Freestyle Resident Coach Brandon Slay is excited that the Freestyle Development Resident Program in now officially approved by the USOC

In recent years, a number of top high school graduates have trained in freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) prior to going to college. 

Recently, the U.S. Olympic Committee has approved a permanent freestyle developmental resident program at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, which will provide this outstanding opportunity going into the future.

USA Wrestling National Freestyle Resident Coach Brandon Slay, who helps coach the developmental athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, is excited about the formal recognition of this important program.

“We are excited that we officially have a developmental program here at the U.S. Olympic Training Center,” said Slay. “In the past, we have brought a few young athletes to train. Now we have that official title and look forward to recruiting quality young wrestlers in the future.”

As part of approving the program, the U.S. Olympic Committee has committed to providing room and board and full access to services to the freestyle developmental resident athletes.

“It is exciting to see USA Wrestling building for the future as the men’s freestyle resident program starts a new Development Team at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. These young athletes are among the best high school wrestlers in the United States,” said Ron Brant, the High Performance Director, Sport Performance of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“An important feature of the program is that this team is a combined effort between USA Wrestling and NCAA collegiate wrestling coaches, providing the young wrestlers an opportunity to improve their skills, wrestle in college, earn an education and continue their international careers. I am a true believer in pipeline development as it is through these programs that athletes like Henry Cejudo acquired the skills to shock the world at the 2008 Olympic Games by winning a gold medal for Team USA,” said Brant.

With full support of the USOC, and past success of working with young athletes, Slay has great expectations for the program;.

“This gives us an opportunity to develop young wrestler to become World and Olympic champions,” said Slay. “We will now be very focused on bringing the top kids in. In addition, more wrestlers and their parents as well as high school and college coaches will be more aware of the mission we have here, which is to develop Senior-level athletes but also develop younger wrestlers.”

This year, four talented-high school graduates are training full-time for a year at the Olympic Training Center:
• Derek Garcia of Washington, an Ohio State signee
• Carson Kuhn of Utah, a Boise State signee
• Evan Knight of Iowa, a Cornell signee
• Tyler Lehman of North Dakota

Garcia was a 2009 Junior Nationals champion and Outstanding Wrestler. Kuhn won the 2010 Junior Nationals. Lehman competed on the 2010 U.S. Junior World Team and Knight was a Junior All-American.

“The best thing for me is that I am training with the best wrestlers,” said Kuhn. “I am training with men while I’m still developing into a man. At the Olympic Training Center, there are so many camps and new people coming in. There are so many great people to train with.”

Next year, top of this season’s top high school senior wrestlers have already committed to the participate in this program and train in Colorado Springs, Colo. prior to going to college. Destin McCauley of Minnesota, a Wisconsin signee, and Tanner Hall of Idaho, both who were 2010 Junior National freestyle champions, have committed to the U.S. Olympic Training Center. McCauley was Outstanding Wrestler at the 2010 Junior Nationals in freestyle.

In previous years, when this was not an official program, there were wrestlers who have trained at the USOTC after high school who went on to success in college and beyond. Matt Stolpinski of the U.S. Naval Academy, a Massachusetts prep wrestler, and Jack Jensen of Oklahoma State, a Wisconsin native, both became NCAA All-Americans after training in Colorado Springs. Current talented college wrestlers today who have also trained for extended periods at the USOTC include NCAA runner-up Mack Lewnes of Cornell, Gabe Burak of Penn and Micah Burak of Penn.

Now that the concept has been established as an official resident training program, the number of future success stories should increase.