#development

UWW Hosts Educator Course in Guatemala

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 - 12:39 By United World Wrestling Press

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PETEN, Guatemala (February 7) --- The first of two UWW Educator Courses was conducted in Peten, Guatemala, from 2-4 February. The course included 14 UWW Educators. The educators were mostly from Central and South America but also included a few educators from Europe.

This course was designed to help provide professional development and improve the skills of the educators.

During the course, they participated in activities to help them better understand adult learning principles, the use of formative assessments, and strategies to give proper feedback. The educators also conducted micro-leadership sessions where they had to teach the other educators some topics that are within the UWW education courses. The training was conducted by Vincent AKA (CIV) and Zach ERRET (USA).

“The course was great! The educators were very professional and were actively participating throughout the course. It was great to see them apply some of the principles that were covered in the course.”  Said Zach ERRET, UWW Education Manager.

GUA
14 UWW Educators from Central and South America and Europe came together for the first of two UWW Educator Courses. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

“Seeing these educators literally integrate the process of professionalism through training is heartwarming. And I have total confidence in their ability to train our future coaches and referees with regard to what they have demonstrated during their training. They can always count on our department to support them in their mission for the coming years.” said Vincent AKA, UWW Development Officer.

This course also included an opportunity to experience and learn the culture and history in Guatemala. At the conclusion of the course, the educators had an opportunity to visit and tour Tikal National Park. This was one of the sites of the ancient Mayan civilization.

This experience allowed the educators to build stronger relationships with each other. 

“Visiting Tikal National Park was amazing! We do not often get a chance to see historical sites and learn about the culture of the country. To have an opportunity to learn about this ancient civilization and see it firsthand was outstanding. Hosting the course and providing this experience is just another great example of the vision that President Lee has to not only raise the level of wrestling in the Americas but to provide an incredible experience for those attending events.” Said Zach ERRETT, UWW Education Manager.

This course and tour were organized by Mr. Francisco LEE LÓPEZ (President of UWW Americas) and his team. They did an amazing job of organizing the entire event and provided a top environment for a lifetime's training and cultural experience.

#WrestleTirana

U23 Worlds: Elor chases eighth world title in Tirana

Friday, October 20, 2023 - 10:57 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 20) -- In the last 12 months, Amit ELOR (USA) has racked up five world titles. That number is likely to become six as she travels to Tirana, Albania for yet another World Championships, her third in three months.

At just 19 years of age, Elor is a two-time senior, three-time U20, a U17 and a U23 world champion. When she won the gold medal at the U23 World Championships last year, she became the first wrestler from the United States to win every World Championships. Now she will aim to repeat the golden three-peat she did last year, wrestling at 72kg, a weight class in which she is the defending champion.

Elor won the U20 Worlds in August and the senior one in September in Belgrade. So before flying to the Balkan country, Elor spent some time training in California, her home.

"I prepare the same way that I've treated the U20 Worlds and senior Worlds," Elor says. "The only difference is because I've already competed at two World Championships each month, I just am making sure to let my body rest and make sure that I'm ready.

"Sometimes when you have three big competitions in a row, your performance and how you feel physically, it starts to go down a little bit. That's something that my coaches told me as well, just to keep training, but also know that I'm ready because in some ways U20 and Senior were a huge preparation for this."

If those two tournaments are anything to go by, Elor should win the gold medal comfortably. In Amman, she did not give a point and won the final 11-0 over Bukrenaz SERT (TUR). While she did not maintain a clean slate in Belgrade, Elor never looked in any trouble of losing her title. She would go on to win her second world gold medal with an 8-2 win over Davaanasan ENKH AMAR (MGL).

In Tirana, Elor will face a few familiar opponents in Viktoryia RADZKOVA (AIN) who she defeated at the '21 U17 Worlds, silver medalist from last year's U23 competition Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL), her opponents in the '22 U20 world final Anastassiya PANASSOVICH (KAZ) and Sert who is also coming to Tirana.

Apart from them, 72kg will see the experienced Marina SUROVTSEVA (AIN), Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) and U20 European champ Iryna ZABLOTSKA (UKR) as some of the contenders.

"It doesn't blow me, just wrestling no matter who it is," Elor says about wrestling at a U23 competition after senior level. "I think that's a really good thing because you never underestimate your opponents. If you have somebody who is extremely good and has many titles under their name, that also won't scare you as much. I think that mindset really helps me. I just go into that competition telling myself to perform as best as I can."

Elor has always possessed that mindset. Her losses to boys in school would frustrate her and push her to improve. As a result, Elor has managed to make herself unbeatable. Internationally, Elor has suffered one loss -- a semifinal 3-1 loss to Naka HONOKA (JPN) at the U17 World Championships in 2019.

"I've been wrestling since a young age and I've taken other losses on top of that," she says. "Almost every single loss and motivation and your desire to keep going. That loss was very good for me."

No more losses after that. 15 bouts at different World Championships and Elor remains the wrestler who doesn't even let her opponents come close to beating her.

Her continued dominance on the mat may have made some miss the fact that Elor switched to a new coach this season. Until last season, she trained with coach Valentin KALIKA but the U20 World Championships in Amman saw 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara MCMANN in her corner. Elor seemed to have battled the change but accepted it as well.

"Going out and competing after that change in this season has been really difficult," she says. "I learn more and learn different techniques from them, different mindsets and strategies. I think it's been really good for me. I'm very excited to have her there. She's just such a great role model for me, a really, really strong, tough person."

So far, the change with McMann has worked and she will be in Tirana with both Elor and McMann hoping for the gold and ending the season on a high before the Olympic year.

Elor will have to move to an Olympic weight class, 68kg or 76kg, as 72kg is not in the Olympics. She hints that 68kg may be a better fit for her. Back in her U17 days, Elor wrestled at 69kg but moved up with age. She insists that reducing weight is not her way. But come next year, she will have to make the hard decision.

"I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm going to evaluate myself and see how I feel as I start to work toward health, slowly and healthy way to decrease my weight a little bit," she says.