Dear USA Wrestling Utah Fans and Athletes,

It's the first week of High School practice and honestly this is what most of the country loves most about the sport.  The Olympics are fun, NCAAs are awesome, but the lifeblood of our sport happens at the high school level.  I love watching high school matches knowing the back-story on each one. Even the ones I don’t know, I do know they all have a story, one always filled with dedication, sacrifice, goals, sweat and tears. It is an awesome time of year and I personally want to wish each High School athlete the best of success this season.

A few important points that I want to make sure everyone in Utah knows:

1) USAWU Board and Jr. High committee has approved the use of fight shorts and rash guard fight shirts as official uniforms for all Jr. High and younger events INCLUDING the spring season;

2) USAWU will be partially subsidizing a High School National team to travel to the High School Folkstyle Nationals in Iowa this year.  Each HS Super State champion will qualify for this national team to Iowa.   It is a large financial commitment from USAWU for the top HS athletes in our state;

3) USAWU will now match up to $200 of fundraising for any world team member.  In other words, if a wrestler wins a world team spot from Utah and is willing to go out and raise money for the trip, USAWU will match a donation;

4) We welcome new USAWU board members, Amy Richardson from Claw, John and Rowanna Fager from Crusher,  Anna Butler of Westlake, Pat Garcia from Team Prestige and Trent Richins of Team Extreme;

5)  Last year, USAWU committed a $2.00 portion of every membership card sold in rural Utah counties to be used only on athletes who make the national teams from that county.  It is an effort for rural Utah coaches and athletes to build their membership knowing that money they pay in for membership will be used for local athletes and not only for the more populous areas of the state.

6)  Our membership is again for the seventh straight year growing at a tremendous pace. Our sport is healthy and we are all excited about it. 

Mark your calendars for these three Huge USAWU events:

• High School All-Star Duals.  Jan 7^th @ UCCU Center. All proceeds for UVU Wrestling
• Youth Super State @ Wasatch Event Center. Feb 7-8^th
• High School Super State & National Team Qualifier @ Maverik Center.  Feb 22^nd

^{​Thank you for your support see you on the mat!}

^{Craig LaMont}