrior who’s going to step out on the mat at the World Championships and he’s going to fight. And that’s what I’m looking for.” USA Wrestling Senior Greco.docx JNC2010-2014.docx