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It's the Short Time Wrestling Podcast. It's a time of
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year again. The US World Team is about to be
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set in men's and women's freestyle, and it's become old
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hat that we head out east. We head out to
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the Tri State area in New York City and New
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York City adjacent where the Prudential Center in Newark, New
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Jersey will again be the host of Final X again,
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pairing it with the annual Beat the Streets. I guess
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it's no longer a gal of Bob as Bob Sidell,
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the executive director of Beat the Streets New York, joins
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us today to talk about the event, talk about Final X,
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talk about wrestling, talk about his new role. But before
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we even get into the down and dirty about what
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we're doing with Beat the Streets and Final Lets this year,
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this is this is becoming a tradition where it's World
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Team Trials and Final X. It just and Beat the
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Streets just becomes a becomes a marriage out East.
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Yes, and we are very happy to be a part
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of the event. Obviously, it's going to feature some of
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the best wrestling in the world and we get to
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play a role in helping to set up the programming
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bring everybody together and really make it a great send
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off for Team USA before they go compete in the
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World Championships.
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And again even before we get into the beat the
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Streets New York aspect of it. You're a Jersey guy,
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You're a Jersey native Wall, New Jersey. I remember you
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coming up. You were just behind me. Matter of fact,
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I announced a couple of your matches when when that
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school in Norfolk used to wrestle you guys up at
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the University of Virginia. I remember one of them in
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the old the old Fieldhouse on that school at Hampton Boulevard,
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and you and a guy from from Delaware named Will
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Carroll would just be engaged in just this head. Basically,
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you guys were like fighting without fighting. It was like
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if this was like it was even greco. It's like dirty,
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but it's like those guys are just beating each other up.
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I mean it was a war. You won the match,
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but it was just like, man, that was I just
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remember one thing about you was your toughness on the
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mat and you would not back down from anybody. It
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was it wasn't like the Jersey slickness, but you was
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the Jersey toughness with you is what I remember about
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you on the mats, and then wrestling for Lenny Bernstein
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at the University of Virginia, and ultimately that degree sets
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you up pretty good. You're working out there in New
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York and talk a little bit about your time wrestling
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in Charlottesville and how college wrestling sets you up for
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life outside of you know, the sport is like a coach,
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but you're still involved with it.
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I mean, wrestling has been a part of my life
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since I was in third grade, but I really think
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that wrestling at the D one level at UVA with
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my teammates and my coach for five years really set
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me up to succeed for life off the map, which
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is something we try and instill in our kids. Have
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beat the streets. I think it's just the daily grind,
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the ability to manage schoolwork with athletics, which is athletics
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itself is basically a full time job when you're at
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the D one level, and really being able to kind
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of build that resilience that only wrestling and especially D
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one wrestling can teach you, which is coming back from
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major setbacks and making yourself better and setting high goals
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and working on plans to achieve them. I think all
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of that correlates the success outside of college and outside
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of wrestling, and that's a big reason why I'm here today.
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And it's also a big reason why I do what
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I do, which is to help the next generation get
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those same skills and be able to be successful when
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they leave the wrestling map.
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You know the late Al Beavloqua when we founded the
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Beat the Streets programs, he talked about how big New
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York City was and how big the boroughs were, and
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how many kids did not have access to wrestling. In
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your time with your organization, which you've held a couple
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different roles. This is your first year as the executive director.
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Where have you seen the fruits of that labor really
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kind of blossom in and around the Five Boroughs.
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I mean, yeah, we've come so far. We're coming up
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on twenty years of Beat the Streets New York, And
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of course Al was one of the founding members along
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with Bill Crum, Mike Novagratz, who's still involved heavily today,
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Kira Berry. But I think the fruits of their labor
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and we can see now in the fact that in
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the last since I've been with the organization now four years.
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We have grown in size by about three hundred percent,
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So that's in due large part to our engaged coaching staff,
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our new facility in the center of Manhattan. We now
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serve over four thousand kids per year from all five
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boroughs K to twelve, which makes us the largest nonprofit
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of our kind in the country and hopefully a roadmap
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brother not only wrestling, but in other sports to kind
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of aim.
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For when you look at the makeup of New York City,
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because you know, wrestling country, really it germinates in the Midwest,
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it germinates in the Northeast, where you look at the
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history of it, it's it's farm boys out of the
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Midwest and the plains and prep school kids in New England.
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So it's like you've got the cross sections or the
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spectrums of society that came together in this rugged, ancient sport,
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and you have that also right there just in that
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island that is Manhattan specifically where the training center is,
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where it's like it's like the most expensive piece of
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real estate in the country to try to put something
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on like this, But then you have the kids are livered.
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It's not like you're hopping on a school bus, kids
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are using mass transit, kids are hopping on subways. A
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lot of people don't own cars that live on the island,
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for example. So how does the makeup of the average
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teenager look a lot different just from where you grew up,
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you know, hour or so away in New Jersey, and
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to other kids around the country that are that have
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access to wrestling rooms and such.
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I think the makeup is certainly different. The big difference
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for me is these kids are very independent and they
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are intrinsically motivated to want to get better at wrestling.
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The one thing we all know about wrestling is if
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you put in the time, it doesn't matter what your
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background is, doesn't matter your socioeconomic status, nothing. If you
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put in the time, you're going to get better and
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you're going to improve. So these kids are taking upon
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themselves to make it into the city by themselves. They
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don't have parents dropping them off, they don't have parents
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picking them up. When I was in school, I was
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fortunate my dad would drive all over the country with me.
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He would drive me to the Edge two or three
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nights a week, which was an hour and fifteen minutes
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away from my house to help me get better. These
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kids are doing it all on their own. They're taking
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two hour train rides from Queen's Brooklyn some Staten Island
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and coming in just to get better and be a
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part of the experience. So for me, I think the
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big thing and the impressive thing is their motivation, which
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is what we every day we start practice and we
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start our academy nights, we're giving themselves a round of
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appla us for being there and choosing to dedicate their time,
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because we harp on it, probably the most valuable thing
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any of us have is our time, and it's how
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we choose to spend that time which is going to
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define us. That's something that's kind of drilled into our
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kids' heads and they really they've kind of taken it
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in and making it their own.
