#development

Croatia Takes the Next Step in Coaching education

Monday, June 3, 2024 - 11:47 By United World Wrestling Press

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POREC, Croatia (28 May) – The Croatian Wrestling Federation organized a weeklong coaching course in Porec to help develop their newer coaches. This was their second course in as many years, and they built off the foundations established a year earlier in the Level 1 course. The Level 2 Course (Introduction to Practice Planning) was conducted on May 8-12 in the beautiful city of Porec and was done in conjunction with Olympic Solidarity and United World Wrestling.

The course was led by UWW Educator Mr. Martin HAUCK (USA). During the course, the 28 participants learned the basics of designing a practice plan and how the practice plan fits within a series of plans. The coaches also gained knowledge on performance analysis, nutrition and weight management, mental development of wrestlers and safeguarding. “I am extremely satisfied with the seminar and the lecturer; I gained new knowledge and experience,” said Dinko Kremic. “During the seminar, you could feel that the educator cared for us and wanted us to do well. Mr. Hauck’s knowledge and how he passed it on to use was amazing,” said Petar Gluhak.

The Croatian Wrestling Federation also hosted a competition during the course. This allowed the coaches to practice learned skills and get direct feedback to improve. They also had a small session on cornering (coaching during the break) during that session. “The course and competition went very well. Participants were very engaged and active in both the theoretical and practical portions of the course. Their questions and ideas were in line with the topic that was being discussed and worked on to further their understanding in that content area.” said Mr. Hauck. 

Comments from Coach Participants:
“The course was very encouraging and innovative. Cooperation with all trainers and exchange of experiences helps in quick learning.”  - Filip Verčević

“This course was very useful because it allowed me to learn a lot of new things about the training and provided me practice exercises for those subjects, and it was a very good experience.”  - Luka Sunara

“The course itself was awesome. We had to learn from Marty Hauck, the most interesting and enthusiastic coach and mentor to learn from!” Ivica Florjanić

#UWWAwards

UWW's 2024 Wrestlers of the Year: Petriashvili, Tosun, Kusaka

Monday, December 16, 2024 - 16:45 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 16) -- United World Wrestling has announced the wrestlers of the year in Freestyle, Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman. UWW’s 2024 Wrestler of the Year award winners are Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), Buse TOSUN (TUR) and Nao KUSAKA (JPN).

Freestyle: Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)

The 30-year-old Georgian finished with a style-best 68,200 Ranking Series points through his finishes at the four point-based events of the year -- Olympic Games, European Championships, Croatian and Hungarian Ranking Series -- in which he collected a 13-4 record with 8 wins coming against top 20 ranked opponents.

Petriashvili’s 2024 season didn’t start well, as he finished in fifth place with a 3-2 record at the Croatian Ranking Series. This marked Petriashvili’s sixth consecutive full season in which he started on a losing note before regaining focus and peaking at the most opportune times.

In his next outing, Petriashvili scored three wins before reaching the European finals for the seventh time in his career. However, he fell short against career rival Taha AKGUL (TUR) for silver.

The three-time world champion then went to Hungary for the final tune-up before the Paris Olympics. While at the second Ranking Series event of the year, Petriashvili grabbed three wins, but not before falling to Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) in the semifinals while nursing a left elbow injury.

Petriashvili headed to Paris hungry to improve his 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medal. The father of two did exactly that, picking up four victories including a 10-9 shock win over two-time reigning world champion Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI), becoming Georgia’s third-ever freestyle Olympic gold medalist.
 
Greco-Roman: Nao KUSAKA (JPN)

23-year-old Nao KUSAKA (JPN), finished with a Greco-Roman best 79,200 Ranking Series points after winning golds at the Olympics, Asian Championships, and Hungarian Ranking Series events while also winning a bronze at the Croatian Ranking Series event at the beginning of the season.

After falling in the semifinals of his first competition of the year, Kusaka rallied off 14 consecutive victories -- four of which came against former world champions Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR), Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA), Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) and Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) -- on his way to winning golds in Paris, Bishkek and Budapest.

Kusaka’s win in Paris at 77kg, alongside his fellow teammate Kenichiro FUMITA’s gold, ended Japan’s 40-year Greco-Roman Olympic gold-medal drought.

Women's Wrestling: Buse TOSUN (TUR)

Buse TOSUN (TUR) is UWW’s Women’s wrestler of the year after topping the rankings with a style best 60,200 points. She narrowly edged Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) by 200 points for the coveted award.

Tosun, the reigning world champion at 68kg, finished 2024 with an impressive 11-2 record. Of those 11 wins during the season, a staggering eight came against wrestlers in the top 15 of the world rankings.

She dropped her first match of the season to Feng ZHOU (CHN) but went on to win 11 of her remaining 12 bouts, falling only at the Paris Olympics to eventual champion Amit ELOR (USA), en route to winning an Olympic bronze which was just Turkiye's second-ever women’s wrestling Olympic medal.

United World Wrestling congratulates Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), Nao KUSAKA (JPN), and Buse TOSUN (TUR) for their incredible achievements this year and for being named the 2024 Wrestlers of the Year.