Save Oregon Wrestling Student Group

[bbgurl411]

Hello to all of you who join me in this fight to save our wrestling program. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and the new student group I am starting to save UO's wrestling program. My name is Stefanie Arnold and I am a junior here at the University. I came here from Idaho because UO seemed to genuinely care about being unique and different, going their own way, when it came to academics and athletics. With other schools around the nation cutting their programs I felt confident that UO would keep wrestling because we aren't quick to jump on trends that take away from students. This fact makes me very proud to be a Duck but the day that the athletic department announced that wrestling was being cut was a black eye on this university as a whole. I don't blame the new baseball team or competitive cheer for creating our problem, rather I applaud the University for adding more sports, but cutting another sport, one that has a rich 53 year history, is not an acceptable tradeoff. I became very angry at the athletic department, as I'm sure most of you did, and wanted to take on the two new teams as well as those that sit across the river in the Cassanova Center. This is not how we are going to win back wrestling though, we can't take on everyone, we must bolster our own program to show how great it is. This is what I hope to accomplish with the student group. I want us student wrestling fans to be the voice of those handful of guys that give everything they have day in and day out. We have t-shrits, buttons, and bracelets, we will be tabling to get people to sign the petition, hanging up posters and handing out flyers about upcoming matches, and most importantly get students excited about wresting. Our group will be pro-baseball, pro-cheer, pro-wrestling, pro-sport. We will not get wrestling reinstated by fighting everyone, rather we will by promoting ourselves. I encourage all of you to contact me with ideas about things you think we should be doing, if you want t-shirts or buttons or anything, or if you would like to help financially to help us buy these items. I would just like to end with this: We are all very busy, I know that I go to school full-time and work two jobs, but can we risk not giving everything to this fight when those men are giving everything they have everyday?

Thank you and Go Ducks!

Stefanie Arnold
[e-mail]

[wrestlingpublicist]

This is wonderful news. Here are a couple of questions and suggestions.

1. Have you started the process of registering as a recognized student organization? Upon approval, you'll be able to meeting rooms in university buildings, use certain student government resources, and you'll face an easier time setting up tables on university property.

2. We need really big student turnouts at the home meets this season. Two of the biggest are early in the year, the NWCA all-star meet on Nov. 19 and the Oregon State dual on Dec. 7. The Oklahoma State meet in February brings one of America's storied college wrestling programs to Mac Court. The Pac-10 meet closes out the home schedule.

Wrestling fans should understand, however, that every meet is a big one this year. We should strive to have home crowds that top the attendance any non-revenue sport and which rival what the track team draws to Hayward Field. It's really important to show the athletic department and our university president that the students care about wrestling.

The team also needs to have a good season.

3. Use the football and basketball games to drum up support. Wear your Save Oregon Wrestling t-shirts everywhere. Don't underestimate the value of road games, especially in football, where you'll always find a contingent of well-heeled alumni hanging around the headquarters hotels for the team and the Duck Athletic Fund. Show up the morning before an away night game at the hotel where the big-whig donors stay. Hang around the lobby, restaurant, and coffee shop, and bar (if you're old enough).

Some of these older guys and gals like to talk to students, and if you impress them with your enthusiasm for the Ducks, especially for the preservation of wrestling, you might plant a seed that older alumni are capable of cultivating.

4. You are absolutely right about avoiding anti-baseball and other negative approaches. However, have you eyes and ears open and pick up all of the information you can. Understand when you're being fed a line of baloney. Go to the main athletic website and view the video of Mr. Kilkenny's July 13 press conference. You'll hear some figures that are odds with what the newspapers have been saying lately. It's isn't necessarily being negative to be informed.

Good luck. We're looking forward to posting pictures of your group doing good things on the this web site. If the student basketball fans can show this kind of passion to our athletic director . . .



. . . you guys can also.