Members of Team USA at the Finale of the 2024 Beach Wrestling World Series, Porec, Croatia, grab a photo op with USA Wrestling President Bruce Baumgartner.
October 12
Not everyone we’ve seen at the first four World Series events this year are here in Porec. But, the studs are here!
There’s a pretty good chunk of money on the table for those named “World Champion”. A few of those will actually win this single event… but it’s not a necessity. World Series Champions are those who have accumulated the greatest point totals through the total five events, beginning in Acapulco last February.
Rankings, based on those accumulated totals, seed the four-person pools in each Series event. That makes it really tough on great athletes who may not have attended many Series events.
Take note that, in the 2024 Series, three of the five events were hosted within a nine-hour drive (Timisoara, Katerini, Porec). A fourth, St Laurent du Var, is an overnight bus ride for European Beach powers like Romania, Ukraine, Greece.
Now, look at the pragmatic problems for our best Americans. Even the first event, Acapulco, is a thousand-dollar flight. Then, fly to Europe four times in three months? Not for most 20-something year olds.
So, many of our American athletes struggle to build up enough points to be seeded. Those short on points are entirely likely to be “randomly” drawn into the dreaded “Knock Out” Round. Win or go home!
The current bracketing structure for the Beach World Series demands a so-called ‘perfect’ number… divisible by four. A weight class with 11 athletes will have two knock outs.
This morning’s draw placed exactly half of our American 12 in knock outs. Three of our six fought their way into pool play. The other three spent roughly a thousand dollars a minute for their World Series experience. Not good!
Several nations have fought, over the last five years, to have UWW and the World Series leadership design and implement an alternative to the knockout. While every nation loses an athlete or two, each event, the system clearly targets Pan-American, Asian and African competitors.
Our UWW Beach Wrestling Commission meets Monday. Commission members from at least three nations are offering alternative bracketing proposal that will end the ridiculous knock out. In so doing, it’ll become a lot easier for a kid from Vietnam, Senegal, Japan, or Venezuela to have a fair shot. Keep your fingers crossed!
So… we’ve got nine tenacious Americans competing in Sunday morning’s third round. A few are scrappin’ for a podium appearance and a check. All of them will fight for personal and national pride.
Ciao,
Rusty
October 11
The Greco-Roman portion of the Veterans World Championship began this morning. In the afternoon, we attended the Referees Course, then the Technical Conference for the Final event of the ’24 Beach Wrestling World Series. We weigh in tomorrow morning.
These Technical Conferences, while mandatory, tend to be a little Same Ole… Same Ole. Today’s meeting was special!
There were two great Heavyweights in the room. One was Azerbaijan’s Oyan Nazariani, who achieved Legend Status as a Beach Champion. The other was an American big guy… Bruce Baumgartner. Maybe you’ve heard of him.
Both Bruce and Oyan are, indeed, big men. Both competed at 130kg. What’s noteworthy is that ‘Big’ doesn’t simply describe their outward appearance. Both men are absolute Giants of Humanity!
After a successful career in Greco and on the Beach, Oyan made the easy transition to coaching. His Nazaryani Academy, in Baku, is pumping out young champions, both on the mat and in the sand.
Bruce finished his competitive career with 13 World and Olympic Medals, including two Olympic Golds. He went on to a successful career as Coach, then AD, then administrator at Edinboro. Bruce is President of USA Wrestling.
With resumes like these, neither Oyan nor Bruce could be blamed for being, just a tad, full of themselves. Neither are… never in the least bit. Both are fully invested in the development and well-being of others.
Bruce is twice Oyan’s age. As they met, watching Oyan’s eyes light up like a kid at Christmas captured the whole room. (OK… Nazaryani is Moslem, but you get the simile.) As others in the room were drawn, one stood out.
The Head Coach of the Georgian team (forgive me for not remembering his name) approached with is interpreter. The Coach, like many of us, goes back a way. He was a teammate of and remains close friends with David Gobejishvili. David is the current President of the Georgian Wrestling Federation.
Competing under the now defunct flag of the Soviet Union, Gobejishvili was Olympic and Two-Time World Champion, adding an Olympic Bronze and World Silver. Competing throughout the eighties and early nineties, a fierce rivalry (on the mat) developed between David and Baumgartner.