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Given the again, the diverse range of I mean neighborhoods,
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I mean you've got I remember if the one we
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were wrestling and Duffy, when we were wresting at Times
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Square outside you had the youth matches on there and
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you would see the kids last name and they were
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from everywhere. You know that that crossroads of America, the
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melting pot that is the United States. You've got a
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kid out and now I remember his name, it was
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an Azerbaijan last Azerbaijani, last name of Zaliev out there
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wrestling for Beat the Streets. Because there's large pockets of
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these populations in the millions and millions of people that
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have wrestling maybe you know, in there in their lineage,
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and they sit there and they find it. You've got
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all sorts of rep they're all New Yorkers, they're all
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Beat the Streets. So what I love about it is
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you're they're all wrestling under the same uh, the same
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wrestling flag, the same like banner, and you're giving them
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those opportunities, which is one thing I love is like
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you've got, yeah, the kid from Long Island, uh is
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named Aliah, the kid from the kid from Yonkers is
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named Jones. But one guy might be from or Dania
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from you know, Long Island with his story from the Congo.
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I mean, that's another great example of just how under
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one BTS banner you've got all these kids that are
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having access to the sport, which leads into the question
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of why is Beat the Streets New York While there's
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many Beat the Streets chapters, there's national, and then there's
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chapters all around. Why is Beat the Streets New York
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such an important cog in the wrestling landscape nationally.
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Yeah, I think there's a couple of reasons. Beat the
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Streets New York was the first Beat the Streets, and
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I think early on it became a roadmap for the
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success of other Beat the streets and there are numerous
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Every Beat the Streets equided city right now is successful
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in one way or another. You can go to Chicago,
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which is immensely successful. LA is run by one of
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the best executive directors in the country and they're doing great. Philly,
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So all these places are really they've all put their
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own spin on it, but I think it all started
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with that vision that al be Blaqua, Mike Novograts, Kira Berry,
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all these people put into effect twenty years ago. So
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I think I'd like to consider New York as one
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of the leaders to Beat the Streets movement. And I'm
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hoping that what we do will be replicated and we
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can help either emerging cities or cities established in what
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they're doing, how they can grow, and we can also
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learn a lot. We have meetings regularly with through BTS
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National with the other cities to kind of share ideas
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and work with the other executive directors to see, hey,
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how can we make this better?
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When talking about your role now assuming the role of
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executive director, Brendan Buckley was in the role prior to you,
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what is the day to day life like for Beat
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the Streets New York and how it ties into as
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you kind of touched on the nation of the other chapters,
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but when it comes to getting ready for final acts,
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getting ready for the annual benefit afterwards, this is one
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you circle on the count to be like, okay, six
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months out, a year out, you're planning for the next
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one as soon as it passes. So what's this first
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year like, Ben for you being in being in the
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executive director role.
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Fortunately I with the organization for a number of years prior,
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so I have had a good idea. We've been through
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too final exus since I've gotten gone on board, and
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so i had a general idea of what to expect,
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and I've been heavily involved in the final X events
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the last two times. I would say for me as
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an executive director, again, I was fortunate to have an
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ED who was experienced and been there for a long time,
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so I kind of watched how things went down with
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the Final CX prior, But for me, it's just the
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intensity and the focus. We've a rather small staff of
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Beat the Streets New York, so a lot of people
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are wear in a lot of different hats, and we
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wake up every day, I would say, trying to figure
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out how we can make this event the best possible,
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working with USA Wrestling, working with Flow, trying to figure
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out how we can make it better and how we
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can keep improving well. At the same time, we're focused
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on the other part of Beat the Streets, which is
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continuing to maximize our impact to those kids we serve,
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so that I think that's a juggling act, but I
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think in the end it all goes towards the mission
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of just using wrestling as a conduit por success for
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the kids in their future endeavors.
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As we set things up, we are wrestling Final X
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two men's and women's freestyle sessions Friday, June nineteenth, at
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the Prudential Center in Newark. First sessions at two pm Eastern,
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second sessions at five pm Eastern, followed by the benefit
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across at the same place I'm assuming right across the
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street at the Red's Beer Garden.
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Red's Beer Garden. It's been our spot for a few years.
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It's actually a great place to get together after an
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event and just relax with our donors, Team USA members, coaches,
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any one part of the BTS and Wrestling family. It's
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really fun, a good time and nice spread, and it's
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a it's a big tent, so we have again people
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from all over come in for it and it's great
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to see and hang out.
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Yeah, the past couple year well, being a craft beer snob,
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so that one checks the box there. And I love
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how their attention to detail for those of you that
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are interested. Of course we'll bring up the information on
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the screen here in a little bit. But like they
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again the order, the type of beer. They've got the
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glass that you want right there.
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You know.
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It's it's not like here's the pine of everything. It's
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like it's like you get a half of ice and
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it's got the heff of icon glass, you get a
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stat it's a stout, you know. So I love their
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attention to detail there. Also, it's it's got a beer garden.
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You've got the tables, the sausage. I mean, I love
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the spread. So if you're into the German beer garden
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style thing, they do it right there. Granted the stein's
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not quite like the dragon pagoda in Munich, for example,
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but yeah, they do it right and it's right there
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across the street. They you know, it's it's just out
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the doors and boom, you're there now when we look
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at the venue. And that's one thing that Dylan wan
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Gale was part of the early graph of the gardens
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in the NCAA Championships at Madison Square Garden. He's now
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over at the Prudential Center. He brings in Damian Santucci,
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who like produces some of the biggest events on television.
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I mean Dick Clark's rocking New Year's e for example,
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I mean sporting events at the Garden. This guy is
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a pro when it comes to producing these events. He's
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working in tandem with USA Wrestling, and Dylan of course
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loves wrestling. He's been putting events there, so you know,
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working with people like that, her experience makes your job
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a little bit easier, doesn't it.
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It's amazing. I mean, like you said, Dylan's had been great.
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I've worked with him now for four years in different roles.
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He is a wrestling fan. He wants the best situation
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for the people at the Prudential Center, and they hit
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it out of the park every time we've worked with
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him so far. And Damien's just an all star. I mean,
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as you said, he's just watching him work and watching
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I was on a meeting with him this morning watching
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how he is able to put this event to together
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and just man, he's on top of it all the time.
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It's great work with them, and I learned a lot,
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so it's it's pretty awesome.
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I'll tell you what I like about this as a
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wrestling fan. Yeah, And and the the announcing team would
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be Dort May Brian Hazard on the on the main PA,
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I'll be again handling the UH. I guess the MC duties.
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I guess they would say.
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So I get there, I.
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Remember walking off the matt You're like, man, Jerry, really hip,
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like really So I felt pretty good about that. But
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it's it's a situation where from a fan standpoint, you've
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got large video boards, you've got sitelines, you've got the videos.
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It might be it might be the one of the best,
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if not best sound systems I've ever worked with. So
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they've got the new Jersey Devils in there, so they've
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got they've got professional hockey, so they know how to
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do a professional sport event. They've got it right. So
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from a fan standpoint, good sight lines, I know that it.
