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The Indiana wrestling team reported for its first round of meetings for the 2005-06 season today, while its official season does not begin until November. The Hoosiers will kickoff the year traveling to Columbia, Mo., for the Missouri Open on Nov. 20.

IU’s first day of practice this year will be on Sept. 12, while the Hoosiers also will be training and practicing two hours prior to every home football game for the duration of the preseason.

“We are anxious for the season to begin,” head coach Duane Goldman said. “We are coming off a great year at both the NCAA and Big Ten Championships, and look to build on that success.”

Goldman and the IU coaching staff welcomes six newcomers in Matt Coughlin (Evansville, Ind./Mater Dei), Angel Escobedo (Griffith, Ind./Griffith), Maurice Gunn (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North), Scott Kelley (Carmel, Ind./Carmel), Seth Parker (Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) and Trevor Perry (Davison, Mich.) to an already seasoned Hoosier roster. Goldman’s 2005-06 recruiting class comes in highly regarded, ranking in the top 10 by InterMat Wrestling’s Top-25 recruiting class rankings.

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Bobby Douglas enjoyed coaching U.S. women’s university team, learning new things about being a coach
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

You might think Bobby Douglas has done everything there is to do in wrestling. An Olympic athlete, Olympic coach and NCAA Champion coach, among so many other achievements, Douglas is one of the most prominent people in the sport of wrestling.

A Hall of Fame member, Douglas is currently the head coach at Iowa State Univ., a perennial college wrestling power. One of his top pupils was Cael Sanderson, who won four NCAA titles and an Olympic gold medal. There can’t be anything in wrestling that Douglas hasn’t done, right?

What Bobby Douglas had never done, until just a few weeks ago, is coach a U.S. women’s wrestling team at a major competition. In Izmir, Turkey this summer, he served as coach for the U.S. team at the World University Games. The best college women wrestlers in the world came together to battle for honors in this prestigious event.

The United States had a strong performance, with four bronze medals won from the five-athlete team. The field was very strong, with numerous World and Olympic medalists in the competition. Joining Douglas on the tour were coach Tadaaki Hatta and Team Leader Greg Strobel, both who also have extensive experience leading U.S. men’s teams.

BY ARNOLD KNIGHTLY
BUSINESS PRESS

Light heavyweight James Irvin caught Terry Martin with a flying knee to the head nine seconds into the second round, knocking out Martin in the opening bout of UFC 54: Boiling Point. Martin was given oxygen and removed from the octagon ring by stretcher.

Four-time champion Randy Couture out-wrestled former-NCAA Wrestling Champion Mike Van Arsdale, who tapped out on a modified choke hold in the third round.

In the main event, light heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell knocked challenger Jeremy Horn to the canvas five times before Horn had enough midway through the fourth round.

All the while, a crowd of 13,520 roared its approval of the Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“Three years ago, people would have laughed at you if you would have said they’d have 10,000 people,” said Keith Kizer, chief deputy attorney general and legal counsel to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. “Three years ago if you said they’d do more than $2 million, they would have said ‘You’re crazy.’ They’ve just brought new blood into it and really made it viable.”

Teacher’s summer wrestling camp also pins down math, reading skills

Gary McLendon
Staff writer

Arkee Allen coaches wrestling in the suburbs. But he hasn’t forgotten his city roots.

This summer, in a combination of two of his passions, Allen started the Roc wrestling program, linking sports with academics.

The five-week program, free for participants because of corporate sponsorships, enabled children between ages 5 and 14 to spend time reading, spelling, writing, doing math — and wrestling — at Downtown United Presbyterian Church on North Fitzhugh Street.

“When I signed them up, they’d say, ‘Oh, we’re going to learn how to slam people! Oh, man, we’re going to get into a ring?’

“I said, ‘You’ve seen WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)? We’re going to do some of that stuff.’ … They like it,” Allen said.

The wrestling is a hook.

“I tell them, ‘You’re going to learn to wrestle after you do an hour in math or reading. Math and reading is why we’re here.’ ”

Still, wrestling is natural fun.

“We like it,” said Alana Worth, 8, who was working on her spelling as the program wound down in mid-August.

