Danny Struck of the IHSWCA presents a check to USA Wrestling coaching staff members Bill Zadick, Terry Steiner and Cody Bickley.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association (IHSWCA) recently donated $500 to the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling (CPOW), doing its part to help the effort to promote Olympic wrestling. 

Their donation was presented during a recent Coaches Summit at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. when IHSWCA President Danny Struck presented the oversized check to USA Wrestling coaches and representatives. 

“You know, we could have just mailed the check, and that would have been fine, but I felt a great sense of pride for all of Indiana wrestling being able to present it right there at the Olympic Training Center,” Struck said.  

The money, Struck said, was collected out of coaches’ clinics, tournaments and IHSWCA dues.

“We think that it’s money used wisely, not just for kids in Indiana but for kids across the USA and the world,” said Struck. “Wrestling does so many things for so many kids, that I feel that keeping wrestling at its highest level is essential to keeping it at the grassroots. For most of the coaches in Indiana, wrestling is secondary behind the kids, and we feel that we’re giving back to kids worldwide when we gave a check toward keeping Olympic wrestling.”

Indiana is active in the wrestling community with 7,615 high school boys and girls wrestling in the 2011-12 school year. 

The Indiana USA Wrestling state association had 9,405 members last year and a complete program of events and opportunities for wrestlers of all levels in the state.

Indiana is also committed to college wrestling, with NCAA Div. I college programs Indiana University and Purdue University, NCAA Div. II program University of Indianapolis and Div. III programs Manchester College, Trine University and Wabash College.

“We feel like we’re donating to people’s dreams,” Struck said. “That’s what we do as coaches – that’s our job, to help kids fulfill their dreams – so that’s what our money is going to.”

For more information on how you can help the effort to Keep Olympic Wrestling, visit KeepOlympicWrestling.com.