It is hard to believe that IndianaMat is one year old today. It is amazing how the website has grown over the last year and continues to grow each and every day. Even to this day I am shocked at how fast the site has grown. The start of the website and its subsequent growth has been tremendous and could not have been done without the help of numerous people. First and foremost I want to thank a couple people who egged me on to start the website. Eric McGill and Diana Szymborski both were instrumental in getting the site started. As I was anxious to post my wrestling wisdom(or lack of it) it was apparent that it would have to be done on another website. They both encouraged me to start a new website, especially after I told them it wouldn’t take too long to start up. After debating it for about an hour I pulled the trigger and the site was born.
Obviously this board would not have gone far without others that have helped too. Chad Hollenbaugh has helped as a moderator, writer, idea maker, and voice of reason. Most of the time when a new idea is presented it was his idea first. While Chad and I have been friends for quite a while, I even reached to a former arch nemesis for help with the website. Dingo Brigade aka Cameron Drury and I have had many heated debates before, but I knew that he was a great writer and someone that was also very passionate about the sport. He has helped write numerous articles that are well thought-out and very interesting.
Reaching out to an online nemesis is one thing, but a coaching nemesis is another. Corey Sparks has helped from day one with the logos for the website. He has helped tremendously in making the website look extremely professional with his hand crafted logos. He always very fast with something and has designed the great logos you see all over the site.
One of the things that really set the site apart was the rankings. This summer W.I.N. magazine’s Rob Sherril told me how great the rankings where on the website at Fargo. It was very surreal to have a national rankings guru tell me that they visit the website and specifically the rankings. So a big hearty thanks definitely goes to the rankings guy. It is amazing that he can put together such accurate rankings when he is living out of state most of the season. I also want to thank the coaches, fans and parents that send him the pertinent information about who beat who and all that good stuff. The rankings are only as good as the information provided and it was top notch last year and will continue that way.
Along with the individual rankings come a very good set of team rankings. Team rankings are even tougher since many of the top teams do not see each other during the season and with weight shifts it’s hard to truly tell who is a better team. Decbell aka Dane Fueling has done a wonderful job with them and they will only continue to get better.
I would also like to thank the moderators for doing their jobs. Wrestling fans are some of the most hard headed people I know and with many differences in opinions, the moderators have kept the conversations mostly civil. Thanks to them for doing their jobs and letting me work on things on the backend of the site.
Two weekly awards we do are the wrestlers of the week for both high school and youth. This was one of the first articles we started and it is great to see that it has taken off like it has. This is a great way to give recognition to the wrestlers every week. I want to thank Wendell Chitwood for doing the work on the high school portion and Keith Wilson for doing his work on the youth portion.
This site was started with money out of my own pocket. It has grown to where now it is pretty much self sufficient. Without help from the sponsors this would not have happened. If you see one of the many people that have advertised on this site, please say thank you and patronize their businesses and camps. Without great people like them, this state would not be near where it is today in the sport of wrestling.
Lastly, I want to thank all of the wrestling fans in Indiana that patronize this website. Without you, this site would not exist. This site was made for you and will continue to be something that promotes all portions of wrestling in Indiana. Indiana wrestling fans are great people and very passionate about the sport. Please keep the ideas coming on what you would like to see on this website as we will try to give the fans the best and most extensive coverage of wrestling in Indiana all year long. I would also like to thank everyone that bought a t-shirt or donated money. Your generosity is greatly appreciated and with those funds this website will keep running for years to come.
Sorry, I have one last person to thank. That is my wife. She has been there from the beginning and been very supportive of this endeavor. She put up with many late nights, trips to wrestling meets and even me kind of ignoring here when I was working on the site. She has been on numerous trips, such as going to interview the wrestlers at Calumet College and to state. Believe it or not I have never heard a complaint from her. Thanks from not only myself, but the Indiana wrestling community. If you see her at a meet, be sure to thank her for all she has done behind the scenes.
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