USA Wrestling, the national governing body for amateur wrestling in the United States, has set records in five major membership categories during the 2012-13 year, and broke through the 200,000 combined membership level for the very first time.

The 2012-2013 membership year, which ended on August 31, 2013, set annual records for athletes, coaches, clubs, and sanctioned events, in addition to female athlete members.

In addition, the combined USA Wrestling membership which includes athletes, coaches and officials, reached 205,053 at the end of the membership year, smashing the previous record of 192,941 from the 2011-12 year.

“It is a huge mile marker for us to go over 200,000 members. The importance of this is that we had about 6% growth last year and we expect it to be even more this coming year,” said Tony Black, USA Wrestling’s Director of State Services.

During the 2012-2013 year, USA Wrestling registered 176,249 athlete members, topping the previous mark of 166,258 set during the 2011-12 year. 

The new record for coach members was set with 26,218 coaches, breaking the record of 24,020 coaches registered in the 2011-12 membership year.
 
For the ninth consecutive year, USA Wrestling chartered clubs reached a new level, climbing to 4,153 clubs. The previous high was 4,070 clubs, which was set in the previous membership year.

Sanctioned events rose to a record 2,103 in 2012-2013, an increase from the 2,023 events which were sanctioned last year.
 
Female athlete membership reached an all-time high in 2012-13 with 5,638 registered, up from the previous record of 4,724 set in 2011-12.

The membership records were possible through the combined team effort of USA Wrestling's volunteer leaders on the regional, state and local levels along with the national staff, which provided the most comprehensive program of wrestling activities in the nation.

Three state associations showed increases in all five of the major membership categories: total athletes, coaches, clubs, sanctions and officials: Illinois, South Carolina and Washington. 

Illinois had the largest combined membership of athletes, coaches and officials with 19,008.

States with an increase in athlete members included: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming. 

States with an increase in coach members included: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.
 
States with an increase in clubs included: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.

States with an increase in sanctioned events included: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

States with an increase in officials members included: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia.

“It is a testament to our state associations and what they provide with opportunities at the state level. It also shows that USA Wrestling is willing to re-examine its membership structure. We have come to the conclusion that other membership offerings make sense. We have a handful of states that have different membership options. They are in the pilot or test stage, and we are confident in these programs going forward, which will lead to even more growth,” said Black.

USA Wrestling has already had a strong start in the first few weeks of the 2013-14 season, and will work hard to continue to increase opportunities within wrestling at all levels across the nation.