NCAA DI Coaches for Women's Wrestling: Growth
RTCs can provide many opportunities for female wrestlers.
by Shannyn J. Gillespie
This is a guest column. Gillespie is the current Head Coach at Homewood-Floossmoor High School (IL), past assistant coach at Lincoln College (IL) & former USA Wrestling National Team Staff Coach.
Intro
This article shows ways & means how NCAA Division 1 coaches can help grow the sport primarily through implementing regional training center programs with their respective wrestling clubs. Smaller schools or NAIA, NJCAA, & even NCAA D2/D3 programs can also benefit from these ideas. In fact, many smaller schools are already using this model to help bridge the gap of resources for their programs...
RTCs & Wrestling Clubs
Several years ago, USA Wrestling created the “Regional Training Centers” to help aspiring Olympic wrestlers — generally male post-graduates — attain their wrestling goals at existing colleges & universities via wrestling clubs. These RTCs are similar to Olympic Training Centers (aka U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers) i.e. they provide resources in freestyle or Greco-Roman training and in some cases residency. Many of the NCAA DI schools have embraced these RTCs — as an alternative to the Olympic Training Centers — and have wrestling clubs there to help support these aspiring Olympians financially.
Recently, RTCs like the ones at the University of Wisconsin & University of Iowa have started training women who are either still in college or out of college and full-time athletes. In any event, these RTCs, via their associated wrestling clubs, are supporting women wrestlers to train for—and make Olympic teams. These opportunities offer an alternative to training in Colorado Springs, Colorado and offer women opportunities similar to the men who train there—equality.
If this trend continues, this may open up the door for more graduating high school female senior wrestlers to be members of these wrestling clubs & RTCs. Also, if this trend continues, the wrestling clubs could be a catalyst to create women’s varsity level wrestling programs at the colleges & universities who show a need for the growing numbers of female wrestlers on their campuses.
NCAA DI coaches can attract high school graduating senior female wrestlers to their wrestling clubs & RTCs likely with much more ease than smaller schools due to the brands of their NCAA DI school’s name alone. For one, many larger colleges & universities offer more of a variety of academic disciplines or majors than many smaller schools (with similar master’s & doctoral programs too). And two, many larger NCAA DI schools may actually be regionally closer to students. As an example, Menlo College is the only 4-year college that offers women’s collegiate wrestling in California. And, California has around 6,000 high school girl wrestlers—many of whom leave CA to wrestle in college.
As alluded to earlier, the brands of the Big 10, ACC, Big 12, MAC, Ivy League, PAC 12, EIWA, etc. have alluring power all of their own which will attract graduating high school girl wrestlers — just like how, currently, high school boy wrestlers are attracted. Many of big schools have credentialed coaching staff that are similar to men’s & women’s National Team coaches that coach USAs World & Olympic teams. In other words, many NCAA DI coaches have wrestled & won Olympic, NCAA, & State championships. Other NCAA DI coaches have made USA National Teams as athletes, been resident athletes at the Olympic Training Centers, or have had exceptional success with coaching at the high school level. All of those credentials do not make the coach a great coach… However, those credentials were pointed out because many of these coaches exist at NCAA DI schools and to show the similar ability of the USA National Team coaches to the many NCAA DI coaches. These reasons alone may be justification for why many of the current & past USA National Team athletes choose/chose to train at their alma mater, current employer, or other colleges/universities. Again, RTCs & Wrestling Clubs offer a viable alternative to the Olympic Training Centers that many wrestlers have already taken advantage of. And now, female wrestlers can follow this model and use this same advantage...
High School Coaches
High School Coaches are the main source for high school wrestlers training & support. These coaches are also on the front line when it comes to communication to high school administrators, parents, & students. All of this is important for NCAA DI coaches who plan to recruit high school students (boys or girls) to their respective institutions and the next proposal…
Many NCAA DI coaches already use email lists for high school coaches regarding enrolling in summer camps, wrestling clinics, or various other types of fundraisers. Some also offer e-newsletters & websites to report competition results, schedules, & upcoming important events. These same communication channels could be used to create an RTC & Wrestling Club for most NCAA DI schools — which also offers training for female wrestlers who aspire to make Olympic Teams. Most NCAA DI institutions have already seen the benefit RTCs & Wrestling Clubs provide and can use this info to start this proposal now — with the assistance of high school coaches in their respective areas.
Generally, many NCAA DI schools employ high school coaches at summer camps, tournaments, or other types of fundraisers. Now, these same group of coaches can help build both high school girls wrestling and women’s collegiate wrestling. The women’s collegiate wrestling label can start as an RTC & Wrestling Club. This idea stems from the success & growth of the many RTCs & Wrestling Clubs over the last decade or so. The additional step is to use the momentum of female participation wrestling growth (in high school & college) by NCAA DI coaches who understand, and, are already taking advantage of RTCs & Wrestling Clubs.
Equal Opportunities & Freestyle
In the article Open Letter to College Presidents & ADs: Women’s Wrestling, Title IX was explained as one of the reasons men’s wrestling programs were eliminated or dropped by colleges. By providing RTCs & Wrestling Clubs, NCAA DI schools can further equal opportunity as spelled out by Title IX in 1972 — and grow the sport. Additionally, the style of wrestling at most RTCs is primarily freestyle or the Olympic style of wrestling. The above article also goes into detail about how the collegiate wrestling style for women is also the style competed at the Olympic Games. To be certain, NCAA DI coaches can play a big role in providing equal opportunities for women’s wrestling via their RTCs & Wrestling Clubs.
Benefits Abound
Most RTCs & Wrestling Clubs provide opportunities for additional training partners and coaches at NCAA DI schools. This means most NCAA DI schools are able to add coaches & training partners through their RTCs & Wrestling Clubs and stay within the rules & regulations of the NCAA.
What benefit does more coaches & training partners provide?
More coaches & training partners give more opportunities for growth or development for each individual training in any training environment. Or, more support can be given to any program when more credentialed, qualified, & motivated people are united plus inspired by the same goal — improvement. Also, and emphasized again, the benefits that are provided at RTCs & Wrestling Clubs to aspiring Olympians — are spread out over more training centers. RTCs, or alternatives to Olympic Training Centers, mean more people can get more benefits because more resources are available throughout the country.
Conclusion
All of the above will help female wrestling and our wonderful sport grow. Many of the ideas are already in place and will take the leadership of more NCAA DI coaches to keep the momentum going. In the end, wrestling can continue to survive, grow, & thrive if we embrace this new era!