USA Wrestling’s Members-Only site redesigned, with exciting new materials posted
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
10/04/2004
USA Wrestling has completed a redesign of its Members-Only web site, which was re-launched today for the general public. This on-line resource is available free of charge only to current members of USA Wrestling, one of the most exciting benefits of joining the organization. This USA Wrestling membership benefit provides an impressive resource stocked with interactive learning tools and entertaining features. After the re-launch of the page, it will be available for all to view and sample for 30 days. This will allow those not familiar with the site to enjoy the contents and become familiar with the features. The popular Bout of the Week feature will continue to be posted on a regular basis. New matches that are now available include action from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Three U.S. Olympic wrestling medalists are featured. They include: * Cael Sanderson vs. Moon Eui Jae of Korea . This is the Olympic gold-medal match at 84 kg/185 pounds in men's freestyle wrestling. Sanderson, a 2003 World silver medalist, battled Moon, a 2000 Olympic silver medalist, for the top honor in international wrestling. It was a close match where strategy played a key role in the final outcome. * Rulon Gardner feature from the Olympic semifinals and finals. This video feature covers the last two matches of Rulon's storied career, showing the overtime periods of both the semifinals and the bronze-medal bout at 120 kg/264.5 pounds in men's Greco-Roman. Gardner faced Georgiy Tsurtsumia of Kazakhstan in the semifinals, then Sajad Barzi of Iran in the bronze-medal bout. Included in the feature is Gardner's retirement ritual, when he left his ASICS on the mat. * Sara McMann vs. Stavroula Zygouri of Greece. This is the semifinal match at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. in the first Olympic Games competition for women's wrestling. McMann, a 2003 World silver medalist, faces the hometown favorite from Greece, with a spot in the Olympic finals at stake. This bout shows the explosive scoring abilities of McMann in one of the most important matches of her career. Each Bout of the Week has been placed in an archive, allowing members access to numerous other outstanding bouts within international wrestling. This is one of the most popular parts of the Members-Only web page, allowing wrestling fans, coaches and athletes to enjoy some of the best wrestling action of all time. A new feature on the Members-Only section will be a video taking an early look at the implementation of the new international wrestling rules, passed by FILA this summer. Starting in 2005, the format of the wrestling match will change dramatically, and this video presentation will show what the sport may look like as the rules are put into effect. A new feature includes interviews with USA Wrestling National Coaches, which can be downloaded and enjoyed. Currently, interviews with National Freestyle Coach Kevin Jackson (about the Athens Olympics and the new wrestling rules) as well as with National Women's Coach Terry Steiner (about women's wrestling in Athens and on the rule changes) are posted. These interviews will be changed on a periodic basis. Another regular feature that has been updated is the Technique of the Month. The updated technical video features the late Ivan Yarygin, a World and Olympic champion and former head wrestling coach for the Soviet Union. Yarygin was one of the greatest wrestlers in history, and in this feature is shown giving a clinic on the two-on-one position. Each month, new wrestling technique and tactics will be discussed in depth, with video clips included. Those that have enjoyed the Members-Only webpage will notice the attractive new color scheme as well as the exciting new flash introduction for the webpage. Other features of the Members-Only website that are still available include: * The Palestra - One of the most powerful features of the Members-only site, the Palestra contains over 3,000 video clips in a database. Users may select the skill they wish to learn and see a video clip of the technique being used in an international wrestling match. * The Chat Room - USA Wrestling members can get together at any time to chat with each other on all aspects of the sport of wrestling. * Interactive rulebook - The USA Wrestling international rulebook is posted, and is completely indexed, allowing members to any section of the rules with the click of the cursor. For key situations, the user can click on the rule and will receive a video clip example of the rule in competition. * Downloadable wallpaper - There are different wrestling designs available for members to download and use as their computer's wallpaper.