Minutes of the USA Wrestling - Ohio Annual Meeting March 29, 2026
Attendees (35): Chris Kallai, Adam Gilmore, Nick Mancini, Mary Terbay, Jeremiah Webber, Jodi Burnett, Mike Sizemore, Jeff Kullman, Brad Bournival, Jacob Cover, Rob Dearwester, Dane Johnson, Debbi Kallai, Nate Hagan, Dominic Mancini, Jarrod Martin, Ben Savage, Marlon Yarbrough, Brian Becher, Dominic Adams, Bob Vallarelli, Gale Miller, Sarah Obanion, Garrett Bass, Anthony Patrizi, Shawn Andrews, Reggie Lowery, Ruben Vera, Jordan Beedle, Christina Schmidt, Art Kallai, Jay Lane, John Sopczak, Wendel Donathan, Harry Harris
Determination of quorum: To have a quorum, at least 25% of the Officers, Directors, and At-Large Board Members (i.e., a minimum of thirteen) must be present along with representatives from at least 10% of the Chartered Clubs (i.e., a minimum of twentyeight). Twenty-two (22) Officers, Directors, and At-Large Board Members were present, and thirteen (13) Chartered Clubs were represented at the beginning of the meeting. Since it was determined that we did not have enough for a quorum, the meeting was called to order at 11:11 AM with the stipulation that items are for discussion, no voting.
CHAIRPERSON’S COMMENTS – Chris Kallai
** National Office changed the dual payment deadline to April 1st. After that, there is a minimum of a $250/team penalty – penalty increases based on date paid. Not all officials had valid licenses, so Chris signed up Bob Vallarelli and Paul Kruggel for most duals.
** Fargo buses and vans are locked in for this year. A second quote has been requested to ensure that prices are in line. o There have been some issues with SafeSport non-compliance at events. There will be audits at regionals (at least one in May). o Issues with Fargo athletes will result in a 1 year suspension with no card. If at Fargo, the athlete will be sent home.
** Qualifier season
▪ There will be a girls’ scramble the night before Wittenberg and Dublin Coffman qualifiers. Weights will count for these qualifiers to help increase participation. In addition to wrestling, there will be mat official training at the scramble.
▪ The Central regional is in Kentucky this year. There will also be a Silver college for coaches on the Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the regional, which will be on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. National Office has a new person for Coaches Scott Honaker. Dominic Adams now has his silver certification.
** National convention is scheduled for August 5-8. Page 1 of 5 o At the JOWC meeting, it was decided that Singlets used for “weigh-ins” may not be modified.
NATIONAL TEAMS
** Fargo camp will be held June 29, 30, July 1 and 2. This will give the athletes their July 4th holiday and a summer weekend.
** National Duals
▪ The selection process is changed. This will allow USA Wrestling – Ohio to be more involved financially and not jeopardize our 501 (c) standing
▪ The Boys’ U14 dual team will be going to Florida. The athletes will be doublers. This is the same guideline that Pan Am follows.
▪ PIN scores will be used to select the team, using top scores by weight class and style.
▪ When more than one team is going to the event, coach’s discretion will be used to organize each team.q
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTINGS
** Boys’ items are being posted on social media but not girls’. Rob Dearwester has the girls’ items laid out and needs to be shared with Jeremiah for posting.
** The application for the girls’ dual teams were passed out to coaches at OHSAA state.
FINANCIAL UPDATE
** We currently have collected $165K in membership dues; we are on pace to exceed our budget.
** Incentive awards for 2024-2025 have been determined. These incentives are to pay for a clinician. The “winning” club can recommend the clinician they want to use, the style to be concentrated on and the age divisions. The clinic must be open to all wrestlers within the parameters. Clinician must be approved by the board and will be paid by Nick. This must be used by March 2027 (one year after award).
▪ Beat the Streets is excluded from the awards due to the incentives that they already receive from USAW National office.
▪ Award winners for highest PIN score
▪ 1st Beastmode $1,000
▪ 2nd Seasons $800
▪ 3rd Burnett Trained $600
▪ Award winners for the highest club memberships
▪ 1st MVKWA Wapakoneta $1,000
▪ 2nd MVKWA Springboro $800
▪ 3rd Austintown Fitch $600
▪ 4th Perrysburg $400
▪ 5th Beastmode $200
** Dom Mancini suggest that we make a big “to-do” about this on the website. Brad will do this. Also publicize Pan Am / World awards.
**The state tournament equipment will be supplied by Wrestle One. Price was substantially lower than the other bid.
OLD BUSINESS
USAW-Oh tournaments
** Qualifiers are set with the first at Wittenberg. There are only four this year due to timing. Because of the limited number of qualifiers, state duals, regionals, US Open and All-American status will also count as qualifiers in the style(s) they wrestle.
** State Duals – the payment link will be sent out after the meeting. Registration is listed in the flyer. All proceeds from this event will go to funding the National Dual teams and Zeffy will be used for payment. Tony has a program to show parking and hotel blocks. There will be eight mats on Saturday and 10 on Sunday. Free agent list is posted but weights are needed.
** U23 and 20 will by May 28-29 in Geneva. o At Large members will be supporting the tournaments on Saturday.
Executive Director
** Each state can apply for funds to support a full-time position. There are guidelines and a proposal was written to apply for this position for Ohio. We have been informed that we will receive the funds once we have sent in some additional documents.
** We have identified a search committee (they must be notified) and then an application process established.
** This position would start with the 2026-2027 season at the latest. o Changes to the Constitution and the job descriptions will be presented at the fall meeting.
Freestyle Development Camp -
Shawn applied for this opportunity and was selected to be one of the three camps being held. It will be at Marysville May 29-31. It is open to the girls’ top 100 PiN scores holders with a limit of 75 athletes, cost $200. Clinician will be Sarah Hildebrand.
Medical Policy Proposal
Ashley mentioned that Dr. Will Long will be in Fargo and at the Women’s National Duals. A budget will be submitted to have a medical kit with the items that they available at the various tournaments. Quick action and having medical personnel ready was responsible for having a positive outcome for a life-threatening situation.
NEW BUSINESS
Women’s Director at Board level – Shawn presented his thoughts to have a Women’s Director position on the board. This would allow an opportunity for alignment, staying in lane and communication through the chain of command. There are 9 on the board currently and we need to keep an odd number. Suggestions: add a boys’ and girls’ position, go through the current chain of command (National Teams Director and Leadership Director – coaches report through this position).
Opportunity for a 14U girl – There is a 14U girl that exceeds the current 14U Girls weights. Can Ohio allow her to wrestle up a division so that she can get matches or could an additional weight class be added? USAW – Ohio can help with state duals but not national. Chris will check to see what can be done.
Communication – Some new items this year that have been added was not considered to have been communicated well. For example, the addition of scrambles prior to two qualifiers – concern about attendance. Scrambles added to support the participation at qualifiers. Need to communicate better.
Freestyle Development – Nate Hagan wants to publish a list of the different clubs and the days that they have practice to help athletes getting ready for Fargo.
Girls’ coaches are looking into getting wrestling information to the Columbus City public school system, which has over 43K students.
The fall meeting date will be communicated once the date is determined. Motion by Dominic Adams and second by Nick Mancini to adjourn. Passed unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 1:07 pm.