Beach Blog: Day Three In Alexandria, Egypt

Members of Team USA are trickling into Alexandria all day, tonight and Friday, for this last stop in the 2025 Beach World Series.  Logistically, Alexandria is a bit of a chore.

About half of our delegation chose to fly directly into Alexandria’s international airport.  The other half flew into Cairo and are taking various forms of ground transportation.   I’ve heard everything from two and a half to four hours.

Actually, that turns out to be a good thing for many of our athletes and referees.  For all its historical worth, Alexandria is not nearly the tourist draw that Cairo is.  I know several of our Americans are planning a couple of extra days in Cairo.

The Pyramids of Giza are always a notorious draw.  While, traditionally, there have been a handful of great museums to visit, that is currently not the case.  Cairo’s brand new Grand Egyptian Museum opens to the public on November 4^th.  Many of Egypt’s most noteworthy artifacts have been relocated to that new facility.

And then, as it turns out, our entire event is being housed at a fabulous resort.  The only downside is that the resort is a solid 45 minutes outside of Alexandria.  The way our meetings, workouts and competition sessions are scheduled, it’s unlikely many of us will get to visit any of the historical attractions of the Greek and Roman era.

On the upside, we will get to see some really good wrestling. As I mentioned yesterday, all the studs are here.

The majority of Team USA will trickle in tonight and tomorrow.  I know the tournament organizers and UWW credentialing staff are frustrated with us.  They have a difficult time understanding why a delegation our size doesn’t travel together.

I quit trying to explain our self-funded reality a couple of years back.  In its place I’ve substituted a lot of smiling and nodding, making sure I focus on Thank You's and Congratulations.  It seems to ease the tension.

So, I’ll bid you adieu and watch our trickle in continue.  Tomorrow, we’ll fine tune our preparation phase.  Saturday morning we’ll get ‘em all weighed in and let the good times roll.

Ciao,

Rusty

First off, CONGRATULATIONS to our Americans on their way home from the Veterans’ World Championship in Hungary!   These wrestling heroes demonstrate the passion that defines our sport.  Thank You!

Worthy of note, two of those heroes have walked in the sand of Beach Wrestling, which puts the exclamation point on its World Series this weekend.  Big guys, Mingo Grant and Gabe Beauperthuy have both contributed to the growth in popularity of the Beach discipline in USA Wrestling’s menu of opportunity.

Thirty-two Americans (including 19 athletes, coaches, referees, family, and supporters) are in the air today, on their way to Alexandria for the Grand Finale of United World Wrestling’s 2025 Beach World Series.  After four Ranking Events, Team USA has a handful of competitors in contention for podium appearances and paychecks.

As a lifelong teacher of Geography and History, it’s not lost on me the parallels these athletes share with Alexander the Great.  Just three weeks ago, many of these Americans wrestled in the same sand Alexander did, as a child.  Katerini, Greece hosted the fourth stop in the 2025 World Series, twenty minutes from Alexander’s childhood home.

Now we get to crown our 2025 champions in the best-known city named for the Macedonian King… Alexandria, Egypt.  In his march to the east, Alexander established this foundational port to free the movement of troops and trade across the Mediterranean.  Let’s note just how many world leaders have been in Egypt, this week, for pretty much the same reasons.

One favorite legend of Alexander’s young life is that of his final wishes.  Knowing he was mortally ill at a very young age, Alexander was quite specific in his funeral plan.

The first time I heard this story was in the wrestling room at the USOPC in Colorado Springs.  One of USAW’s icons, Coach Bruce Burnett was finishing up a training session with the USA Senior World Team.  The message Coach Burnett offered through that story hit home.  Everyone in the room was moved, each in his own way.

I’m gonna’ let you discover the details for yourself.  The point is that many of the virtues young Alexander imbued really define the mentality of our Beach Wrestling heroes.

Alexander’s teacher was Aristotle, who taught that there IS a world out there, and that it demands exploration and legitimate conquest.  Between the ages of 20 and 30, Alexander laid claim to most of world known in his day.

Most of Team USA range in age between 20 and 30.  Many have now laid claim to Beach Wrestling territory on five continents.  Hosting two events in 2025, along with next year’s Youth Olympic Games, Africa is the newest gem in UWW’s Beach Wrestling crown.

With rare exceptions, American Beach Wrestlers travel self-funded.  Like Alexander ordering that his riches be spread upon his final path, these young lovers of life give selflessly to add glory to our sport. 

The event itself looks good.  We’re right on the Mediterranean shore.  There are some really good cultural sites to visit near our hotels.  The weather looks perfect.  Most of our airports of origin seem to be surviving the ‘Shut Down’.

There are 95 total entries, spread over our eight weight classes.  Bracket sizes will be close to ideal.  And… Yes!  The studs are all there. 

Many of those studs, female and male, just happen to be American.  We’re gonna’ have to scrap, but it’s going to be an exciting finish.  I can guarantee readers that we will follow Alexander’s model.  We will conquer all we see, simply because we see it.

I’m off to board my first plane.  I’ll get you some snips and snaps once we get settled in Alexandria.  That is unless we miss our 55-minute sprint in Istanbul, in which case I’ll get you some notes on Turkish airport food!

Ciao,
Rusty