USA Wrestling statement on COVID-19 and its activities moving forward

At USA Wrestling, our number one priority is always the safety of our athletes and their families, all our members, our national staff and the entire U.S. wrestling community.

With that in mind, USA Wrestling’s Executive Committee, its newly-created Coronavirus Advisory Committee, and members of the national staff met on Wednesday, March 11 to discuss the rapidly evolving situation concerning Coronavirus (COVID-19). The Coronavirus Advisory Committee includes Dr. Tom Price, past U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; Dr. Bernard Feldman, UWW Medical Commission member and Hall of Fame wrestling physician; and John Bardis, past U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services and longtime USA Wrestling leader.

As part of the national effort to contain the further spread of the virus, based on the information that is available from the experts in the medical community and our government agencies, as well as our partner members in the sports community, USA Wrestling has made the following decisions concerning its events and activities as an organization:

· USA Wrestling will evaluate its events and activities based on those that are essential to our mission and responsibilities, and those that are non-essential.

· Events and activities deemed essential will be conducted in a way that puts the health and safety of those involved as the primary focus, while still meeting the responsibilities of the organization.

· Events and activities deemed non-essential, while still important to our community of wrestlers and to USA Wrestling, may be cancelled or postponed to a later date, based on the best available information from the experts, and consistent with the best practices that will support the national effort to manage the current health crisis.

USA Wrestling considers the qualifying and final trials events which select the U.S. Olympic Team, as well as the qualifying events and final trials events for U.S. age-group World Teams, as essential competitions. Most other events and activities may be considered non-essential.

Working with our host organizers, our partner organizations and local health authorities, planning for the Last Chance Olympic Team Trials Qualifier in Millersville, PA and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Wrestling in University Park, PA will proceed as announced, with daily monitoring of the situation. All options will be considered in this process. Any adjustments to this plan will immediately be announced in order to effectively select and train the U.S. wrestling team for the 2020 Olympic Games. A similar approach will be taken concerning the U.S. age-group World qualifying events. The status of the remaining USA Wrestling National and Regional Events will be announced individually.

USA Wrestling strongly recommends that organizers of its sanctioned events immediately contact their local health department for guidance on hosting activities in their communities. USA Wrestling also strongly recommends that leaders of these events consider cancelling or postponing their events which are non-essential over the next 60 days until more information becomes available from the experts.

Across the country, the Coronavirus situation is evolving rapidly. USA Wrestling, as a steward for the sport of wrestling in our nation and a good citizen of the world, will provide regular updates to the public as we deal with the challenges we all face together. Please regularly visit USA Wrestling’s website TheMat.com and its social media platform for the most current information.

For media inquiries, please contact Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling at gabbott@usawrestling.org or 719-659-9637 cell.

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