Jordan Burroughs I am Not

Wow, that's a shocker.  The only similarities are that we both broke our ankles last year and then took an extended period of time off from wrestling afterwards.  As I mentioned in a previous article, JB managed to win the World Championships on a broken ankle, and then he took the rest of 2013 off to rehab his ankle and to get married.  I, on the other hand, broke my ankle at a rinky-dink local tournament.  I've been MIA from blogging since then because of rehabbing my ankle, job searching, and coaching (what else did you think I've been doing since October???).  Now that most of that is done, I want to recommit myself to providing one article for you each week.

This season I once again was an assistant coach for the Copley Youth Wrestling team.  I've also been working one-on-one twice a week with a talented eighth grader from the Copley Middle School team.  He only has one loss on the season, and I've got high hopes for him.  I'm also working with some students at the University of Akron that are looking to start an NCWA (National Collegiate Wrestling Association) Club Team.  They've got uniforms, a place to wrestle, and plenty of enthusiasm for next year.

There are plenty of good tournaments that I'm planning on seeing as well.  I'll be meeting up with a friend from college in Columbus the last weekend of February to watch the Ohio High School State Championships and the Arnold Classic.  March 14th-15th, I'll be up in Cleveland watching the NCAA DII National Championships.  I'm already looking forward to 2018, when Cleveland will host both the NCAA DI and DIII championships.  If only the USAW US Nationals could come back to Cleveland one of these years...

After this season my focus will be helping the UAkron students get organized and prepared for next season, freestyle and greco-roman wrestling, possibly helping to start a Beat the Streets program in Akron and/or Cleveland, writing more, and continuing my crusade against excessive weight-cutting.  It wasn't until sometime this past fall that I finally had a clear vision of my long term-goals supporting the sport of wrestling.  Whether I'll compete any more is still up in the air.

Support the sport at all levels,
Jeff

P.S.  Long overdue, here is the webcast from the TourACW competition I wrestled in back in October.  Only one of my three matches was recorded.  Check out the Early Round Archives, 2 hr 6 min mark.