Make history by winning Beach or Sombo Nationals

The year was 1971, and a fledgling wrestling organization called the U.S. Wrestling Federation decided to host a national freestyle competition for high school wrestlers. The event was named the Junior Nationals, and the word went out in the wrestling community inviting athletes from across the nation to participate.

The competition was held at the Univ. of Iowa. The field included wrestlers from many states, with the strongest turnout from the Midwest area. It was the first time this event had been held.

One of the champions there, 123-pounder Jimmy Carr of Pennsylvania, made the 1972 U.S. Olympic freestyle team the next year as a high school student. Another champion, Joe Corso of Iowa at 114.5 pounds, was also able to make an Olympic team, the 1976 freestyle squad.

Some people may not know that the Outstanding Wrestler of that tournament was Robin Richard of Oregon, the 178-pound champion. For the record, the other champions in that event were Nathanial Byrd of Michigan (105.5), Kit Shaw of Washington (132), Andre Allen of Illinois (143), Dan Holm of Illinois (154), Chuck Berrier of Iowa (165), Dave Curby of Michigan (191) and Jim Witzleb of Illinois (Hwy).

Now, 35 years later, this fledgling event has grown into the ASICS/Vaughan Junior Nationals, part of the world’s largest wrestling tournament, and the premier competition for wrestlers on the high school level. Those 10 wrestlers, who were champions at the very first Junior Nationals, were pioneers for what developed into one of our sport’s greatest showcases.

In a few weeks, there is another opportunity for wrestlers to enter a brand new event and make history as the first national champions in that competition. There is a possibility available for somebody to show up and get their name in the record books first.

USA Wrestling will be hosting the first U.S. Beach Wrestling National Championships in Riviera Beach, Fla., alongside the first U.S. Sombo National Championships in held in North Palm Beach, Fla. The competitions will be August 19-20, and like that first Junior Nationals, a call has been made to the wrestling community to come down and participate.

Who will make history by becoming the first national champions in Beach Wrestling and in Sombo Wrestling? Will it be you?

There are many reasons for attending the U.S. Beach National Championships and/or the U.S. Sombo National Championships. For those who enjoy wrestling and are open to the challenge of competing in a variety of styles, these tournaments offer a new opportunity. Making history is just one of the benefits of choosing to enter these events.

Nobody in the United States knew much about Beach Wrestling on August 24, 2004 when FILA made an announcement during the Athens Olympic Games that a new sport had been added to international wrestling. This was a historic day for wrestling in many ways, because at the same time, FILA announced the many rule and format changes now used in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. FILA said it was the beginning of the “new world of wrestling,” and many different ideas were presented to the international sports community.

Since then, we have learned more about Beach Wrestling. USA Wrestling started sanctioning Beach Wrestling events in 2005, and a number of states decided to give the sport a try. The first large-scale event that drew big numbers and attention was the ASICS East Coast Beach National Championships in Long Beach, N.Y. last August. Over 200 competitors in a number of age divisions came out on a sunny day to compete in the sand and learn a new style. There was a considerable media turnout for the event, and thousands of beach-goers stopped by to watch the action all day. It was considered a big success, and the organizers will be holding another tournament again on August 12-13. In 2006, there have been a number of other individuals holding beach tournaments, in places including Virginia, Ohio, New Mexico, Oregon, Oklahoma and New Hampshire.

Who wrestles on the beach? Really, anybody who competes in wrestling can participate. The sport is very simple to understand. Two wrestlers get inside a ring on the sand. The athletes can score a point by getting a takedown or when the opponent steps out of the ring. Two points wins a match. It is simple for athletes to learn and easy for fans to understand.

In addition to a Senior level event, USA Wrestling will host age-group competitions during the National Championships for Schoolboy, Cadet, Elite and Veterans divisions. This opens the possibility that entire families of wrestlers can come to the tournament and compete on the same day. There were a number of father-son combinations who have competed in the previous Beach tournaments, and it would not be surprising to see more of them in Florida this summer.

Who will be champions in Beach Wrestling? Who knows at this point. Competing in the sand is different than wrestling on a mat. The sand can slow down the action, which allows athletes who might be a bit slower or a bit older a better chance. Upper body wrestling can be important in some situations. Somebody who has practiced wrestling in the sand might have an advantage over somebody who is trying it for the first time. Really, this is truly a “wide open” competition, and it will take some time before the sport and its participants develop.

Sombo is a different matter. Sombo has had a history for many years, not only on the world scene but also within the United States. Sombo is a style of jacket wrestling with submission holds originally developed in the former Soviet Union as a form of unarmed self-defense.

The sport was initially developed in the 1920’s and was recognized in the Soviet Union as an official sport in 1938. It became popular in Eastern Europe and began to be practiced in many nations. In the 1960’s, FILA, the international wrestling federation, recognized sombo as a form of wrestling, and competition were held around the world on a continental and world level.

For a short time, USA Wrestling was involved in Sombo within the United States, and held Sombo competitions. A number of athletes who competed in freestyle and Greco-Roman got involved in Sombo, and some were successful. The most prominent of these athletes was Greg Gibson, an Olympic Greco-Roman medalist and World freestyle medalist who also was able to win a World title in Sombo.

In the mid-1980’s, FILA decided to no longer include Sombo as an international style of wrestling, and the sport developed its own international program. Sombo continued to be practiced around the world and in the United States, but there were a number of different organizations that governed the sport. As in the past, some of the Sombo participants were from the wrestling community, while others were involved in a variety of other martial arts disciplines.

In 2005, FILA made a decision to bring Sombo back into wrestling as a recognized international style. USA Wrestling, as the national governing body for wrestling in the nation, will manage Sombo within the United States. An ad-hoc committee for the sport has been formed, and the first competition for the organization was held in Washington, D.C. in May as a qualifier for the Pan American Championships. There seems to be an extra interest in Sombo with the popularity of mixed martial arts in our nation.

FILA made a decision to host its first World Championships in both Beach Wrestling and Sombo this fall in Antalya, Turkey, set for the first week of November 2006. With that in mind, the first U.S. National Championships in both Beach Wrestling and Sombo will be hosted during the same weekend. The inaugural National Championships in both sports will be side-by-side in Palm Beach County.

The schedule was set up so that a person could enter both the Beach Nationals and the Sombo Nationals. It will be very interesting to see how many wrestlers choose to compete in both styles, and take advantage of the events being hosted the same weekend.

Not only will those who compete in the U.S. Beach and Sombo Nationals have a chance to get into the history books as the first U.S. Nationals champions, but they will also earn a chance to compete on the first U.S. World Teams in those styles.

The pioneers of these new sports will be identified in Palm Beach County on August 19 and 20. Take the challenge and join us there. Perhaps 35 years from now, we can look back and see how far Beach and Sombo Wrestling has grown.

Gary Abbott is the Director of Communications and Special Projects for USA Wrestling and is a founder of the National Wrestling Media Association and is a 2005 recipient of the NWCA Meritorious Service Award.

Gary Abbott