It takes time to change the culture of a sport. For so many years, cutting weight has been an integral part of the wrestling experience. It often begins in youth wrestling, and does not let up until an athlete has completed his college or Olympic career.    It was not too many years ago that three college wrestlers died within a few weeks of each other and wrestling was forced to deal with its dirty little secret. Wrestling was threatened with elimination on the college level if it could not get its house in order. The weight management rules of college wrestling were changed, and many dangerous practices were banned. But the culture of weight cutting remains, passed on from generation to generation of wrestlers by their coaches, families and peers.    The key is education. And nothing is a better educational tool than real-life examples. This year's NCAA Div. I Championships gives young kids great role models when dealing with weight issues. Three of the 2003 NCAA champions decided to move UP a weight class this year, and were able to reach their life-long dream of winning a national title.    Those who made the decision to eat, lift and train harder, and were rewarded with a gold medal, were Eric Larkin of Arizona State, Robbie Waller of Oklahoma and Damion Hahn of Minnesota. Certainly, all three were extremely talented athletes at their previous divisions. But the decision to move up may have been the key to reaching the promised land.    If you attended the press conferences for these athletes throughout the NCAA Tournament, you heard a consisistent theme. These athletes did not have to worry about their weight on a day-to-day basis. They ate a normal diet, and did not have to consider dangerous weight management tricks. Every day in practice, they were able to concentrate on their wrestling, working the techniques, increasing their condititioning, honing their skills. They were having much more FUN being wrestlers.    Each had a different story. Larkin, who had gone 4-3-2 in his first three NCAA Tournaments, made the move up to 149 pounds from 141 pounds at the beginning of the season. It was not an easy decision, as he moved into a division that included the defending national champion Jared Lawrence of Minnesota. But Larkin and his coaches had complete confidence in his abilities, and decided that he was good enough to win against the larger competitors. In fact, he was so good that he was named Outstanding Wrestler of the entire NCAA Championships this year.    Waller's move up in weight had as much to do with dealing with injuries as it  did with anything else. A super talent, Waller missed large portions of his first three seasons due to injury. Last year, he was sixth in the nation at 165 pounds. He and coach Jack Spates figured he might be healthier if he moved up to 174 pounds and maintained his strength. Waller said that he wrestled more matches as a senior than he did his three previous seasons combined. With more matches came better performance, and perhaps for the first time in his career, he entered the NCAA season at his best.    Hahn made the move up in mid-season, after a disappointing loss to a freshman at 184 pounds (Oklahoma State's Jake Rosholt, who ultimately ended up winning the NCAA title also). Hahn came into college wrestling with great fanfare, and many were critical of his inability to become the dominant star that he was projected to be. His coaches made him participate in a wrestle-off at the new weight,  197 pounds, which he won. Once competing up in weight, Hahn's performance improved with each and every match. By the time the NCAA Tournament came along, he was peaking. His energy level was high, and he won both of this semifinal and finals matches with last-second takedowns. Hahn had become the Hahn that everybody had expected, but it took a change in approach to make it happen.    Here are some examples the things that these men said on the road to the NCAA title:    "I feel great now. I don't worry about my weight. I get to eat all the time," said Eric Larkin after his semifinal victory.    "I am maybe a pound over before the match. I am eating everything I want to eat. I don't have to watch what I weigh. I am down at the wrestling room every day working on my technique. I have focused more on wrestling and on conditioning. The last two tournaments have proven itself," said Damion Hahn after his semifinal win.    "If you look at it, I wrestled more in my senior year than my other three years combined. I was hurt. The move up to 174 was the key. I asked the coaches and we decided to try it. It paid off 100%. I'm glad we had a coaching staff that was willing to risk with me going up and maybe not doing so well," said Robbie Waller after his finals victory.    What stops a wrestler from making a jump in weight? In the United States, it is a combination of fear, bravado and peer pressure. For far too many years, U.S. wrestlers have been told by "whoever" that you get an advantage when you cut weight and face smaller guys. However, if everybody is cutting weight, you are really only wrestling the guys you would have anyway without the severe drain of sucking off the pounds. People are afraid that the performance will slip if an athlete moves up a class. Sometimes it is the coaches, sometimes the parents, sometimes the teammates that make an athlete cut too much weight. There is also that macho streak of wrestlers who get some kind of buzz out of showing they can give an ultimate sacrifice to reach their goals.    If you look around the world, many of the best nations don't cut weight. Russia, the world's greatest wrestling nation, has always considered our weight practices a little bit strange. Over there, they work much more on technique and strategy, and make sure that they have the physical strength needed to complete their moves. It is not uncommon to see Russians (and other international athletes) make a jump up in division and do as well or better at the higher class. One Russian Greco-Roman Olympic champion jumped up two divisions after the Sydney Games and claimed a World title. Somehow, these examples never quite make it into American wrestling rooms.    A few years back, I made a big deal in a few articles of the fact that Jeff McGinness of Iowa jumped two weight classes and won a NCAA title as a senior. Perhaps, with your help, we can tell the story of this year's heroes, of Larkin and Waller and Hahn. We need to give our young wrestlers some new role models concerning weight management, and at least give them the option of choosing to gain weight instead of lose weight. And like Larkin, Waller and Hahn, they may find wrestling a lot more fun, and be able to concentrate more on the skills, strength and strategy needed to be a champion.    TheMatside View is published on Tuesdays most of the time.