USA Wrestling breaks total membership record, with over 233,000 members in all categories
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by USA Wrestling
On Tuesday, May 8, USA Wrestling set a new total membership record, when the combined total for USA Wrestling’s membership categories reached 232,996.
The previous record was achieved with in the 2015-2016 membership year, at 232,995. USA Wrestling still has more than three months left in the 2017-18 season, which concludes on August 31, 2018.
By the morning of May 8, USA Wrestling’s combined membership was at 233,183 and is expected to grow in all categories through the rest of the season.
This total includes athlete members, coach members and official members.
“We track and monitor our membership constantly, so while this wasn’t a surprise, it’s still great news that our volunteers should all feel responsible for helping USA Wrestling achieve,” said Tony Black, USA Wrestling’s Director of Membership. “Our state associations take great pride in providing members with safe and secure environments to practice and compete in, so this is truly a testament to their hard work.”
In achieving this record, USA Wrestling has already broken its record for coach members, with 32,407 coaches, which eclipses the previous record of 32,253 coaches set in the 2016-17 season.
Based upon current trends, USA Wrestling expects to break its record for athlete members, which is stands at 199,008 athletes, set in the 2015-16 membership year. The current number of athlete members for this membership year is 198,357. USA Wrestling anticipates reaching the 200,000 athlete member mark before the end of the 2017-18 membership year.
One of the factors helping fuel the membership growth is USA Wrestling’s new online membership system, which was developed internally at USA Wrestling by Application Developer Dave Mathews and launched at the start of the 2017-18 membership year. The new system provides a more efficient user experience and greater utilities within the system. The membership application also gives national staff and volunteer leaders more tools to manage and grow membership registration.
Another key influence on membership growth has been the efforts of USA Wrestling’s state association leaders, who are using developing innovative ways to implement USA Wrestling programs and recruit more involvement in the organization and the sport.
Washington’s membership numbers alone are up 23% this membership season, meaning that Washington USA Wrestling and many other state associations have set records at the state level as well.
“A lot of our growth has been a result opening lines of communication between the state association and league, club and event directors. We provide as much information as we can to our members to make sure that they’re engaged and feel part of the process, because they truly are,” Justin Newby, Executive Director of Washington USA Wrestling.
Newby is an employee at Washington USA Wrestling, a model that has made a big difference in the many state associations which have been able to put professional staff on full-time to build wrestling in their state.
“We exist because of our membership. We’re a customer-service organization and we’re here to serve our members, not the other way around,” said Newby.
The previous record was achieved with in the 2015-2016 membership year, at 232,995. USA Wrestling still has more than three months left in the 2017-18 season, which concludes on August 31, 2018.
By the morning of May 8, USA Wrestling’s combined membership was at 233,183 and is expected to grow in all categories through the rest of the season.
This total includes athlete members, coach members and official members.
“We track and monitor our membership constantly, so while this wasn’t a surprise, it’s still great news that our volunteers should all feel responsible for helping USA Wrestling achieve,” said Tony Black, USA Wrestling’s Director of Membership. “Our state associations take great pride in providing members with safe and secure environments to practice and compete in, so this is truly a testament to their hard work.”
In achieving this record, USA Wrestling has already broken its record for coach members, with 32,407 coaches, which eclipses the previous record of 32,253 coaches set in the 2016-17 season.
Based upon current trends, USA Wrestling expects to break its record for athlete members, which is stands at 199,008 athletes, set in the 2015-16 membership year. The current number of athlete members for this membership year is 198,357. USA Wrestling anticipates reaching the 200,000 athlete member mark before the end of the 2017-18 membership year.
One of the factors helping fuel the membership growth is USA Wrestling’s new online membership system, which was developed internally at USA Wrestling by Application Developer Dave Mathews and launched at the start of the 2017-18 membership year. The new system provides a more efficient user experience and greater utilities within the system. The membership application also gives national staff and volunteer leaders more tools to manage and grow membership registration.
Another key influence on membership growth has been the efforts of USA Wrestling’s state association leaders, who are using developing innovative ways to implement USA Wrestling programs and recruit more involvement in the organization and the sport.
Washington’s membership numbers alone are up 23% this membership season, meaning that Washington USA Wrestling and many other state associations have set records at the state level as well.
“A lot of our growth has been a result opening lines of communication between the state association and league, club and event directors. We provide as much information as we can to our members to make sure that they’re engaged and feel part of the process, because they truly are,” Justin Newby, Executive Director of Washington USA Wrestling.
Newby is an employee at Washington USA Wrestling, a model that has made a big difference in the many state associations which have been able to put professional staff on full-time to build wrestling in their state.
“We exist because of our membership. We’re a customer-service organization and we’re here to serve our members, not the other way around,” said Newby.
