USA Wrestling Connecticut presenting the $500 check to CPOW. From left to right: Nancy Cammisa, Mark Cammisa, John Knapp, Sarah Jadach, Jude Knapp, Tony Black.

USA Wrestling CT board members presented the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling (CPOW) with a check for $500 at the Connecticut Freestyle Wrestling Tournament on Sat., April 27 to help support the campaign to keep wrestling in the 2020 Olympic Games and beyond. 

The oversized check was presented to Tony Black, USA Wrestling Manager of State Services, on behalf of CPOW.

With the efforts of Connecticut, other state associations and donations from wrestling supporters around the nation, CPOW has already raised over a million dollars to help fund the effort to Keep Olympic Wrestling. CPOW Chair Bill Scherr has set a fundraising goal of $2.5 million.

“Wrestling has been a big part of our lives and we wanted to do our part to save it,” said USA Wrestling CT State Director Sarah Jadach. “We were very proud as such a small state to be able to help out any way we could.”

For more information about CPOW and the marketing campaign, 2020 Vision: Keep the Dream Alive, visit KeepWrestlingInTheOlympics.com.

The Connecticut Freestyle Wrestling Tournament was the first freestyle tournament of the season for USA Wrestling CT and was held in Danbury, Conn. There were about 150 wrestlers in elementary, middle and high school in attendance. 

The tournament is used as a fundraiser for their wrestlers competing at Cadet & Junior Nationals, so many of the wrestlers and their parents were officiating and volunteering on the tables. 

Year-to-date, USA Wrestling CT had 3,556 members and a complete program of events and opportunities for wrestlers of all levels in the state.

Connecticut had 3,028 high school boys and girls wrestling in the 2011-12 year.

Connecticut is also active in college wrestling, with NCAA Div. I college program Sacred Heart University and NCAA Div. III programs Trinity College, U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Wesleyan University.