The 2011 USA Wrestling Freestyle Coaches Summit is scheduled for May 11 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. 

National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones has invited more than 38 elite wrestling coaches to come together and work on setting the national plan for our freestyle effort. 

“The main objective of the Summit is to bring America’s greatest coaches together to strategize on the American wrestling plan,” said Jones. “The opportunity to get these coaches to focus entirely on freestyle wrestling is crucial to our success. To have them all in the same room, working together to help us become the best in the world is tremendous.”

This is a who’s who list of our sports legends. Included on the preliminary list are the coaches from the top college wrestling programs in the nation, as well as from the national wrestling clubs and regional training centers. The group includes Olympic champions, World champions, Olympic and World medalists, Olympic coaches and much more. These are the people who are working with Senior athletes on a daily basis.

There will be meetings both on and off the mat, covering a variety of important topics affecting the freestyle program. Included on the agenda is regional training centers, USOC/USA Wrestling Strategic Planning, the developmental program model, areas of concentration from the winter tour season, review of the 2010 World Championships and much more.

“The agenda is going to cover the areas that are critical to our success,” said Jones. “These areas not only impact our national programs, but also the programs which these coaches manage. We are all working together on this.”

Jones believes that there will be many benefits to the freestyle program from these series of meetings.

“We won’t agree on everything tomorrow,” said Jones. “Everyone has the same interest but a different perspective. We will agree on some things, and agree to disagree on others. As always, the overall objective is winning gold medals for the American program.”

Last year’s USA Wrestling Freestyle Coaches Summit was a success. This year, the turnout is larger, and the commitment to excellence more intense.

“Our coaches are brilliant, but for many of the coaches, their main focus is folkstyle. We will get together to work on the nuances of freestyle. We will discuss what the coaches need to work on with their athletes back at home. We have a technical gap internationally, which we have to close. We are making progress. These coaches are focusing on our freestyle plan, and how to work with our National Team athletes,” said Jones.

USA WRESTLING FREESTYLE COACHES SUMMIT
Colorado Springs, Colo., May 11

Participating Coaches
Sam Barber
Luke Becker
Dave Bennett
Cody Bickley
Terry Brands
Bruce Burnett
Shawn Charles
Matt Dernlan
Bobby Douglas
Mike Duroe
Rob Eiter
Brandon Eggum
Dan Gable
Steve Garland
Tim Gressley
Mike Hagerty
Bart Horton
Zeke Jones
Jamill Kelly
Jason Kutz
Mark Manning
Kerry McCoy
Mike Moyer
Sam Portillo
Mark Reiland
Lou Rosselli
Joe Seay
Brandon Slay
Jeremy Spates
Troy Steiner
Brian Smith
John Smith
Lee Roy Smith
Greg Strobel
Yero Washington
Pablo Ubasa
Bill Zadick
Jim Zalesky