Now that the wrestling practices have begun, coaches are scrambling to get everything in order before the first competition.  An orderly equipment checkout is one goal.  The coach also has to chase down those last wrestlers that don't have their physical and liability paperwork handed in yet.  Between the purchase order for the new stat book and the cleaning of the mats, its no wonder that one of the most important elements that gets overlooked is media promotion.      People involved with wrestling often express their ire with media outlets that do big write ups on other sports in the local paper and features on the local TV stations but just don't showcase wrestling.  Virtually everyone has heard this "wrestling coverage" complaint before.  While the complaint may be valid, it is important that the local wrestling coach take proactive steps to solve the riddle of how to get wrestling highlighted locally.      USA Wrestling's National Coaches Education Program provides wrestling coaches with helpful ways to approach the daily tasks that a wrestling coach faces.  At the Bronze Level, in the area of program development, participants learn six key components for basic promotion to area media.  Each part of the suggested ways to promote wrestling to local media is a helpful suggestion on how to assist the media in the area to better cover wrestling.      Quite obviously to anyone that watches a wrestling coach race around to set up a home tournament or dual, knows that getting the media there is not a high priority.  The best way to promote wrestling to the media and free the coach up to focus on other wrestling priorities is to assign a specific person to promote the team.  If a coach can get a responsible person to vigorously promote the team, then there is the beginning structure for better media relations.      The person involved in media promotion should take the responsibility seriously.  Generally, wrestling managers or an assistant coach with good communication skills can perform the function well.  If these people are unavailable, a coach should consider asking a parent of one of the wrestlers to perform the media promotion tasks.     Once an enthusiastic supporter of the wrestling team is chosen, then outline the duties of media promotion for the individual.  Know what the expectations are and be prepared to provide the person with as much information as possible to help them get started.      Some things to consider are who should be contacted and when?  Provide a list of the local newspaper writer, TV stations, and radio stations that should be alerted prior to matches.  If the meet is a home dual or tournament make sure to call all of these outlets and personally invite them to cover the wrestling team's matches. Don't wait to the last minute to do it though, give the journalist plenty of notice about the upcoming matches.  A call placed twenty-four to forty-eight hours prior to the event will help arrange the scheduling for any media outlet.      Each season the contact list for media outlets should be updated since people are bound to move to new jobs.  Additionally email addresses are another way to drop a line on an upcoming event.      Don't make the common mistake of sending a schedule at the beginning of the year and expecting a journalist to make use of it on their own.  People in the media face deadline pressure, so a call timely placed giving them an event to cover will often be rewarded with a story in the local media.      Also, consider having the coach take some time prior to the season to personally outline the team he has coming back to the local media.  Familiarity with the coach and its wrestling members will help encourage stories throughout the season.  Providing a gift to the journalist, such as a team shirt, poster, or schedule is an excellent way at developing working relations with the media.   In order to increase local coverage of the team coaches, along with their assigned person to promote the team must go the extra mile to contact journalists prior to all competitions.      After the event, don't wait till the next day to fax or call in scores of the competition. Scores sent in the next day will often be buried in the back pages or left out of the newspaper completely.  Each wrestling team deserves recognition for its accomplishments, so calling in the scores is a critical function of media promotion.  Take steps to ask all local newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations how they want the match and team scores delivered to them.  A persistent and timely effort will pay dividends in wrestling coverage.      A second key suggestion from USA Wrestling in media promotion is the creation of an expanding mail/email target list.  The person involved with media promotion might also be able to handle this task, or another person could be enlisted to perform this function.  Everyone that touches the wrestling team should have a current address for the list.  Email addresses in today's society are essential, since they provide an efficient and cheap way of communicating to the local wrestling community.      People to include on the list should be the current wrestling team's parents and older brother's and sisters.  Also, make sure to keep track of wrestler's that graduate and go on to college.  Whether they remain in the area or go to school out of state, it is important that they are included on the list.  Once parents are exposed to the sport of wrestling and their kids graduate high school, make sure that they know they are welcome and should come to watch the local meets.  Fellow coaches in the area, teachers, and the school janitor should all be a part of the expanding mailing list.      Once a growing mailing list is created, then to build a growing attendance at the local meets and tournaments a media promoter must work the mailing target list.  Whenever a major wrestling meet is approaching people on the list should receive phone calls, postcards, or emails inviting them to attend the meet and support the team.      Many teams have their own newsletter that provides information year round on the sport of wrestling.  Use the mailing list as a way to sell more of the team wrestling t-shirts.  Get the wrestling supporters to think about wrestling in the off-season by alerting them to attendance in college camps and USA Wrestling tournaments.  And, of course, build excitement for the districts and state competition that the fans are expected to attend!      As the media promoter becomes savvy, he/she should work at creating story ideas.  A wrestling team is full of stories, and the promoter should help bring those stories to light by alerting journalists to potential story angles.  There is always the team leader on a long win streak, but don't forget to include the heartfelt stories of a wrestling overcoming burdens in their season.      Another way that a media promoter can help bring attention to a wrestling team is providing up to date and easy to read statistics on a wrestler's season.  Pin streaks, and takedown ratios are great examples of things that a journalist can use in a story.      Further, an exciting and ever changing program for duals and tournaments is essential in helping people see the stories in a meet.  Try to give the fans in the stands as much information about the wrestlers participating in a dual as possible.  If the two wrestlers have previously met include the information in program notes.  Be sure to get information from the opposing team's coach to include in the program.  The more information available to the public about the match, will increase the excitement surrounding the competition.      Additionally, the media promoter should make athletes and coaches available.  By helping to schedule interviews for stories on the team, the promoter will make the journalists job easier.  One way of arranging interviews with wrestlers is getting the journalist the wrestlers home phone number with their prior approval.      As a part of making athletes available for interviews, coaches should help wrestlers understand the importance of giving a g