The intense rivalry, on the mat, and the true friendship off, gives us all reason to celebrate these two human giants, along with the younger Nazaryani. Relationships are the fuel that keeps Wrestling’s fire glowing.
I’m savoring just one more nugget of why I feel so lucky to have lived a wrestling life. I got to watch David Gobejishvili and Bruce Baumgartner wrestle. I got to watch Oyan Nazaryani wrestle.
I get to watch 12 great Americans, along with their opponents, wrestle tomorrow.
Thanks, Wrestling!
Ciao,
Rusty
October 10
At this writing (Thursday night) we’re close to having all our Americans in Porec. Our last few are in transit from the Zagreb airport now. Zagreb is about a three-hour drive.
Today’s arrivals got a brisk workout with Coach Timmy (Box, Palomar College) this evening. Our USA member to the UWW Beach Wrestling Committee is Ed Duncan. He and Team Leader, Jamie McNabb, are piecing together the logistics for tomorrow’s meetings.
It’s a real bonus to have the Veterans World Championship running alongside the Beach Finale. That does, however, create a lot more moving parts for our Croatian hosts. Athletes, Coaches, Leaders, Referees and UWW staff are scattered among five hotels. Everything, including both the indoor venue and the beach, is at least a ten-minute ride from everything else.
I continue to hold these Veteran competitors, as well as our Beach Wrestling athletes, in total awe! Ya’ know… we all talk to young wrestlers and their families about “Doin’ things for the Love”. I believe we should pull up some video or social media posts from our Beach and Veteran competitors to validate what that “Love” really means.
Remember, our Beach athletes and Veterans fall outside USAW’s mainstream National Teams program… and its budget. All these folks are completely self-funded. They are giving up work, vacation time, and for many Beach Wrestlers… school.
Many also make additional sacrifice to bring family members. Everyone gets a few hours of wrestling. But, add to that the relationships, the T-shirt and warm up trading, the cultural experience of global interaction. Therein lies the real payday… the real podium.
Watching our older guys, along with our Beach young, reminds us of those core values wrestling develops and promotes. Just witnessing the respect, the comradery, the honest love these competitors share builds instant lessons we all need to share with the little kids in our rooms.
I’m a big Mark Twain fan. Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
… Musta’ been a wrestler! Thanks, Mark Twain. Thanks, Beach Wrestlers. Thanks, Veterans. You remind us all why we love this stuff.
Ciao,
Rusty
October 9
I’m feeling pretty lucky!
Today and tomorrow are travel days for most of our delegation. We’ve already got team members scattered between three airports (Pula, Zagreb, Trieste) and ground transportation is sketchy, at best. I drove.
Eva and I live about four hours from here (Turnisce, Slovenia), during the summer. I stayed behind an extra two weeks so I could be at the Final event of the ’24 Series. Next week, it’s back to the States to jump into the Folkstyle and Women’s Collegiate seasons.
Team USA has fourteen athletes, six women, eight men, on their way to Porec. We look to ice the cake of an historic 2024 season. It’s clear that exposure to Beach Wrestling, at the age group levels, across our great nation is paying off.
Eliana (Bommarito) will lead the charge, as returning World Champion and two-time U20 World Medalist). On the men’s side, Justin Benjamin is still in the hunt and is capable of a great weekend.
The entire group is made up of some legitimate scrappers. We will definitely make some noise.
One American who will get to hear that noise is USAW President Bruce Baumgartner. Bruce is in Porec to support Americans, not only on the Beach, but in the Veterans World Championship that began yesterday.
I visited with Bruce this evening during the Category D Veterans Freestyle finals. I’m an old guy, so Bruce and I go back a ways. I referee a ton of his matches as he grew into legend.
Bruce has been curious about Beach Wrestling for a while. Combining this World Series Finale with the Veterans created the right travel chemistry for President Baumgartner to satisfy that curiosity.
I know several members of the UWW Bureau will be on hand this weekend, too. A few are in early for the Veterans. President (Nenad) Lalovic is scheduled to arrive Friday.
So… Yeah! This is an exciting event, in an exciting time for the future of mankind’s oldest sport. What a miracle it is that Wrestling continues to make itself new… over and over and over.
I’m feeling pretty lucky.
Ciao
Rusty