The event, now in its third year, was presented by the Mad River Wrestling Officials Association and held in the French Field House at The Ohio State University. While the planning and preparation go on all year after spending the weekend in Columbus they raised more money in two days. than the first two years combined while doing even more to promote their cause.
Photo/BuckeyeWrestling.comThe organization has received tremendous support in its three years and has grown quickly. The 2008 inaugural event hosted 225 wrestlers and netted $9,000. In 2009, participation and fundraising nearly doubled, reaching 425 wrestlers and $17,000. This year they grossed over $40,000 and they anticipate crossing the $50,000 mark in net profits or funds raised for donation.
The Hartman family made the trip from PA (Photo/Kevin Schlosser, BuckeyeWrestling.com)Taking the media coverage of the event to the next level TakeDown Radio host Scott Casber was in town for the weekend to cover the event live after promoting the cause over the last year by interviewing people involved with the tournament on his weekly television and radio shows.
The TDR radio show kicked off the weekend with a live broadcast from Columbus, Ohio at the Buffalo Wild Wings on the corner of Lane and High on Saturday morning get things started. Joining Casber on air as cohosts were Kevin Schlosser from BuckeyeWrestling.com and Jeff Sitler. Kent State head coach Jim Andrassy and Ohio University head coach Joel Greenlee called in to join the broadcast while Cleveland State head coach Ben Stehura, Notre Dame College head coach Frank Romano, Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan, and OSU three-time All-American JD Bergman were there in person. With good food and good friends, wrestling fans, local wrestlers, coaches, and even a few converted wrestling fans provided a great audience for the show.
Photo/BuckeyeWrestling.com"James Yonushonis represents everything that the Ohio RTC and The Ohio State University stand for," offered Tom Ryan. "He is a life champion and he gave a great clinic to all the young aspiring champions."
For his part the former Nittany Lion WC coach and Maryland Assistant was humble and happy to be involved.
"I was honored to be asked to serve as the clincician for such an outstanding event," asserted Yonushonis. "I hope something I said or taught had an impact on young athletes wrestling or in their everyday lives."
An hour before wrestling began on Sunday, Casber and Schlosser were back on the air for the TDR.TV broadcast on Live Sports Video. They were joined throughout the day by a number of special guests including Brian Church from the Columbus "Beat the Streets" initiative, former Ohio state champions Steve Luke and Jason Johnstone, tournament chairman Jeff Sitler, as well as a number of current and former Ohio State wrestlers that wanted to make a personal donation at the door and watch the wrestling on the mat. Also providing local television coverage of the event was NBC 4 Columbus.
Photo/BuckeyeWrestling.com"After paying our expenses all of the money we raise is put towards autism," responded Sitler when asked about how the preceeds are used. "We deal almost strictly with helping families be it supporting the Ethan Foundation for Autism or 4 Paws for Ability to help kids connect with their service dog program. By running an event that uses all volunteers it allows us to give back almost all of what we take in."
"All four corners of Ohio had officials there as well as West Virginia and Pennsylvania. None of them were paid for their services and we had just as many parents, coaches, and supporters volunteer their time to run the scorers tables, oversee the auction, serve as runners, work the door, and much more. Our volunteers were instrumental to making this weekend a overwhelming success."
Photo/BuckeyeWrestling.com"We are truly humbled and honored to be a part of the Wrestle Against Autism Tournament. Hundreds of volunteers came together and gave their most priceless gift ... time. Weekends like this reveal the best inside of all of us," stated Tom Ryan. "Officials, parents, media, athletes, friends, family, coaches, and many other groups came together. I can't say enough about how proud I am of the wrestling community."
Autism is a developmental disability that inhibits the ability to communicate and interact with other people. The disease, typically detected within a child's first three years of life, appears in 1 out of every 110 children born today and 1 out of every 71 boys. More children will be diagnosed with Autism than AIDS, Cancer, and Diabetes combined and boys are four times more likely to have autism. At this time there is no medical detection or cure.
For more information about autism, visit www.autism-society.org. For additional information about Wrestle Against Autism Tournament or to donate to the organization, please visit http://wrestleagainstautism.com.
"We are looking forward to learning from our mistakes and from what we did well to improve for next year. This an event that we want to see grow every year as we to continue to promote Autism awareness while making an impact on in the lives of families with autistic children," concluded Sitler. "We appreciate everyone that contributed to an outstanding weekend and hope to see everyone come back next year."
Wrestling results for the 2010 tournament can be found at the Wrestle Against Autism Web site http://www.wrestleagainstautism.com/?page_id=12.
InterMat was granted permission to republish this article from BuckeyeWrestling.com.
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