Beach Wrestling Photos    The ASICS 2005 East Coast National Beach Wrestling Championships is starting to make waves in the New York area, as the first national-level tournament for this new international style will be held on Saturday, August 13 at Long Beach Avenue beach in Long Beach, N.Y.    The Metropolitan Wrestling Association (MWA), event  sponsor ASICS,  the City of Long Beach and USA Wrestling have reached out to the general public to inform them of the competition this weekend. Men and women athletes in high school, college and the Senior level will be competing in the newest international wrestling style.    The competition is set for Saturday, August 13, but pre-event promotions began with press interviews and demonstrations on the beach on Thursday, August 11.    The organizing committee, led by the MWA, Neil Duncan of ASICS and the wrestling team and supporters from Long Beach High School, met along the boardwalk prior to 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning. As Duncan and his volunteers set up a beach wrestling ring and tents at Long Beach Avenue beach, the high school wrestlers finished their morning run and prepared to do some wrestling in the sand.    The first interview came from WINS radio, the top news radio station in the metropolitan area. Alice Stockton-Rossini, the radio reporter, came from Long Beach Island, N.J., where she is a parent of a high school wrestler. She knew all about wrestling, but was seeing beach wrestling for the first time.    After interviewing many of the athletes, along with their coach Ray Adams, Stockton-Rossini got right out in the ring with the athletes and referee to get authentic soundbites of the action. While the Long Beach wrestlers went for takedowns and throws, referee Marcia Haise was wired for sound and explained the action on the sand. Stockton-Rossini posed with the wrestlers and event organizers and returned a few hours to home, where she edited the tape for a number of stories for Friday morning drivetime.    The WINS radio segments will be posted for wrestling fans to hear at the official webpage of the event, posted by the Metropolitan Wrestling Association at www.mwausa.org    Channel 12, the Long Island-based television network, sent two television crews to Long Beach Avenue beach for a detailed segment about the sport. Reporter Jaimie Stewart and his crew spent a number of hours with the wrestling athletes and organizers, capturing on film what beach wrestling was all about. Another Channel 12 news crew showed up to get more wrestling on tape for the day. Stewart interviewed athletes, coaches and organizers, and even did a segment where he tried some beach wrestling himself.    Newsday, the Long Island newspaper with a readership of over 600,000, sent its Olympic beat reporter John Jeansonne to the press opportunity at the beach. Jeansonne has covered wrestling at recent Olympic Games, as well as during the 2003 World Championships in New York City. He spent time talking with Al Bevilacqua of the Metropolitan Wrestling Association, Joe Brand of the City of Long Beach, as well as the coaches and wrestlers. His story was scheduled for publication on Friday morning.    Another Long Island-based network, Channel 55, sent a crew for more interviews and taping of the athletes in action on the sand, with the Atlantic Ocean in the background. Throughout the day, the dozen high school wrestlers and coaches competed in beach wrestling match, scoring takedowns and throws. Hundreds of people walking the boardwalk and enjoying the beach stopped by to witness the action and ask questions about the sport.    After breaking down the wrestling rign on Thursday, the final major media activity was set for Friday morning at 6:00 a.m., when FOX5 sent its popular weatherman Mike Woods to the beach for live coverage of beach wrestling for segments throughout the morning show. A new ring was set up at National Ave. Beach, where FOX likes to do its broadcasts from Long Beach.     Woods, a well conditioned athletic man, did all of his weather segments from the beach, with wrestling going on in the background. Dozens of matches were held during the three-hour show, as Woods gave weather updates and talked about the East Coast Beach Nationals. A number of young athletes were interviewed about wrestling and the competition. At the conclusion of the long morning, in the final segment of the day, Woods posed with all of the wrestlers and officials, who greeted the New York viewers from the wrestling ring.    "This was a lot bigger than we envisioned," said Neil Duncan of ASICS, the tournament director and the person responsible for the event setup and execution. "We didn't expect this kind of publicity. We had Long Beach location, the boardwalk, proximity to New York City by train and the great Long Island sand. We have gotten great support from Long Beach. Without them, we could not have gotten this done."    Duncan has worked with the leaders and volunteers from the Metropolitan Wrestling Association, the staff from the City of Long Beach, and wrestling people from across Long Island, to put this together. The Long Beach wrestling team has been invaluable in doing wrestling demonstrations for the media and the public. Duncan is already looking ahead to next year, when they plan another beach wrestling event,  one thatwill be "even better" according to Duncan.    "They had a blast. They love it," said Long Beach High School Coach Ray Adams. "Every day, the work out at the beach and they practice wrestling. They eat this up. Yesterday, they were exhausted. They wrestled four hours straight. It was amazing."    Sally Schmidt of TW Promotions, who is handling registration and information for the event, reported that the number of on-line entries has increased in recent days, and the volume of phone calls about the event has picked up considerably.    Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday in Long Beach. A rules clinic is at 11:45 a.m., and the wrestling action starts at high noon.