#development

Croatia Takes the Next Step in Coaching education

By United World Wrestling Press

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

Four seeds, no finals: UWW approves new format for 2024 Olympic qualifiers

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (November 13) — United World Wrestling has approved a new format and seeds for the continental and world qualifiers for the Paris Olympics next year.

All five Paris Olympic Qualifiers next year will have four seeds in each of the weight classes and no gold-medal bouts.

The qualification cycle next year begins with the Pan-American Qualifiers in Acapulco, Mexico from February 28 to March 1. It will be followed by the African & Oceania Qualifiers in Alexandria, Egypt from March 22-24, European Qualifiers in Baku, Azerbaijan from April 4-7 and the Asian Qualifiers from April 19-21 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The World Olympic Qualifier will be held in Istanbul, Turkiye from May 9-12.
 
For the four Continental Qualifiers, the semifinal bouts will serve as the Paris Olympic qualification bouts. No repechage, bronze and gold-medal bouts will be held during these continental events. The finalists of each of the six Olympic weights will earn a spot for the Paris Games and no other quotas will be awarded at these competitions. The morning session will see bouts till the quarterfinals followed by a break and semifinals in the evening. Winners of these semifinals will earn their country a spot for the Paris Games.

Also Read: Paris 2024 Qualified Countries in Freestyle

For the World Qualifier, the semifinal bouts will serve as the Paris Olympic qualification bouts and the winners of these semifinals will earn a quota for the Olympic Games. The two winners of the bronze-medal bouts will compete for the third quota of each weight category. No gold-medal match will be held during this competition.

It will be held in a two-day format with the repechage scheduled on the second day. All competing wrestlers on day two will have to go through weigh-ins and wrestle in repechage to make it to the bronze-medal bout. The bronze medalists will then wrestle-off to win a Paris Olympic ticket.

Also Read: Nations Qualified for Paris 2024 in Greco-Roman

The UWW Bureau arrived at the decision keeping in mind the well being of the wrestlers and have a high level of competition at the Olympic qualifiers and the Paris Olympics next year.

144 wrestlers will look to qualify their countries for the Paris Olympics 2024 at the Pan-Am, African & Oceania, European and Asian Olympic Qualifiers while 54 more will earn the spot at the World Olympic Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkiye.

Also Read: Countries Qualified for Paris Olympics in Women’s Wrestling

The first qualification for the 2024 Olympics was achieved at the World Championships in September in Belgrade with 90 wrestlers receiving the quotas for the Games.

All the action from the Olympic Qualifiers will be live on UWW+. For more details of events, browse our events page.