Honoring Clinicians
Clinicians are the only group remaining that isn’t represented at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame or recognized by any of the national media outlets. Wrestling on the other hand does pay tribute to their coaches, athletes, contributors and officials as they should but not clinicians and I can’t figure out why?
I don’t think anyone will debate the importance and skill sets of clinicians. Their contributions to man’s oldest sport are extraordinary and for most wrestlers, clinics are the only way athletes have of meeting their heroes and the legends of our sport. Shouldn’t there be a way for us to honor these men and women for their service and as a result provide incentives for their efforts?
It’s well known that annually the average clinician comes in contact with well over 10 times more students of the game than the typical wrestling coach. How they represent themselves and how well they sell our sport while impacting the lives of those they come in contact should be chronicled.
The best clinicians use entertainment as the primary weapon to make their points. They motivate through the expenditure of energy, typically oodles of it. Technically they must know a far wider spectrum of the sport than coaches do. Clinicians are forced to find creative solutions to unorthodox problems in order to “connect” with their students.
For us to not honor the contributions of clinicians is to injure this wing of our profession and slight an important sub-group of the sport. There should be a category in the Hall of Fame for clinicians and the media outlets should annually honor at the very least, a Clinician of the Year.
All Star Classic Clinic
The NWCA All Star Classic is returning to Washington DC November 2nd. Last year’s event was a complete sellout with over 3,000 fans on a waiting list. Don’t miss all the action. It starts at noon on the campus of George Mason University with a clinic that features the Best Staff in the history of sport. There will be 25 clinicians teaching and featuring multiple national, world and Olympic champions. That’s followed by an All Star Social at 5:00pm and leads into to the Main Event, the NWCA All Star Classic with 9 returning NCAA Champions being part of the selection process. It’s going to be a great day for wrestling. More can be found at: www.wrestlersinbusiness.org/washingtondc
Here’s the line up of clinicians for the event:
Lou Rosselli, NCAA Champion; Tom Brands, Olympic and World Champion; Sunny Abe, Olympian; Lee Kemp, 3 time World Champion; Kevin Dresser, NCAA Champion; Wade Schalles, Collegiate World Champion; Wayne Boyd, NCAA Champion; Tom Scully, NCAA Champion; Greg Strobel, NCAA Champion; Teague Moore, NCAA Champion; Jim Miller, 3-time All American; Steve Fraser, World Champion; Kelly Ward, NCAA Champion; Kerry McCoy, NCAA Champion; Butch Keaser, World Champion; Pat Santoro, NCAA Champion; Jeff Buxton, Legendary Coach of Blair Academy; Carl Perry, NCAA Champion; Joe Russell, National Champion; Drew Pariano, 3-time All American; Cliff Moore, NCAA Champion; Todd Beckerman, 2-time All American; Mark Perry; NCAA Champion; Nate Carr, 3-time NCAA Champion; JJ Johnson, National Club Coach of the Year; Mike Ester, Head Wrestling Coach Indiana Tech; Jeff Bowyer, All-American; Joe Pantaleo, 2-time NCAA Finalist; Johnny Curtis, 2-time All American; Patrick Timm, 2-time All-American; Mark Cody, 3-time All-American.