Inaugural Accelerating State Success Program recipients announced

USA Wrestling announced the recipients of its inaugural Accelerating State Success Program. The four USA Wrestling state associations selected to receive grant funding are Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Accelerating State Success Program was created to provide direct financial assistance to state associations not currently employing a full-time executive director. The program intends to allocate funding to its recipients to commission an executive director position and better serve its members.

Grants for each state recipient range from $30,000 to $50,000, with recipient states pledging to match their financial contribution from the Accelerating State Success Program. All financial amounts allocated, through the grant and state matching, will be contributed to the compensation of new state-level employees.

The inaugural grant amounts were distributed to recipients in early April and are intended to fund the new positions through August 2027. When applying for the program, each recipient state presented a detailed plan to sustain the position after grant expiration, and a panel selected by the Junior Olympic Wrestling Committee determined the grant recipients.

Objective data and subjective observation indicate that state associations with a full-time, paid executive director can provide better support to their member clubs, Wrestling Leaders and athletes. In those instances, states can host more events and provide more value to USA Wrestling members, further enhancing the sport.

USA Wrestling continually strives to increase value for its members, clubs and state associations, and the Accelerating State Success Program was created with member needs in mind.