Members of the U.S. National Freestyle Wrestling Team as well as many other of the nation’s top men’s freestyle wrestlers will come to Ithaca, N.Y. for a national team training camp, Dec. 13-20.

The camp will be hosted by the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club Regional Training Center and Cornell University Wrestling.

Conducting the training camp will be USA Wrestling National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones of Colorado Springs, Colo. Workouts will be held at the Friedman Wrestling Center on the campus of Cornell University and are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day.

“We’re heading to the Finger Lake WC Regional Training Center (RTC) to get some good work in before we head overseas in January and February,” said Jones. “We’re going to use this time to work on fixing mistakes from the World Championships, implement new techniques and tactics, and get competition ready when we head to Russia, Iran, Belarus, and Bulgaria to compete. With athletes competing in the next six and seven weeks, it’s time to pick up the load and get some good hard practice matches in.”

Rob Koll, the head wrestling coach at Cornell University, has led the effort to bring the national team to Ithaca. Cornell is currently ranked No. 1 in Div. I college wrestling.

“It is a great thrill for me to have the USA National Team train at Cornell,” said Koll. “The Friedman Wrestling Center has become a beacon for great wrestlers in Upstate New York and now we truly have the nation’s finest. We have set our goal to win the NCAA championship and we plan on reaching this goal by recruiting young men who dream not only of becoming NCAA champions but also Olympic champions. By bringing the national team to campus, we can offer our elite athletes a unique opportunity to train with the best.”

Among the athletes expected in the training camp are 2010 U.S. World Team members Jake Herbert, Brent Metcalf, J.D. Bergman and Les Sigman, 2009 U.S. World Team member Jake Varner and 2007 U.S. World Team member Dustin Schlatter, along with numerous other nationally-ranked wrestlers.

One of the main reasons that the training camp is being held in Ithaca is the development of the Finger Lakes WC into a respected regional training center for freestyle wrestling.

The Finger Lakes WC-RTC has taken a top role with our regional training centers in the last several years,” said Jones. “They have some good developmental wrestlers coming up that will contend for America in 2012 and 2016. Athletes such as Troy Nickerson, Mack Lewnes, Kyle Dake, and others from the upstate New York area are showing the signs of developing into our nation’s next top freestylers. Now they need to take that group of guys and focus on what it takes to beat the Russians, Iranians, and the Azerbaijans. This is the real prize, winning an Olympic Gold Medal.”

Koll is fully supportive of the concept of regional training centers taking a more active and important role in developing the nation’s best international competitors.

“I believe USAWrestling has taken some very important steps in the long process of reestablishing our nation’s freestyle program as one of the preeminent world powers. The largest and most significant step is in their commitment to support the Regional Training Center model of training,” said Koll. “One of the first things Zeke Jones did as National Coach was to reach out to the collegiate programs. In my opinion, USA Wrestling’s leadership role in helping establish Regional Training Centers will be the single most significant impetus for the future success of the United States freestyle wrestling program.”

Jones seeks to working closer with college wrestling programs and established Regional Training Centers as he prepares the nation’s best athletes for international competition.

“The bottom line is we don’t want to host every training camp in Colorado Springs and it’s nice to mix up the training environment,” said Jones. “The Olympic Training Center is our hub and the center of our program but we will only be as good as our Regional Training Centers. This is where our national team wrestlers are coming from and the heart of our program. In the past, we have neglected the base of the freestyle program and focused on only the top three or four guys. We need to also invest energy into the seven or eight RTC’s that supply the nation’s freestyle program. Just take a look at the Russian system. This is what they do and they are dominating the world right now.”

Jones believes that in the past few years, Regional Training Centers for freestyle wrestling have been growing and thriving, and as much as $1 million dollars has been added to national freestyle effort through the expansion of these opportunities.

Koll sees this as a win-win situation for both USA Wrestling and the college wrestling programs which make a commitment to the national effort.

“College programs are pumping money into freestyle athletes because these can train with and coach the collegiate athletes at the RTC’s. In the past. many of these athletes would have had left the sport because of the lack of support. Not only will these athletes stay in the sport longer but they will be coaching the future Olympians at the RTC’s,” said Koll. “One example of this is Troy Nickerson. In his current position, he is paid to train and coach at our RTC. Because we support Troy, he is able to keep pursuing his Olympic dream. A great by product of this is that he teaches wrestling skills to hundreds of youth wrestlers from the Finger Lakes region and beyond. I confident this same type of interaction occurs at all the RTCs around the country.”

Another benefit is that the coaches from the Finger Lakes RTC, Cornell University and the surrounding area will be able to improve themselves by participating in the training camp.

“As a coach, I am not just excited to expose my team to our nation’s best but it will give me and my staff an opportunity to hone our coaching skills,” said Koll. “The sport of freestyle wrestling changes more often than collegiate wrestling and it is important to stay up with the latest strategies and techniques. I look forward to learning from the USA Wrestling staff in regards to freestyle but I also look forward to studying how they run their practices.”

Jones is pleased that there will be an opportunity to work with the local coaches as part of the training camp.

“Coaches Rob Koll, Matt Azevedo, Clint Wattenburg, Damion Hahn and others are doing a nice job there. We’re looking forward to them putting guys on the national team,” said Jones. “Coach Koll and I have talked about really focusing on helping develop a strong freestyle curriculum for their best developmental wrestlers in New York and in the East and to provide them the information they need as coaches to beat the best in the world.”

The wrestling community in the Finger Lakes region, as well as the facilities and support at Cornell University, have gained a national reputation for excellence.

“I believe the National Team will enjoy training at the Friedman Wrestling Center. It houses all the necessary wrestling amenities including 6,300 sq. ft. of wrestling mats, full weight room, lockers, sauna and training room. We are pleased to support the national effort by hosting this training camp,” said Koll.