Our entire Greco family, including our athletes, coaches, medical staff, administrators and general supporters are all at a loss. I am sure you “the reader” are frustrated as well. Our goal was to win numerous medals in London and make our country proud. It did not happen. I apologize for that.

As National Coach for our Greco-Roman program, I take full responsibility for this lack of result. I realize the buck stops with me. I can assure you that there are many of us who are working to figure out why we are struggling in Greco. We are very confident that our country has the great potential to be the best in the world, just like we proved in 2007 in Baku, Azerbaijan when we won the World championship team title. But that old news is just that, ‘Old news.’

We do have our unique challenges in this country being that our youth age group system is entrenched in our country’s favorite style of wrestling… folkstyle. We need to figure out the ways and means that will help us to overcome our sparse focus on Greco (and freestyle for that matter). The good news is we are used to the challenges that face our Greco-Roman program. And the Greco family is a strong family of dedicated people that want to win more than anything.

Moving forward: I strongly feel that we cannot go back to doing business as usual. We need to stop… take a hard look at the issues…. and then do everything in our power to change what we are doing. We have to reinvent our Greco-Roman program. We cannot expect to be successful doing the same thing. 

I am committed to identifying the problems and finding a way and means to overcome the obstacles, act on the changes needed, and execute a better plan of attack.

I must become a stronger leader, communicating the Greco-Roman vision. Athletes, coaches, volunteers and supporters need to be very clear on our international Olympic and World quest, including how we will conduct ourselves in the process.  We must stand firm to our principles, standards and ideology. This is the only way we will get back on top in Greco.

Vision: Re-establishing our United States Greco-Roman wrestling team as the most successful program in the world. 	

Mission:  Lead our world competitors in winning Olympic and World medals on a consistent basis.

Core Values:  Give 100% of our effort, each and every day, to become world class by using the utmost integrity in our actions.

Core Objectives:
	
1. Physical Conditioning: Develop the most physically conditioned wrestlers in the world.

2. Technical Wrestlers: Develop the most technical wrestlers in the world.

3. Strength and Power: Develop the most powerful wrestlers in the world.

4. Mental Toughness: Develop the most mentally strong athletes in the world.

5. Weight management: Develop a system to teach wrestlers proper and effective weight management.

6. Coachable Athletes: Establish strong integrity and mutual trust between athletes and coaches, one that promotes an open, honest exchange of giving and accepting education and expertise.

Our daily theme needs to address the most important question, “how did we support the mission today?” This will be the focus of our existence.

We plan on executing a strong action plan to address the many needs of our program.

An example of this is follows. In an effort to strengthen our gene pool and youth development, we want to create a network of volunteer coaches and team leaders across the country that will help better identify Greco talent, coach & train kids, and promote Greco-Roman wrestling as a whole. This team we create will be a powerful unit and work closely together with myself and our national staff. This network of volunteer coaches and team leaders would help to expand our reach throughout the USA. 

These VIP volunteers will work in the trenches in their perspective geographical areas, thus establishing a strong Greco-Roman presence and a strong pipeline of young talented Greco-Roman wrestlers.

Anyone interested in joining our team can contact me at sfraser@usawrestling.org. I would love to hear from you.

And of course, I am very open to gain feedback and suggestions from all whom have advice or input (especially from our grassroots people). Our move back to the top in Greco will take a team effort, for sure.  

Just like from day one when I began at USA Wrestling, I totally believe we can accomplish the mission. I think I can speak for USA Wrestling and all of our wrestling family when I say “we are totally up for the challenge, totally committed and confident that we can reach the top of the world in Greco–Roman wrestling again.”