Anthony Flatt of Lawrenceville, Ga. was named USA Wrestling State Chairperson of the Year. This award honors a USA Wrestling State Chairperson for service and leadership within the organization. The announcement was made during USA Wrestling’s annual State Leaders Conference, held at the Cheyenne Moutain Conference Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. last week. Flatt has served three years as the State Chairperson in Georgia, and was Kids Director for the three previous years. “This is fantastic. It is a great honor,†said Flatt. “I am not sure I personally deserve it. Team Georgia is a group of dedicated individuals. It is the effort of many people in the state that has led to growth within Georgia. It is their efforts that make things happen.†During his tenure, Georgia has hosted the Southeast Regional Championships the last three years. The event has grown to the largest Junior Regional in the nation, and combined with the Kids divisions, is one of the most successful in the nation. Georgia is also very active in helping present the Georgia Grind, one of the Folkstyle Tour of America events. Under Flatt’s leadership, Georgia has developed a strong and active state association, utilizing a number of innovative programs that has led to growth in many areas. “My background is in technology. I have been in computer sales my whole life. I had dabbled with web-based technologies. I believed online registration would work well here. We took what was working with our events and improved on it. We can start tournaments faster, get the brackets posted faster and run better events. We have the wrestlers’ contact information and are able to communicate with them. We get information out quickly to our members. I serve as a catalyst, but our wrestling community has embraced the concept that wrestling is for everybody,†said Flatt. Prior to his involvement with Team Georgia, Flatt was the president of the AAU wrestling in the region. He ran a major national youth tournament in Georgia, the first of its kind in the state. The leaders of Team Georgia asked Flatt to get more involved. “Shawn Fields, the chairman at the time, reached out to me. He asked what it would take to get me on their Board. I said that they needed to give me the room to do what I can do. It has worked out very well,†he said. Flatt has served as club director for the Collins Hill Youth Wrestling program. Collins Hill has the top 5A high school program in Georgia and has been nationally ranked. He has also been a coach on the club level in his community. Flatt also serves as a member of the board for FCA Wrestling in Georgia. He was a high school wrestler for Boys Town High School in Nebraska. Flatt returned to the sport when his children started to get involved in youth wrestling programs. He has three children who participate in wrestling, Adam (13), Amanda (11) and Allison (9). He believes that wrestling is a great way to reach young people and help them in their personal development. “Our perspective is that the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association, which is known as Team Georgia USA, is a non-profit organization that teaches life skills. We look at this as primarily as a non-profit service organization. We are growing our girls program, our developmental program, and many other activities. We are much more than just a state-level club,†said Flatt. State Chairperson of the Year 1978 - Leroy Evans, California 1979 - Dave Dozeman, Michigan 1980 - Frank Rader, North Carolina 1981 - Ted DeRousse, Illinois 1982 - Dave and Bobby Schneller, Connecticut 1983 - Mick Pickford, Iowa 1984 - Bill Crum, New Jersey 1985 - Tom Canavan, Pennsylvania 1986 - Kay Lacher, Minnesota 1987 - Jack Harcourt, Virginia 1988 - Mark Scott, Wyoming 1989 - Leroy Evans, California and Charlie White, Colorado 1990 - John Welch, New Jersey 1991 - Dave Mellon, North Dakota 1992 - Bob Labat, Minnesota 1993 - Al Kastl, Michigan 1994 - Chuck Elvin, Kansas 1995 - Haswell Franklin, Sr., Maryland 1996 - Archie Randall, Oklahoma 1997 - Fred Lehrke, Wisconsin 1998 - Bob Walker, Florida 1999 - Mike Dowden, Indiana 2000 - Paula McGahee, Georgia 2001 - Tom Shaw, Washington 2002 - Dave Black, Wisconsin 2003 - Jim Considine, Illinois 2004 – Mike Juby, Kansas 2005 – Tom Knupp, Ohio 2006 – Craig Ewing, Missouri 2007 – Bill Grant, Florida 2008 – Shawn Fields, Georgia 2009 – Chuck Bullard, Washington 2010 – Anthony Flatt, Georgia