The Georgia Wrestling Association/Team Georgia announced that they will be the Title Sponsor and will cover the cost of $10-12,000 to bring the Georgia High School State Wrestling Championship to television. The State Championship will be shown live on Georgia Public TV.

The Championships are held at Gwinnett Arena in Atlanta, Ga. Feb. 17-19. GPTV will be showing the finals on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. All other matches will be shown on a webcast provided by PlayOn! Sports at playonsports.com and ghsa.tv. 

“This is the first time ever that the State Championships will be on TV. All matches will be webcasted,” said Atlanta Takedown Association Vice-President and Tournament director Bud Hennebaul.

The goal of putting the state tournament is to satisfy the need for wrestling families that cannot travel to Atlanta. 

“By having a webcast and it live on television, it gives people an opportunity to watch their kids, their nieces and nephews compete without being in Atlanta,” said Anthony Flatt, the USA Wrestling Georgia State Chairman.

The webcast also allows servicemen and women who are overseas to watch the matches and can keep up with their kids competing.

Team Georgia also hopes to spread the word about wrestling in Georgia.

“We want to give back to the sport,” Flatt said.

“By sponsoring [the championship] on GPTV, we reach 99 percent of households in Georgia. It’s a great way to get the word out. Rural places in the state aren’t aware of the opportunity for kids to get involved,” Hennebaul added.

According to Flatt, Team Georgia has committed to a three year deal with GPTV to televise the state championship. In order to keep up with the rising costs of maintaining the coverage, Team Georgia adopted an aggressive financial model allowing them to reinvest in wrestling. The goal is to further expand coverage to other tournaments, promoting the sport at the state level. 

Flatt was recently named State Chairperson of the Year by USA Wrestling for his development of a strong and active state association and for his service and leadership within the organization.

Team Georgia has been very successful in expanding wrestling programs in the state. It also played a leadership role in bring varsity wrestling to Shorter College and donated $10,000 to the program.