July 29-30 Fargo, North Dakota

Walker, Minnesota to Fargo, North Dakota is only a little over 2 hours of driving time, but my trip was first to Minneapolis to drop off our youngest 2 daughters, Molly & Mackenzie, at the airport. Good family time at the lake and now in the car, for they were both on their way to Young Life’s “Wilderness Camp” in southwest Colorado. Four hours to Minneapolis and now another four hours to Fargo for USA Board meetings early the next day.

USA Wrestling has been holding its summer/fall board meetings at the Junior Nationals in Fargo. This seems to work out well. Good scheduling is vital for an organization and I think moves like this are smart in many ways. I’m sure there are drawbacks, but as long as the pluses out-weigh the minuses one should go for it. Especially unique was the World Freestyle team having their first phase of training in Fargo. This is a move I commend the organization and National Coach Kevin Jackson for making. My only recommendation would be to house them in a facility where they had good access to recovery facilities. Coach Bucky Maughan should have little problem in getting our number one teams and coaches a good housing rate in such a facility.

At the board meeting I was reminded that I am a chair on a committee that studies the rules of international wrestling. This had been discussed at the previous meeting, but I didn’t realize it was “official” from Rich Bender. I’ll take it beyond my everyday discussions and put it into more formal and authorized course of action. I did hear some conversation that makes me realize the need here - for the viewpoints seemed very inaccurate and outdated. Glad to help here, this is the ultimate for our sport and we need the best possible product. So, I’m booked for Budapest, Hungary for the World Championships and once again I’ll be updated with the current in our great sport...or at least the potential to be so.

Kathy (my wife) is getting somewhat road-weary and now that Fargo is complete we would head toward Iowa. Speaking of Iowa, the young wrestlers from Iowa in Fargo showed A LOT of potential for the next levels of competition – college and international – great sign!

Next stop: Okoboji, Iowa