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You know you're really in it. When you're in that
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lower bowl, You're like everything is right there. And that's
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one thing I'm excited about. The venue itself is always
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really really it lays itself out there for wrestling it
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and it's really fun for it. So when we get
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to the next steps, let's talk a little bit about wrestling, Bob,
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because I mean, uh, you know, we'll get to the
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fundraiser kick because during the event, we'll have opportunities to
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text and such. Let's switch over and you know you're
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you're you're a Jersey guy, so we get to talk
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a little bit about about some Well, first of all, yeah,
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you got wrestling in your home state, big big deal
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like this. This's got to make you feel good as
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a Jersey guy, right gat.
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I mean, I like, I walk around and my friends
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are all psyches for we have a ton of teams
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coming up from different high schools and different clubs in
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Jersey as well as New York and PA. But yeah,
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it's it's actually a buzz down here. You know, it's
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wrestling country at the Jersey Shore and North Jersey. So
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people have been talking about it for a while on
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their amps to keep it in Jersey again this year.
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So good scream with.
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What you got, yeah on the screen. What we've got
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now is the benefit information Where to get it on
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this is at first of all, you can go to
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bt S n y dot and right here the logo
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the Final CTS League will take you over to the
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information about the benefit and how to donate. So the
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benefit tickets of course, that's uh, that benefit, that's that's
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a high dollar item for people that are looking for
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that's your philanthropic gift of the year. But there are
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ways for uh if you don't have a lot of
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zeros behind your annual paycheck to contribute, because every little
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bit helps. But right there at bts ny dot org.
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But Final CS let's start with just a couple of
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matchups you're looking forward to. I know a lot of
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people have the Luke Lillodol Spencer Lee match circle, but
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give me your your your your wrestling I wrestled d
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one take that's like, this is the one stylistically or
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matchup wise, and I'm gonna sit down, Hey, we get
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to beat the start. Wait until after this match. I'm
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gonna watch this one real close.
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There's I mean, there's I was thinking about the other day.
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There's about four or five that are just blockbusters that
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I want to see. I mean, I just automatically like
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to watch Bo Bassett wrest well. I think him and
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Reel Woods is going to be fantastic. Uh. I think
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that's gonna be a great match to start it off.
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And then obviously Spencer Lee going out against Luke lowlandahls
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gonna be There's some drama behind that, so I think
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that's gonna be a battle right from round one. For
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me personally, I love watching Jax Boris wrestle as well,
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So Forrest Blaze I think will be fantastic. And then
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there's for the veterans. I mean, you can't really have
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anyone better than the heat Al Dake, So I mean,
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take your pick. I think the matches are just I
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think it's our strongest lineup all the way through that
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we've had since we've run it. Yeah, that's what you've
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got it.
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It transitions over several different eras because you know it
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was we're talking eleven years ago when Kyle Snyder won
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his World championship in Las Vegas. And then you've got,
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of course the kids from the social media era. You
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know Jacks, of course Bo putting Bishop McCourt on the map,
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and then you know Jack's doing something we'd ever done, going, Look,
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I'm gonna wrestle the Power Aid. Now I'm gonna go
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wrestling NCAA championship. Then you've got your veterans. It's not
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just not You've got James Green, who's won world medals,
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reigning world champions, You've got Olympic champions, you got i
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mean this from a star power lineup. This You've got
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your Penn State guys, You've got your your you got
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00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:21.160
your Iowa guys. You've got your your core college teams,
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00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.480
your medal winners, and you're up and comers. All this
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00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.799
is just on the men's freestyle side. That's bonkers. Is
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a wrestling thing. You're like, I'm if I can't be
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00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:34.240
there at the Britentcial Center, I'm definitely definitely watching this
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00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:34.759
on flow.
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00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.519
I mean, yeah, it's It's one of those things that
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00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:41.799
it just worked out perfectly in terms of how the
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00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.480
matchups all worked out, that we are able and fortunate
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enough to have this lineup and to be a part
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of it. Yeah, I don't think there's any any matches
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00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:51.519
you want to miss. I think every year we've hosted
387
00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:56.279
Final X, there's been some major drama, there's been some
388
00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.240
of the best matches I've seen, and I think there's
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00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.519
gonna be some major highlights after this one.
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00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.240
And we're going with the two map format. And on
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the women's side, I mean we've got I mean the
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00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.559
icon of women's wrestling. Helma Rule is the very first
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00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:14.880
Olympic Women's champion. To this day, you know, I've announced
394
00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:17.480
wrestling for who at this point almost I think I'm
395
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:21.279
at thirty let's see, Yeah, thirty thirty years I've been
396
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.480
announcing wrestling, which makes me feel really old. It's not
397
00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:25.839
just a hairline. But people always ask me, what is
398
00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:27.759
what is your most what is your most memorable call,
399
00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:30.759
what's your most memorable moment? It was Hellan in twenty sixteen.
400
00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:36.400
There is no close experience and what she did for
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00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.359
women's wrestling, and let let's table that for a second
402
00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:44.039
right there in your backyard. This week, Columbia announced it
403
00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:48.200
was the first Ivy League program to announce women's wrestling
404
00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:50.279
at the division. We're now up to ten teams. Emma
405
00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:52.839
Randall's been vital there with the Beat the Streets in
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00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:55.519
New York City RTC. She was named the head coach,
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00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:58.279
so from you know, kind of a you know, an
408
00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:00.519
arms reach distance to see what Emma is done and
409
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:05.000
what the backers at Columbia have done. We have Division
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00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.319
one women's wrestling in New York City coming in twenty
411
00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:10.640
twenty seven to twenty eight. That's also got to make
412
00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:12.599
those Beat the Streets girls really excited.
413
00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:16.599
Oh yeah, I mean it's amazing what Emma's been able
414
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to do. I mean, first, obviously I met her when
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she was coming off of working with Beat the Streets
416
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and I was starting. But what she's been able to
417
00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.200
do at Columbia has been nothing less than spec spectacular.
418
00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:31.160
The support the people they have involved in that Columbia
419
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program on the women's side, they're the best people around.
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I mean, you have people like Kira Berry having your
421
00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.079
back and trying to build a program there, you're not
422
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going to go wrong. And with Emma running the ship.
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On the girl's side, it's I mean, the sky's the
424
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limit for them, and we've worked with them. The girls
425
00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:52.480
have been in our wrestling room each year, Emma's done
426
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:54.480
clinics for us, and we bring the kids over to
427
00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:57.200
the RTC to work out as well. So we're pretty
428
00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:01.039
close with the Columbia wrestling people and it gives it
429
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.960
kind of gives our girls something to shoot for and
430
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people to root for, which is awesome.
