TEAM GEORGIA: Wrestling organization knows its sport

Parents of high school athletes will probably all agree that it is so easy to find out information on sports such as football, basketball and even baseball. These are “mainstream” sports that children traditionally play at an early age in little leagues and peewee leagues across the country. Newspapers and television stations cover the glamour sports that could feature the next NFL, NBA or MLB player achieving greatness.

But what if your little athlete wants information on a sport that is quickly becoming the one of the most participating in sports in Georgia? What if you need to know about wrestling? That is where the Georgia Amateur Wrestling and teamgeorgiawrestling.com have risen to the top to expand the sport of wrestling across the Peach State.

Team Georgia is prominent in promoting wrestling throughout the state. In fact, the organization is the presenting sponsor of WSB’s coverage of this weekend’s wrestling state championships.

SUPPORTING THE SPORT …

Georgia Amateur Wrestling and Team Georgia do more though than just teach wrestling techniques and build the brand that is amateur wrestling in the state of Georgia. Team Georgia is a non-profit association that supports wrestling in the entire community. According to its chairman, Anthony Flatt, the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association is the grassroots governing body for USA Wrestling, the national organization that helps to sponsor the U.S. National team and the Olympic team.

“Our purpose is to grow wrestling and impact wrestlers,” said Flatt. The organization hosts over 120 youth tournaments each year, mostly at the middle school and elementary school levels; however, high school-age tournaments are offered outside of the GHSA season. “There are plenty of options in the spring and summer,” said Flatt of events for the high school-aged wrestlers.

The organization’s website answers questions, serves as a hub for registration for various events and even organizes trips to national events to help showcase Georgia’s young wrestlers. If you wonder how to read brackets, check the organization’s site. Want to know how to fill out registration forms? Team Georgia Wrestling can help. Want to know all about weight classes, age groups and bout times? Teamgeorgiawrestling.com can help with all of those inquiries. “We want to be a portal for everyone,” said Flatt of the site. Georgia Amateur Wrestling offers bronze-level coaching certification, as well as education for coaches, athletes and parents.

Flatt has served at the position for three years after serving as Kids Director for three years. Under his watch, the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association has experienced radical growth to the tune of 10 percent over the last seven years. “We have over 170 clubs (in Team Georgia) through high schools, churches and youth programs. In fact, 75 percent of the wrestlers that compete in the GHSA championships have gone through programs in the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association.”

Flatt was recently named USA Wrestling State Chairperson of the year, an award that honors the recipient for service and leadership within the organization. As an administrator, he hopes to help grow Team Georgia and the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association even more and to impact wrestling at the next level.

“Last year, $50,000 went into college programs in the state of Georgia,” said Flatt. He noted that Shorter University received $10,000 to revitalize the wrestling program and five Georgia colleges (three NAIA, one junior college, one four-year university) currently offer wrestling. “We want to keep the college wrestlers in-state. Ten years ago, a wrestler would have to go out of state if he wanted to keep wrestling,” said Flatt. He noted that offering wrestling makes sense for some of the state’s NAIA schools as it will help with their enrollment and would bring money to the university.

STEPPING IT UP …

Flatt is also trying to take the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association to places it has never been at a younger level. Team Georgia has started the Beat The Streets Georgia campaign, teaming up with local Boys & Girls clubs to start programs with at-risk middle schools to give students an after-school activity. “We wanted to offer students an alternative to going home and sitting by themselves for a few hours where they might get into trouble,” explained Flatt.

The first school to participate in the Beat The Streets Georgia campaign was Radloff Middle School, where after-school tutoring is offered along with a two-hour wrestling practice. The middle school would feed into Meadowcreek High School, a wrestling program that turned some heads this year.

Because the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association is non-profit, every single dollar made is put right back into various tournaments and other projects aimed at expanding the sport. One such project is the purchase and donation of wrestling clocks to various schools to use during events. Flatt said Team Georgia tries to help in any and every way it can.

The Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association and Team Georgia offer a full suite of services as the organization hopes to teach lessons such as determination, persistence and goal-setting instead of merely striving for national championships. Flatt focuses on wrestling, but for the parents that are after titles, Team Georgia does offer plenty of tournaments to satisfy the championship need. Young wrestlers can learn for up to two years in folkstyle wrestling tournaments. On a state level, the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association offers the Kid State Championships, with a “Little Kids” and a “Big Kids” bracket. Team Georgia participates in the Schoolboy Nationals (middle school level) in Indianapolis, the Cadet Nationals (high school freshman/sophomore) in Daytona Beach, as well as the Junior Nationals (high school juniors and seniors) in Fargo, N.D. The Junior Nationals is a 10-day event that has 50-60 of Georgia’s best wrestling in front of the largest collection of college recruiters in the country each summer.

If you are a wrestler, parent or coach, the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association and teamgeorgiawrestling.com both want to help. Team Georgia’s main mission is to help nurture the sport so that it might grow to be as popular and successful as baseball, football and basketball. Young or old, novice or expert, Team Georgia is there helping you become the best you can be. Take advantage of the full suite of services offered by the Georgia Amateur Wrestling Association. It is there for you.