Jump to content

Justin Ratliff

Silverback
  • Posts

    329
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    Justin Ratliff reacted to Y2CJ41 for a article, 15 Years of IndianaMat   
    By Anna Kayser
    In 2008, IndianaMat emerged as an informational resource for high school wrestling across the state of Indiana, filling a communication void and connecting the wrestling community from border to border. Fifteen years later, it continues to serve as the epicenter of the Indiana wrestling community, from providing feature stories on prominent athletes to weekly rankings across regions.
     
    This is the story of how it began.
     
    For years, a message board run by the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association (IHSWCA) served as the main source of communications for wrestlers, fans and coaches – both high school and college coaches looking to recruit – on lineups, rankings (loose rankings, if any at all) and results.
     
    It was late-November, peak holiday and weight-cutting season for wrestlers across the state with less than one month of official practice under their belts, when the message board got hacked and effectively rendered useless. There was no Twitter – or X, as it’s now known – to provide instantaneous information like there is today. Facebook was just gaining traction, officially surpassing MySpace as the most used social media app earlier that year.
    “[The message board] was your go-to place to get wrestling information,” Joe Caprino, creator of IndianaMat, said. “You didn’t have access to cell phones and such – everyone was communicating that way. It was really popping at times, especially during the season.”
    The old message board served as an initial connection for wrestling fans in the state, which is how the trio of Caprino, Chad Hollenbaugh (who had previously coached with Caprino) and Eric McGill ­(a former two-time state champion at Munster High School and Cornell University wrestler) formed to create a new information center.
    With the first week of competition looming, there was a frenzy for information and no resource to turn to. Caprino, Hollenbaugh and McGill knew something new was needed – and quickly.
    “Everyone was just needing information,” Caprino said. “Matches were starting and they wanted to know who won where. Everyone was looking for lineups. For about a week or 10 days, people were just going nuts trying to figure out how to get results and everything.”
    It took some encouraging on Hollenbaugh and McGill’s part to convince Caprino to create the website and provide a new alternative for fans to turn to, but that encouragement quickly turned to action. After going back and forth on the possibility of creating a website, Caprino pulled the trigger on Dec. 2, with help from the two that convinced him in the first place.
    “[The old message board] was a really convenient way for people to chat and keep in touch with their friends, so when that website went down it kind of created a void,” McGill said. “I think my role was more of just offering support and being willing to help out wherever it was needed.”
    McGill – who was then in his sophomore year at Cornell – took over the rankings in between practice and schoolwork. Hollenbaugh wrote articles early on and was instrumental in getting the word out about the website by placing an advertisement in a program for upcoming duals.
    News traveled quickly, and within 24 hours of the site being up, Caprino had to replace the server to keep up with the traffic they were experiencing. Word of mouth helped as well, with fans who were aware of the site sending out information to the masses.
    Within the first few days, Caprino estimates that the website had hundreds of members, something that never could have been reached without the goals they set and exceeded in the early days.
    “[We just wanted to] provide great coverage: Rankings, articles and obviously results. Put everyone onto the encyclopedia of [Indiana] wrestling, is what it’s kind of evolved into,” Caprino said. “The goal is to just continue to get information and results, and then to obviously promote the sport. We wanted to give recognition to kids and coaches for all of their work.”
    Over the years, the website has grown beyond the borders Indiana – and the internet. Caprino has continued to build on the website’s foundation for years, becoming recognized nationally through tournaments and college coaches seeking information.
    “I know that the website now is extremely popular in terms of college coaches going and checking the rankings and making decisions about recruiting based on those things, so it’s really been taken to new heights,” McGill said. “It’s just kind of a cool thing to be a part of in the beginning because I know what IndianaMat has become, and to have just a small part in getting started is pretty cool to reflect back on.”
    Now, the website and growth of IndianaMat and the wrestling community can only continue to move forward.
    With the evolution of social media and the reach that’s possible, the ceiling for IndianaMat and the sport in Indiana is sky-high. However, the goals haven’t necessarily changed.
    “The goal is just to keep doing a lot of great coverage and promotion of the kids.” Caprino said. “I think [the sport] has grown a lot in the 15 years and it’s pretty neat to see that growth with the kids and how people use IndianaMat.”
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.