431
00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:08.960
Look at this women's line up. We talked about how
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00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.079
deep the men's lineup is, but you also have that
433
00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:15.720
cross section of world medalist, Olympic champions, up and comers, veterans,
434
00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.119
and I'm looking right off the bat fifty I mean
435
00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:20.680
fifty kills. You know, Katie Gomez and Morgan Turner, both
436
00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:22.559
two young up and comers that are going to set
437
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.720
the stage pretty quickly. We mentioned Helen, you know, Kayla
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00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:27.799
Miracle has been in a couple of big games, Kylie Welker,
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00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:31.839
you know world medalist and Age Group world champion, Kennedy Blades,
440
00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.599
who is just electrifying every time she stuffs on the mat.
441
00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:37.880
We won't see I meet Illora actually compete because Alex
442
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.319
Glaudia unfortunately had to pull out due to an injury.
443
00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:43.480
But she's back on the mat just months after giving birth.
444
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And this is something that you know, Christy Morno, now
445
00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.720
Christy Davis had gone through in her career. Sarah McMahon.
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00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:51.599
Adeline of course, Adeline Gray made it to you know,
447
00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:53.599
a deal which after you know, coming back from twins
448
00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.160
to wrestle, so I meet in her early twenties, has
449
00:22:56.200 --> 00:22:57.960
a long stretch.
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00:22:57.640 --> 00:22:58.480
Of her career to go.
451
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So this is this is again a dynamic matchup. You've
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00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:04.119
got your star power, you got your up and comers. Ever,
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s Lydecker, she's won hole. My goodness, she is a hammer.
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00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:10.079
So again let's circle this up around the girls. You've
455
00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:12.359
got the beat the Streets girls that now have a
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Division one team in their backyard at the IVY League,
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which it's not, you know, it's not a small school
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that you're like, where is that? This is Columbia. And
459
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then now you know, the week or change after the announcement,
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those girls get to go watch the elite women's wrestler
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00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:30.359
wrestlers compete for a chance the world championship. So that's
462
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.440
really kind of sell that Beat these Streets mission to
463
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these kids. These parents in these donors pretty easily when
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00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.119
you when you frame it like that.
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Absolutely, And I think one of the big things is
466
00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:44.319
you were talking about earlier, but showing the kids what's possible,
467
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no matter where they come from, what their situation situation
468
00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:52.960
is at home, here's what's possible if you put in
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00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:57.000
time in your schoolwork and in learning how to wrestle,
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on developing as a wrestler and a human. Uh. We
471
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.480
surround them with those people, whether it's the Columbia girls
472
00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:06.839
coming into practice or Emma doing a clinic. Oh, look,
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this is possible. So I think that's it kind of
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gives our girls and all of our athletes just, hey,
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this is something that I don't just hear about or
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00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:19.480
see on social media. I can attain this. I've met
477
00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:21.640
these people, they've done it, They've told me how to
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00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:24.039
do it. So I think that's really where that Beat
479
00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:27.079
the Streets mission really comes to fruition.
480
00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:31.880
When we go back to what beat the Streets New
481
00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:36.200
York means nationally. I remember, I've been to numerous functions.
482
00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:39.519
There's whether it has the first one at the Bowery
483
00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:41.759
where I got sides whited by a taxi driving back
484
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.680
to Pennsylvania, such as Life in New York City to
485
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:49.920
Times Square to you know, the Potential Center, to wrestling
486
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:53.480
in a bank. You know, we had Neil Degrass, Tyson
487
00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:58.079
and you know out there with Tim Ferriss and Jordan Burrows,
488
00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:01.119
like we have so many different uniques. They wrestled in
489
00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:05.480
Grand Central Wrestling, wrestled in in subway stations. You've basically
490
00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:10.000
been putting this everywhere and giving it. Putting across the
491
00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:12.359
River New Jersey and Arena makes things a lot, I
492
00:25:12.359 --> 00:25:14.920
guess easier from a permit standpoint to get things done.
493
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.359
But when when you look back at history, even before
494
00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:19.480
you were there, what Beat the Streets in New York
495
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.000
and this event and now tying it into the World
496
00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:24.160
tem Trials and Final X has meant to the sport
497
00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:28.240
of wrestling as a whole. How do you look at
498
00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:29.079
that and go.
499
00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:33.480
Man, this is this is nuts. Yeah. I mean when
500
00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:35.839
I first heard of Beat the Streets it was through
501
00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:39.279
their events years and years ago, and I was like,
502
00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.759
that is so cool. Like I even where they were
503
00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:46.599
putting it on. They were just masters at promoting the sport,
504
00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:50.519
not only to wrestling fans, but to people who didn't
505
00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:52.839
know anything about wrestling. They're like, what's going on there?
506
00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.480
That's awesome, And then you learn more about Beat the
507
00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:57.720
Streets and its actual mission and what it does, and
508
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:02.200
you're like, that's one of the best organizations around. Yeah,
509
00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:05.599
they've done everything. I mean, they were true the founders
510
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:09.400
that Beat the Streets were true visionaries and really knew
511
00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:11.720
what they were doing in terms of impact and in
512
00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:14.279
terms of getting the word out about what a great
513
00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:17.920
organization from Again, can't say enough about Al Devil Lock
514
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:21.160
with Bill krum Mike Novigrats who has just been a
515
00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:24.160
constant for the last twenty years and his support and
516
00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:30.480
Beat the Streets and making whatever we do possible. I
517
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:36.359
just think that you can really see what the impact
518
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:40.000
of what they'd done and how it's come and where
519
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.799
we are now, and it's a good place and we
520
00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:44.519
hope in the future to expand on it.
521
00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:49.319
When we go over and look at the donation page again,
522
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:53.480
give dot btsny dot org is a landing page, but
523
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.039
we're gonna have QR codes, We're going to have texts
524
00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:58.640
what do you got from us? For those that maybe
525
00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:00.440
listing in their car and they're not to be able
526
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:03.000
to like, oh, well you you're not supposed to text
527
00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:04.920
and drive. You're definitely not supposed to browse and drive.
528
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:07.559
But you got a couple pitches here. What's the first one?
529
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:10.119
We can give an advanced warning on the text messages
530
00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:11.279
on where they can contribute.
531
00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:14.200
Yeah, I think the easiest thing to do is go
532
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:19.920
to that website bts NY dot org and donate. If
533
00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:22.160
you cannot make the event. If you can make the event,
534
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.480
I highly recommend doing it. I mean, I don't think
535
00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:28.680
there's any better place for a wrestling fan to be.
536
00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:34.279
It's exciting throughout the whole day and night, and you
537
00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:37.160
get to meet some of the best wrestling fans in
538
00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:38.559
the country as well a see some of the best
539
00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:40.680
wrestling in the world. And it's all off of the
540
00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:46.079
website BTSNY dot org. All the money coming in from
541
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:50.400
Final X that's fundraised will go directly to our programs
542
00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:53.400
on and off the mat. It goes to our year
543
00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:56.079
round training center. It operates four or five days a week.
544
00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:01.079
It goes to social emotional learning classes, skills workshops, and
545
00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:05.079
college and career readiness programs. So we really try and
546
00:28:05.400 --> 00:28:07.240
wrestling is great and it teaches you a lot of
547
00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:10.079
skills that will help you in life. But we're also
548
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:14.480
working on everything else off the mat to help these
549
00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:16.839
kids be into the best position possible to succeed at
550
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:19.720
whatever they want to do. So every dollar you help
551
00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:21.960
let's bring in, that's what it goes to.
552
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:25.759
It also helps, you know, we've got these events that
553
00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:27.960
come around those you know, there's certain things that you know,
554
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:29.920
we talked about those permits and things of New York
555
00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:32.400
that you know, there is the cost of doing business
556
00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:34.920
when you provide an event like this. But to to
557
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.240
tangent off that a little bit with the relationship between
558
00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:42.359
USA Wrestling, of course it's their events that are really
559
00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:45.200
in their athletes. And then of course Flow Sports and
560
00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:47.799
Flow Wrestling, which streams this thing and provides a lot
561
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:51.480
of production value to the sport and visibility to the
562
00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:53.519
sport as a whole. So what's it like having those
563
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:55.039
two as a partner for this type of event.
564
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:58.559
I mean it's great. I mean great to partner with
565
00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:04.880
USA Wrestling. They obviously run events throughout the year, so
566
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:07.200
they are very their seasoned veterans and they've been great
567
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:10.039
to work with. Pete isaiahs, rich Bender and the whole
568
00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:14.599
staff have been really good for us. Flow wrestling. I mean,
569
00:29:15.559 --> 00:29:19.160
they are the broadcaster of wrestling events, so it's great
570
00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:21.920
to have them on board, and they've done amazing things
571
00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:25.359
to help grow the sport almost at every level. So
572
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:28.319
it's again we're working with an all star group of
573
00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:32.920
people and organizations. So I think it's going to be
574
00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:33.519
a great show.
575
00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:40.160
Final X and the annual Beat the Streets Benefit June nineteenth, Newark,
576
00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:43.319
New Jersey, the Prudential Center rounds. We got actually we
577
00:29:43.559 --> 00:29:45.960
jumped over the start time just a little bit because
578
00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:48.160
let me go find that just to make sure if
579
00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:50.599
my mouse wants to be it really doesn't want to work.
580
00:29:50.599 --> 00:29:52.680
When the technology works and when you're a one man shop,
581
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:54.559
let's say we can go over here, we can click it.
582
00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:56.880
I think my mouse just died there it goes. So
583
00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:00.519
we got the true third matches that are starting beforehand.
584
00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:02.599
So you show up at too, you go see the
585
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.240
main event, but we've got the true third matches starting
586
00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:07.319
before then. Then we go to the two o'clock five
587
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:09.839
o'clock if you're interested in hanging around benefit. Of course,
588
00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:11.880
the information on how to get tickets for the benefit
589
00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:16.160
is also at btsny dot org and and Bob in
590
00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:18.079
the time we got left. What are we close with? Man,
591
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.039
We're excited for this. I leave in about what six days,
592
00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.640
I'm in, I'm out. It's it's Father's Day weekend, it's
593
00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:28.000
my daughter's birthday. But first Final X beat the Streets.
594
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:30.559
Yeah, I mean, I think this the way we prep
595
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.119
this and the way it's set up with the lineup,
596
00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:33.440
I think it's going to be one of the best
597
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:38.359
Seat the Streets USA Wrestling Final x's that we've seen.
598
00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:42.240
If you haven't planned on going, I plan to get there.
599
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:45.000
We're running a Father's Day special now through the end
600
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.440
of the event, so please check it out for tickets.
601
00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:53.319
There are all there are every level of price point possible,
602
00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:58.640
so we have tickets for everybody. We hope to see
603
00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.960
you there and and I hope to see your intro
604
00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:03.559
at the beginning of the night and the CEF the
605
00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:04.160
after party.
606
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:08.880
Yeah, the the now it's the glistening of the dome.
607
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:10.920
We'll actually probably I used to see you'll hear me
608
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:12.720
before you see me, but now it's just like I'm
609
00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:14.480
going to be blinding people that come. Those are great,
610
00:31:14.519 --> 00:31:16.640
great light seared Pruential Center. Bob always a pleasure. We
611
00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.880
can tell more more stories about your recruitment to schools
612
00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:24.519
not named UVA that are always fun. Twenty five years
613
00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:26.839
after the fact, So Bob Sidel beat the Streets, New
614
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:30.559
York exec Director. Thanks for the information again. Those of
615
00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:32.920
you can watch on Flow Wrestling. Information on the event
616
00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:35.039
found at the Matt dot com, and of course, the
617
00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:38.640
donation is at BTSNY dot org. Click the big donation
618
00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:41.400
link you can find all that out. June nineteenth, We're
619
00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:43.240
setting a world team. Man, it's gonna be fun. Bob,
620
00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:43.880
I'll see you there.
621
00:31:44.759 --> 00:31:45.359
WUSA
1
00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:03.520
It's the Short Time Wrestling Podcast. It's a time of
2
00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:06.559
year again. The US World Team is about to be
3
00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:09.720
set in men's and women's freestyle, and it's become old
4
00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:11.720
hat that we head out east. We head out to
5
00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.080
the Tri State area in New York City and New
6
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:18.120
York City adjacent where the Prudential Center in Newark, New
7
00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:21.079
Jersey will again be the host of Final X again,
8
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:24.160
pairing it with the annual Beat the Streets. I guess
9
00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.679
it's no longer a gal of Bob as Bob Sidell,
10
00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:29.559
the executive director of Beat the Streets New York, joins
11
00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:31.679
us today to talk about the event, talk about Final X,
12
00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:35.159
talk about wrestling, talk about his new role. But before
13
00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:38.759
we even get into the down and dirty about what
14
00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.479
we're doing with Beat the Streets and Final Lets this year,
15
00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:44.280
this is this is becoming a tradition where it's World
16
00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:47.000
Team Trials and Final X. It just and Beat the
17
00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.719
Streets just becomes a becomes a marriage out East.
18
00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.759
Yes, and we are very happy to be a part
19
00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.280
of the event. Obviously, it's going to feature some of
20
00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:01.200
the best wrestling in the world and we get to
21
00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:04.560
play a role in helping to set up the programming
22
00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:09.200
bring everybody together and really make it a great send
23
00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.400
off for Team USA before they go compete in the
24
00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:13.519
World Championships.
25
00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.359
And again even before we get into the beat the
26
00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:18.599
Streets New York aspect of it. You're a Jersey guy,
27
00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:21.239
You're a Jersey native Wall, New Jersey. I remember you
28
00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:23.920
coming up. You were just behind me. Matter of fact,
29
00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:25.879
I announced a couple of your matches when when that
30
00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:27.799
school in Norfolk used to wrestle you guys up at
31
00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:30.959
the University of Virginia. I remember one of them in
32
00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:35.040
the old the old Fieldhouse on that school at Hampton Boulevard,
33
00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:37.439
and you and a guy from from Delaware named Will
34
00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:41.359
Carroll would just be engaged in just this head. Basically,
35
00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.000
you guys were like fighting without fighting. It was like
36
00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.640
if this was like it was even greco. It's like dirty,
37
00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:49.840
but it's like those guys are just beating each other up.
38
00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:51.400
I mean it was a war. You won the match,
39
00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:54.640
but it was just like, man, that was I just
40
00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:56.840
remember one thing about you was your toughness on the
41
00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:59.200
mat and you would not back down from anybody. It
42
00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:02.079
was it wasn't like the Jersey slickness, but you was
43
00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:04.400
the Jersey toughness with you is what I remember about
44
00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:06.959
you on the mats, and then wrestling for Lenny Bernstein
45
00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:10.120
at the University of Virginia, and ultimately that degree sets
46
00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:11.439
you up pretty good. You're working out there in New
47
00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:13.199
York and talk a little bit about your time wrestling
48
00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.520
in Charlottesville and how college wrestling sets you up for
49
00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.560
life outside of you know, the sport is like a coach,
50
00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:20.680
but you're still involved with it.
51
00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:24.000
I mean, wrestling has been a part of my life
52
00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:28.080
since I was in third grade, but I really think
53
00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:32.479
that wrestling at the D one level at UVA with
54
00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:37.240
my teammates and my coach for five years really set
55
00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.960
me up to succeed for life off the map, which
56
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.719
is something we try and instill in our kids. Have
57
00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:45.199
beat the streets. I think it's just the daily grind,
58
00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:52.639
the ability to manage schoolwork with athletics, which is athletics
59
00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:54.800
itself is basically a full time job when you're at
60
00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:01.120
the D one level, and really being able to kind
61
00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:06.039
of build that resilience that only wrestling and especially D
62
00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:10.000
one wrestling can teach you, which is coming back from
63
00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:17.719
major setbacks and making yourself better and setting high goals
64
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:22.400
and working on plans to achieve them. I think all
65
00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:26.560
of that correlates the success outside of college and outside
66
00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:31.360
of wrestling, and that's a big reason why I'm here today.
67
00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.400
And it's also a big reason why I do what
68
00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:37.319
I do, which is to help the next generation get
69
00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:40.280
those same skills and be able to be successful when
70
00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:41.400
they leave the wrestling map.
71
00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.599
You know the late Al Beavloqua when we founded the
72
00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:48.759
Beat the Streets programs, he talked about how big New
73
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.960
York City was and how big the boroughs were, and
74
00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:55.879
how many kids did not have access to wrestling. In
75
00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:58.360
your time with your organization, which you've held a couple
76
00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:02.120
different roles. This is your first year as the executive director.
77
00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:05.159
Where have you seen the fruits of that labor really
78
00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.560
kind of blossom in and around the Five Boroughs.
79
00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.159
I mean, yeah, we've come so far. We're coming up
80
00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:15.240
on twenty years of Beat the Streets New York, And
81
00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:17.639
of course Al was one of the founding members along
82
00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.399
with Bill Crum, Mike Novagratz, who's still involved heavily today,
83
00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:26.720
Kira Berry. But I think the fruits of their labor
84
00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:30.279
and we can see now in the fact that in
85
00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:34.279
the last since I've been with the organization now four years.
86
00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:38.399
We have grown in size by about three hundred percent,
87
00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:43.639
So that's in due large part to our engaged coaching staff,
88
00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:47.480
our new facility in the center of Manhattan. We now
89
00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:50.720
serve over four thousand kids per year from all five
90
00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:56.199
boroughs K to twelve, which makes us the largest nonprofit
91
00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.639
of our kind in the country and hopefully a roadmap
92
00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:03.800
brother not only wrestling, but in other sports to kind
93
00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:05.720
of aim.
94
00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:09.399
For when you look at the makeup of New York City,
95
00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:13.519
because you know, wrestling country, really it germinates in the Midwest,
96
00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:15.720
it germinates in the Northeast, where you look at the
97
00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.360
history of it, it's it's farm boys out of the
98
00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:21.720
Midwest and the plains and prep school kids in New England.
99
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So it's like you've got the cross sections or the
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spectrums of society that came together in this rugged, ancient sport,
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and you have that also right there just in that
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island that is Manhattan specifically where the training center is,
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where it's like it's like the most expensive piece of
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real estate in the country to try to put something
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on like this, But then you have the kids are livered.
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It's not like you're hopping on a school bus, kids
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are using mass transit, kids are hopping on subways. A
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lot of people don't own cars that live on the island,
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for example. So how does the makeup of the average
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teenager look a lot different just from where you grew up,
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you know, hour or so away in New Jersey, and
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to other kids around the country that are that have
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access to wrestling rooms and such.
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I think the makeup is certainly different. The big difference
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for me is these kids are very independent and they
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are intrinsically motivated to want to get better at wrestling.
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The one thing we all know about wrestling is if
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you put in the time, it doesn't matter what your
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background is, doesn't matter your socioeconomic status, nothing. If you
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put in the time, you're going to get better and
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you're going to improve. So these kids are taking upon
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themselves to make it into the city by themselves. They
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don't have parents dropping them off, they don't have parents
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picking them up. When I was in school, I was
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fortunate my dad would drive all over the country with me.
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He would drive me to the Edge two or three
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nights a week, which was an hour and fifteen minutes
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away from my house to help me get better. These
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kids are doing it all on their own. They're taking
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two hour train rides from Queen's Brooklyn some Staten Island
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and coming in just to get better and be a
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part of the experience. So for me, I think the
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big thing and the impressive thing is their motivation, which
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is what we every day we start practice and we
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start our academy nights, we're giving themselves a round of
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appla us for being there and choosing to dedicate their time,
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because we harp on it, probably the most valuable thing
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any of us have is our time, and it's how
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we choose to spend that time which is going to
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define us. That's something that's kind of drilled into our
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kids' heads and they really they've kind of taken it
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in and making it their own.
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Given the again, the diverse range of I mean neighborhoods,
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I mean you've got I remember if the one we
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were wrestling and Duffy, when we were wresting at Times
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Square outside you had the youth matches on there and
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you would see the kids last name and they were
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from everywhere. You know that that crossroads of America, the
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melting pot that is the United States. You've got a
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kid out and now I remember his name, it was
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an Azerbaijan last Azerbaijani, last name of Zaliev out there
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wrestling for Beat the Streets. Because there's large pockets of
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these populations in the millions and millions of people that
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have wrestling maybe you know, in there in their lineage,
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and they sit there and they find it. You've got
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all sorts of rep they're all New Yorkers, they're all
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Beat the Streets. So what I love about it is
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you're they're all wrestling under the same uh, the same
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wrestling flag, the same like banner, and you're giving them
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those opportunities, which is one thing I love is like
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you've got, yeah, the kid from Long Island, uh is
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named Aliah, the kid from the kid from Yonkers is
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named Jones. But one guy might be from or Dania
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from you know, Long Island with his story from the Congo.
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I mean, that's another great example of just how under
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one BTS banner you've got all these kids that are
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having access to the sport, which leads into the question
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of why is Beat the Streets New York While there's
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many Beat the Streets chapters, there's national, and then there's
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chapters all around. Why is Beat the Streets New York
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such an important cog in the wrestling landscape nationally.
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Yeah, I think there's a couple of reasons. Beat the
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Streets New York was the first Beat the Streets, and
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I think early on it became a roadmap for the
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success of other Beat the streets and there are numerous
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Every Beat the Streets equided city right now is successful
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in one way or another. You can go to Chicago,
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which is immensely successful. LA is run by one of
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the best executive directors in the country and they're doing great. Philly,
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So all these places are really they've all put their
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own spin on it, but I think it all started
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with that vision that al be Blaqua, Mike Novograts, Kira Berry,
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all these people put into effect twenty years ago. So
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I think I'd like to consider New York as one
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of the leaders to Beat the Streets movement. And I'm
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hoping that what we do will be replicated and we
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can help either emerging cities or cities established in what
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they're doing, how they can grow, and we can also
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learn a lot. We have meetings regularly with through BTS
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National with the other cities to kind of share ideas
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and work with the other executive directors to see, hey,
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how can we make this better?
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When talking about your role now assuming the role of
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executive director, Brendan Buckley was in the role prior to you,
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what is the day to day life like for Beat
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the Streets New York and how it ties into as
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you kind of touched on the nation of the other chapters,
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but when it comes to getting ready for final acts,
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getting ready for the annual benefit afterwards, this is one
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you circle on the count to be like, okay, six
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months out, a year out, you're planning for the next
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one as soon as it passes. So what's this first
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year like, Ben for you being in being in the
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executive director role.
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Fortunately I with the organization for a number of years prior,
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so I have had a good idea. We've been through
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too final exus since I've gotten gone on board, and
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so i had a general idea of what to expect,
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and I've been heavily involved in the final X events
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the last two times. I would say for me as
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an executive director, again, I was fortunate to have an
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ED who was experienced and been there for a long time,
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so I kind of watched how things went down with
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the Final CX prior, But for me, it's just the
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intensity and the focus. We've a rather small staff of
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Beat the Streets New York, so a lot of people
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are wear in a lot of different hats, and we
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wake up every day, I would say, trying to figure
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out how we can make this event the best possible,
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working with USA Wrestling, working with Flow, trying to figure
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out how we can make it better and how we
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can keep improving well. At the same time, we're focused
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on the other part of Beat the Streets, which is
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continuing to maximize our impact to those kids we serve,
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so that I think that's a juggling act, but I
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think in the end it all goes towards the mission
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of just using wrestling as a conduit por success for
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the kids in their future endeavors.
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As we set things up, we are wrestling Final X
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two men's and women's freestyle sessions Friday, June nineteenth, at
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the Prudential Center in Newark. First sessions at two pm Eastern,
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second sessions at five pm Eastern, followed by the benefit
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across at the same place I'm assuming right across the
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street at the Red's Beer Garden.
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Red's Beer Garden. It's been our spot for a few years.
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It's actually a great place to get together after an
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event and just relax with our donors, Team USA members, coaches,
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any one part of the BTS and Wrestling family. It's
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really fun, a good time and nice spread, and it's
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a it's a big tent, so we have again people
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from all over come in for it and it's great
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to see and hang out.
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Yeah, the past couple year well, being a craft beer snob,
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so that one checks the box there. And I love
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how their attention to detail for those of you that
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are interested. Of course we'll bring up the information on
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the screen here in a little bit. But like they
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again the order, the type of beer. They've got the
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glass that you want right there.
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You know.
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It's it's not like here's the pine of everything. It's
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like it's like you get a half of ice and
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it's got the heff of icon glass, you get a
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stat it's a stout, you know. So I love their
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attention to detail there. Also, it's it's got a beer garden.
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You've got the tables, the sausage. I mean, I love
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the spread. So if you're into the German beer garden
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style thing, they do it right there. Granted the stein's
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not quite like the dragon pagoda in Munich, for example,
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but yeah, they do it right and it's right there
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across the street. They you know, it's it's just out
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the doors and boom, you're there now when we look
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at the venue. And that's one thing that Dylan wan
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Gale was part of the early graph of the gardens
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in the NCAA Championships at Madison Square Garden. He's now
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over at the Prudential Center. He brings in Damian Santucci,
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who like produces some of the biggest events on television.
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I mean Dick Clark's rocking New Year's e for example,
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I mean sporting events at the Garden. This guy is
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a pro when it comes to producing these events. He's
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working in tandem with USA Wrestling, and Dylan of course
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loves wrestling. He's been putting events there, so you know,
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working with people like that, her experience makes your job
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a little bit easier, doesn't it.
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It's amazing. I mean, like you said, Dylan's had been great.
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I've worked with him now for four years in different roles.
