Beat the Streets-St. Louis To Help 411 Radio at the
NCAA Wrestling Championships
 

A. J. Walls, Executive Director of the St. Louis Beat the Streets USA Wrestling Program, has been asked by Wrestling 411, part of Media Sports Productions in Minneapolis, MN, to help distribute marketing and promotional materials to the 18,000 fans who are in St. Louis for the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Wrestling 411 Radio is part of the College Wrestling Network, a recently formed alliance of the major wrestling media outlets.

According to A.J., "the kids are excited, the city is excited and we are as a Board, especially happy for the opportunity to be part of such a great championship. This is wrestling's future – kids from the large urban centers of America becoming involved in wrestling."

Participants in Beat the Streets USA Wrestling will benefit in many ways. Improved self-esteem, as well as improved grades and behavior in school will likely be benefits for the athletes involved with a Beat the Streets USA Wrestling program. The biggest benefit, though, will be the sense of achievement and accomplishment with their involvement in an Olympic Sport.

USA Wrestling has named Al Bevilacqua the Volunteer Chairman of Beat the Streets USA Wrestling, as Bevilacqua has an extensive background in wrestling. Bevilacqua, USA Wrestling’s Man of the Year in 2005, has been a key figure in developing the Beat the Streets model program in New York City,.

"With someone like Al (Bevilacqua) working together on this project with USA Wrestling, we are sure that it will be a success," said Mark Scott, Director of State Services for USA Wrestling.

"We hope that this will help wrestling reach kids in our most populated areas," said Scott, "meaning so many more kids will be positively impacted by this great sport. The model has been shown to be highly successful when individuals like Al (Bevilacqua) are committed to the cause, which is why USA Wrestling is so excited to work with him on this venture," concluded Scott.

A driven Bevilacqua will aim to help USA Wrestling reach membership milestones. "Our goal is to have 1,000,000 wrestlers participating by 2016,” said Bevilacqua. "The last frontier for wrestling is the large urban centers, which represent 60% of the population in the USA."

With the proven leadership and capabilities of Al Bevilacqua, there is expected growth in such areas.

Individuals or organizations interested in more information on Beat the Streets USA Wrestling should contact Tony Black at USA Wrestling. He can be reached at 719.598.8181 or tblack@usawrestling.org.