By DAVID MAYBERRY
Star-Tribune staff writer

There’s finally a book by a prominent athlete that — from cover to cover — is believable. Fittingly, Rulon Gardner wrote it.

Instead of a chapter or more devoted to the tawdriness often highlighted on Sportscenter, this farm boy focuses on what has defined his life.

“There’s the good, bad … everything,” Gardner told the Star-Tribune. “I just hope people let kids read it. It’s not glorious stuff, just a story about an athlete working hard for a dream.”

“Never Stop Pushing” is a 341-page summary of Gardner’s many speeches he gives while on tour. His win over Alexander Karelin at the 2000 Games in Sydney prompted the professional speaking requests that prompted the suggestion for the book.

“Get it in a book,” people told him. “More people need to hear this story.”

While best known for his ‘Miracle on the Mat’ at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Gardner’s book is themed around the ‘Miracle in the Mountains,’ title of the 18th chapter. Recollections from his near-death experience preface almost every chapter, but the details about his misguided snowmobile journey in western Wyoming take up 53 pages of the book.

Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

Dan Gable’s name is synonymous to excellence in wrestling. The legendary athlete who turned into a champion coach still inspires an ever-growing population enthralled with the sport of wrestling. Many wrestling fans admiringly speak of the stories that they’ve heard about “Gable” as an aura of intensity surrounds him. The legend of Gable is something that people know will help build the sport.

USA Wrestling, with the permission of Dan Gable, has a special program available that will help local organizers, state associations, and regions develop an exciting series of events.

The Dan Gable Folkstyle Challenge, in its second year of existence, is again being offered to grass-roots tournament organizers nationally. The Gable Challenge program gives organizers a tremendous ability to develop the series in ways that would best fit the needs of the local wrestling community.

According to Mark Scott, Director of State Services, “This program keeps control of local events in the hands of the grass-roots community; yet, it connects each participant in these events with a tremendous wrestling hero.”

Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

USA Wrestling and Northern Michigan University are pleased to announce the hiring of Celso “Tony” DeAnda of Colorado Springs, Colo. to serve as the United States Olympic Education Center (USOEC) Assistant Women’s Freestyle Wrestling Coach.

DeAnda will work with USOEC Head Women’s Freestyle Wrestling Coach Shannyn Gillespie to coach the women freestyle wrestlers who participate in the USOEC Women’s Wrestling Resident Program at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich.

This program provides wrestlers with the opportunity to train full-time in Olympic women’s freestyle wrestling at an elite level, while receiving their college education.

In addition to working with the USOEC resident athletes and team, DeAnda will also become a valuable member of USA Wrestling’s professional National Women’s wrestling coaching staff, helping to build the United States women’s team into the world’s best program.

“He is a perfect fit for the USOEC Assistant Women’s Coach job,” said National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner. “He is very technical, and does a great job breaking down technique. He has been a resident athlete, so he knows what that experience is like. His personality is perfect for dealing with women wrestlers. He will be a great asset to the Northern Michigan program and to the women’s coaching staff.”

FILA signs four-year television contracts to broadcast World, European, Asian and World Cup events
FILA web page/

For the new Olympic cycle, FILA undertook to renegotiate former TV contracts, in particular with EBU (European Broadcasting Union), and to sign new ones with countries which will ensure a better visibility of wrestling in the world.

Until now, we have had to enter into negotiations with broadcasting companies for each championship, which implied constant uncertainties regarding our sponsors.

In order to set more efficient marketing strategies and guarantee the promotion of the different wrestling styles, FILA signed several four-year contracts, starting in 2005, with the following TV channels:

- EBU, the European Broadcasting Union covering all the European countries
- ON Channel, the American “World Championships Channel”
- NTV Russia, worldwide broadcasting satellite channel
- Uzbekistan TV, national channel
- Lider TV Azerbaijan, worldwide broadcasting satellite channel
- IEC Sweden

All of these four-year contracts include the broadcasting of the World, European, and Asian Senior Championships, as well as the World Cup for the three styles.

FILA is also negotiating four-year contracts with the following companies: