Since TheMat.com was launched prior to the 2000 Olympic Team Trials over two and a half years ago, the new national wrestling web page has experienced explosive growth. What began as a concept scrawled across large sheets of paper on an easel during a 1999 USA Wrestling staff meeting has evolved into one of the most active sports internet pages in the world.    TheMat.com was launched as the official web page of the Amateur Wrestling Alliance, with support from three organizations: USA Wrestling, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum and the National Wrestling Coaches Association. USA Wrestling was entrusted with managing the web page, and the organization hired its first internet director.    Wrestling, which is often given insufficient coverage in the mass media, has a loyal fan base that is starving for wrestling information, results and features. Nothing is more immediate in today's world of "instant gratification" than a well-stocked web page, and TheMat.com has worked hard to provide that for the wrestling community. "The Ultimate Source for Real Wrestling," the slogan for TheMat.com, is a guiding mission that drives those of us who contribute content regularly to the web page.    Within the Olympic sports family, TheMat.com has gained the respect of its peers. It is the most active NGB web site, and stacks up well against major web sites for other sports, regardless of level. Although we are pleased with our growth, we all understand that there is much more that TheMat.com can do.    I believe that this starts with simple education on how to best utilize the web page, and tap its rich source of information and materials. It seems to me that many people are just going to the wildly-popular Bulletin Boards and visiting the home page, and not bothering to click through to the many internal sections. If this is all that you are doing on your visits to TheMat.com, you are missing out on so much, really just scratching the surface. If you spend a little time and do some investigation, you might find many more things to enjoy.    A bit about the Bulletin Boards. There are a number of different categories in this section, with the College board the most active. This is an area that not only covers the college wrestling activity, but also delves into a variety of other wrestling topics. Those that just visit the College board should take a little time in the other sections. Three other levels of wrestling have strong followings on the board, International, High School and Youth, providing wrestling people the chance share information and ideas with their peers. The Title IX section has become respected as the most sophisticated on-line discussion on the issue anywhere in the world. The Women's board provides a valuable service to those involved in this growing sport. There are areas that cover important issues such as coaching and officiating. Even those with an interest in Mixed Martial Arts have their own area. If you are just visiting one or two of these boards, you are encouraged to spend time in the others areas and contribute to the national debate.    TheMat.com home page has changed over time, and will continue to make adjustments in its presentation. There is a commitment to bringing the most important news from the wrestling community to the world each day. You will note that there are at least two featured stories on the home page every day, as well as an ever-changing section for "Breaking News."    In addition, there are a number of popular topic sections that are placed on the home page, with breaking stories and features from these areas. Included in that selection are College News, Title IX, Inside Trip and Newsstand. A Coaching Education section will also soon be added to this area.    If all you do is read the three featured stories in each of these areas, you are missing out. There is a link where you can go into those sections and visit a long list of articles on these topics. For example the popular Newsstand section is basically a list of links to wrestling articles in newspapers and web pages across the nation. On many days, there are a lot more than three new links in this section. Some days, there may be over a dozen new stories. These "clippings" include stories on high school and college wrestling in local newspapers, plus Title IX features, athlete profiles and Olympics news. Rather than doing a web search each day for wrestling stories, Newsstand provides this for you. Click through and enjoy.    The Inside Trip is the opinion section of TheMat.com, where regular columnists and guest columnists are featured on wrestling topics. This section was recently revised and provided front-page status. TheMat.com reporter John Fuller and I do weekly columns, Executive Director Rich Bender provides periodic insight, and guest columnists are featured regularly. This is the section that those who have well-developed opinions can reach a wider audience. If you like making posts on the Bulletin Board, perhaps you might want to do something more in depth and submit it for Inside Trip.    No web page is complete without the nuts and bolts of sports, the rankings, results and schedule information. This is an area where TheMat.com works hard to keep current. There is a commitment to have major wrestling results posted as soon as possible, and the major rankings available on a consistent basis. Those looking to compete will find that USA Wrestling sanctioned events are also updated regularly, and local events can be quickly identified and researched.    TheMat.com takes great pride in its Special Coverage sections, when a staff reporter or contributor attends a major wrestling event and reports back to the nation. These sections are rich with stories, results, features, photos and background material right from matside. When a big-time event is going on, and you are not there, TheMat.com is doing its best to bring the action to you. It is no surprise that the user traffic for TheMat.com climbs to its highest levels when a Special Coverage section is active at a popular event.    Many people may not know about the special Search option on the web page. By typing in a word or phrase, and setting a time frame for the search, you can pull up all of TheMat.com stories on a specific topic. Want to know about the World Cup? You can get all of TheMat.com materials on that event. How about an athlete, like Kerry McCoy or Kristie Marano? The search function quickly will pull up all the information on that athlete within the time frame specified. This is the fastest and most efficient way to find things on TheMat.com, especially if the information is not within the last few weeks.    If you can find some time, click on some of the areas of TheMat.com that you have not visited. Chances are you can find something you did not know was there and something that you will find interesting and fun.    You can also easily access the web pages of our partner organizations by clicking on their logo from the home page. If you have not visited the internet pages for the National Wrestling Coaches Association or for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, you will find some tremendous information. USA Wrestling also has a specialized web page for its organizational activities. Give them a visit when you can.    USA Wrestling, working with the U.S. Olympic Committee, will soon be developing an e-mail newsletter that you can sign up for and receive at your email address. Visit TheMat.com and sign up for this newsletter in the upcoming weeks.    We are always looking for new ways to provide more and better material for our users. TheMat.com is welcome for any suggestions or ideas to improve. Let us know what you think. Thanks for visiting TheMat.com and staying current on the sport of wrestling.    Note: TheMatside View will appear on TheMat.com on Tuesdays.