Missouri USA Wrestling

The Missouri USA Wrestling Freestyle/Greco-Roman/Girls State Tournament that was rescheduled to take place May 29-30th will be postponed, due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.  USA Wrestling has extended the suspension of sanctioning events (local, state) through May 24th, 2020. Postponement of all regional and national events through July 1, 2020. At this point it is not known when, or even if, the state tournament will be rescheduled.  The Missouri USA Wrestling Executive Board is meeting every two weeks to re-evaluate the situation. 

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/April/06/Free-Coaches-Education-courses-for-members-extended

First, I would like to thank the MO Wrestling Community for hanging in there with us during these difficult times.

I know that you, our Membership, have wanted answers to many questions but most of all the answers concerning our USA Youth State Tournament. In the past week, there have been countless emails, phone conversations and conference calls within MOUSA, with our governing body USA Wrestling in Colorado Springs and State & Local Governments concerning the happenings around the COVID-19 Virus. These conversations have been about local, regional, national and international tournaments alike. The news in the near future is not good concerning the ability to host events, not only from a USA Wrestling standpoint but also from a National, State and Local Government standpoint.  

We (MOUSA) wanted our Membership to know, that we have looked at several avenues to be able to host and or reschedule our Youth State Event. Here are some of the things that we have looked at but unfortunately, this is not going to be able to happen for all of us this year. I do however want all of you to know that there was a tremendous amount of effort behind the scenes to make this still a possibility. I have listed several but not all of the avenues looked at below:

1. Rescheduling – This was the first thing that we looked into. The Hy-Vee Arena worked very well with us trying to work out a suitable date for our event.
2. We had conversations with Growrestling about collaborating with them at the Hy-Vee in Mid-April so that we could have our Youth State Tournament the same weekend that they had scheduled their FS/GR Event at the Hy-Vee Arena.
3. We looked into the Chaifetz Arena in St Louis but the City of St. Louis has implemented the same restrictions that KC has currently put in place.
4. We looked into Sedalia and the possibility of running split sessions by age group at the arena located at the State Fairgrounds. Today however, we received an email from the State Fairgrounds that stated all events currently scheduled events, have been cancelled through May.
5. The biggest blow happened however on a conference call with USA Wrestling. On the call, it was stated that any events scheduled within the timeframe of USA Wrestling's currently released timeframe will not be sanctioned. https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/March/16/USA-Wrestling-statement-on-sanctioned-and-national-events  Without the proper insurance we will not be able to move forward with our Youth State Tournament since no venue will accept a tournament of this type without proper insurance.

This decision was not the one that any of us wanted but when you look at the facts that most schools are closed and therefore clubs cannot practice, coupled with the limits that have been placed on social gatherings it has become very evident that we will not be able to set a makeup date with any certainty. I can't begin to tell you how disappointing this really is since MOUSA had recently purchased New Walkout Tunnels for the Finalist to run out of this year along with New Lights and Fog Machine we were ready to step up and make the finals pretty special for the kids this year.

Refunds:

MOUSA Wrestling will start the process of refunding each club their entries in full. It will then be up to each individual club to reach out and refund the individual. If you were an Unattached wrestler then you will be issued a refund individually.

Thank you,

Pat Ream

MOUSA Wrestling

State Chairperson

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/April/20/National-and-Regional-events-postponed-through-July-1

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/March/31/USA-Wrestling-suspends-sanctioned-and-national-events-through-May-10

Email flyers to: membership@missouriusawrestling.org

Coaches your Wrestling Leader Card must have a profile picture on it to be valid for the Missouri State Youth Series.  Coaches bands will not be issued if your card does not contain a photo of you.  Do not wait until the last minute, the submitted photo is reviewed by USA Wrestling and can be denied if photo is not approved.

The General Membership meeting is scheduled for 10/27/2019

Start Time; 1:00 pm

Meeting Location Address: 2601 S Providence Rd, Columbia, MO 65203