This weekend, in the resort town of Halkida, Greece, your U.S. Women's World Wrestling Team will be battling for gold medals at the Women's World Championships.    That's right. YOUR Women's World Team. They are America's best women wrestlers, and they need your support.    This team is as much your team as the men's freestyle and men's Greco-Roman teams. Toccara Montgomery is as much yours as Rulon Gardner. Sara McMann is as much yours as Kerry McCoy. Patricia Miranda is as much yours as Stephen Abas (they even wrestled each other in a college dual meet last year). Kristie Marano is as much yours as Garrett Lowney.    Women's wrestling is in the Olympic Games. Other nations are pumping up their women's programs, with an eye at winning medals in the Athens Olympics. The U.S. needs to kick it up a notch, also, if we hope to win medals at the Olympics just two years down the road.    To win a medal, a wrestling athlete needs a strong support system. First and most importantly, they need support from their family, friends and coaches. Also, it is very important for them to get support from USA Wrestling and the U.S. Olympic Committee. Also, when push comes to shove, out on the center mat, they need support from their nation.    I know some of you may not enjoy watching women's wrestling. Others may have no understanding of the sport, either due to a lack of information or a lack of personal experience. That's OK. Just remember that this women's team is yours, anyway.    Some in the U.S. wrestling community have not yet claimed women's wrestling as part of the family, as one of our own. That is an attitude that we need to work to change, especially by 2004 when American women wrestlers will be battling for medals in Athens, Greece.    These are American wrestlers who happen to be female. Many come from strong wrestling families, the kind of families that have built the sport in this nation. Most have wrestled on teams with boys or men. Wrestling is their sport of choice; wrestling is their personal passion.    Women wrestlers are us, not them. Them is people who compete in other sports. Actually, much more importantly, them are those who take the wrong direction in their lives - drugs, alcohol, dropping out of school, teen pregnancy, violence, lack of direction. These are the good people, women athletes who have chosen an outstanding sport to be involved in. These are our women wrestlers.    Something struck me the other day. I was with Rulon Gardner at the U.S. Olympic Training Center when he was being interviewed by the Los Angeles Times. His cell phone rang and Rulon stopped his interview to talk to somebody. It was a young woman wrestler who was seeking advice from Rulon prior to the Sunkist Kids International.    Rulon explained to the reporter that he was acting as a mentor for a female wrestler who was on his wrestling club, the Sunkist Kids. This athlete had not yet been around the block, like Rulon had. Rulon has made a personal investment in this woman athlete and in the development of the women's wrestling program. Rulon's attitude is what will help the U.S. to become champions in women's wrestling, men and women working together in the quest for excellence.    Your U.S. Women's World wrestling team is talented and experienced. Every athlete has qualified for a previous World Championships. Four of them have been World finalists, including one World Champion. They have been working for months with our talented National Women's Coach Terry Steiner. Their World Team coaches Chris Horpel and Joe Corso have honed their skills and have helped them to peak. Your women's wrestling team is ready.    If you get a chance to meet these wrestlers, you will find them to be exceptional individuals, people you can be very proud of. They are hard working, dedicated and committed. They have not become the best in America by accident. They are also very interesting as individuals off the mat. At a future USA Wrestling event, spend some time with one of these athletes and you'll see what I am talking about.    If you haven't done so already, pick an athlete on the U.S. team to root for this weekend. Better yet, decide to root for the entire U.S. team. Follow their progress on TheMat.com. Celebrate with them when they succeed, and feel their pain when they fall short.    Thank you for your support. Your women's wrestling team truly appreciates it.    Note: TheMatside View will appear on TheMat.com on Tuesdays.