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He is a wrestling fan. He wants the best situation
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for the people at the Prudential Center, and they hit
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it out of the park every time we've worked with
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him so far. And Damien's just an all star. I mean,
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as you said, he's just watching him work and watching
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I was on a meeting with him this morning watching
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how he is able to put this event to together
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and just man, he's on top of it all the time.
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It's great work with them, and I learned a lot,
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so it's it's pretty awesome.
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I'll tell you what I like about this as a
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wrestling fan. Yeah, And and the the announcing team would
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be Dort May Brian Hazard on the on the main PA,
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I'll be again handling the UH. I guess the MC duties.
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I guess they would say.
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So I get there, I.
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Remember walking off the matt You're like, man, Jerry, really hip,
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like really So I felt pretty good about that. But
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it's it's a situation where from a fan standpoint, you've
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got large video boards, you've got sitelines, you've got the videos.
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It might be it might be the one of the best,
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if not best sound systems I've ever worked with. So
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they've got the new Jersey Devils in there, so they've
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got they've got professional hockey, so they know how to
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do a professional sport event. They've got it right. So
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from a fan standpoint, good sight lines, I know that it.
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You know you're really in it. When you're in that
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lower bowl, You're like everything is right there. And that's
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one thing I'm excited about. The venue itself is always
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really really it lays itself out there for wrestling it
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and it's really fun for it. So when we get
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to the next steps, let's talk a little bit about wrestling, Bob,
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because I mean, uh, you know, we'll get to the
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fundraiser kick because during the event, we'll have opportunities to
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text and such. Let's switch over and you know you're
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you're you're a Jersey guy, so we get to talk
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a little bit about about some Well, first of all, yeah,
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you got wrestling in your home state, big big deal
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like this. This's got to make you feel good as
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a Jersey guy, right gat.
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I mean, I like, I walk around and my friends
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are all psyches for we have a ton of teams
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coming up from different high schools and different clubs in
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Jersey as well as New York and PA. But yeah,
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it's it's actually a buzz down here. You know, it's
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wrestling country at the Jersey Shore and North Jersey. So
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people have been talking about it for a while on
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their amps to keep it in Jersey again this year.
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So good scream with.
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What you got, yeah on the screen. What we've got
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now is the benefit information Where to get it on
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this is at first of all, you can go to
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bt S n y dot and right here the logo
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the Final CTS League will take you over to the
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information about the benefit and how to donate. So the
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benefit tickets of course, that's uh, that benefit, that's that's
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a high dollar item for people that are looking for
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that's your philanthropic gift of the year. But there are
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ways for uh if you don't have a lot of
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zeros behind your annual paycheck to contribute, because every little
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bit helps. But right there at bts ny dot org.
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But Final CS let's start with just a couple of
339
00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.039
matchups you're looking forward to. I know a lot of
340
00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:31.680
people have the Luke Lillodol Spencer Lee match circle, but
341
00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:35.240
give me your your your your wrestling I wrestled d
342
00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:38.359
one take that's like, this is the one stylistically or
343
00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:40.359
matchup wise, and I'm gonna sit down, Hey, we get
344
00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:42.519
to beat the start. Wait until after this match. I'm
345
00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:43.960
gonna watch this one real close.
346
00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:48.319
There's I mean, there's I was thinking about the other day.
347
00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:51.000
There's about four or five that are just blockbusters that
348
00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.920
I want to see. I mean, I just automatically like
349
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.880
to watch Bo Bassett wrest well. I think him and
350
00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:00.640
Reel Woods is going to be fantastic. Uh. I think
351
00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:02.599
that's gonna be a great match to start it off.
352
00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:07.599
And then obviously Spencer Lee going out against Luke lowlandahls
353
00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:10.400
gonna be There's some drama behind that, so I think
354
00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:15.160
that's gonna be a battle right from round one. For
355
00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:18.599
me personally, I love watching Jax Boris wrestle as well,
356
00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:24.279
So Forrest Blaze I think will be fantastic. And then
357
00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:28.640
there's for the veterans. I mean, you can't really have
358
00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:32.279
anyone better than the heat Al Dake, So I mean,
359
00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:35.279
take your pick. I think the matches are just I
360
00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:37.839
think it's our strongest lineup all the way through that
361
00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:40.559
we've had since we've run it. Yeah, that's what you've
362
00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:41.960
got it.
363
00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:45.480
It transitions over several different eras because you know it
364
00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:48.119
was we're talking eleven years ago when Kyle Snyder won
365
00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:51.519
his World championship in Las Vegas. And then you've got,
366
00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:54.279
of course the kids from the social media era. You
367
00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:58.640
know Jacks, of course Bo putting Bishop McCourt on the map,
368
00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:01.039
and then you know Jack's doing something we'd ever done, going, Look,
369
00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:02.839
I'm gonna wrestle the Power Aid. Now I'm gonna go
370
00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:06.240
wrestling NCAA championship. Then you've got your veterans. It's not
371
00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.480
just not You've got James Green, who's won world medals,
372
00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:11.319
reigning world champions, You've got Olympic champions, you got i
373
00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:15.279
mean this from a star power lineup. This You've got
374
00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:18.039
your Penn State guys, You've got your your you got
375
00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:21.160
your Iowa guys. You've got your your core college teams,
376
00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.480
your medal winners, and you're up and comers. All this
377
00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.799
is just on the men's freestyle side. That's bonkers. Is
378
00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:30.240
a wrestling thing. You're like, I'm if I can't be
379
00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:34.240
there at the Britentcial Center, I'm definitely definitely watching this
380
00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:34.759
on flow.
381
00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.519
I mean, yeah, it's It's one of those things that
382
00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:41.799
it just worked out perfectly in terms of how the
383
00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.480
matchups all worked out, that we are able and fortunate
384
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:46.119
enough to have this lineup and to be a part
385
00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:49.279
of it. Yeah, I don't think there's any any matches
386
00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:51.519
you want to miss. I think every year we've hosted
387
00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:56.279
Final X, there's been some major drama, there's been some
388
00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.240
of the best matches I've seen, and I think there's
389
00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.519
gonna be some major highlights after this one.
390
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.240
And we're going with the two map format. And on
391
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.319
the women's side, I mean we've got I mean the
392
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.559
icon of women's wrestling. Helma Rule is the very first
393
00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:14.880
Olympic Women's champion. To this day, you know, I've announced
394
00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:17.480
wrestling for who at this point almost I think I'm
395
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:21.279
at thirty let's see, Yeah, thirty thirty years I've been
396
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.480
announcing wrestling, which makes me feel really old. It's not
397
00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:25.839
just a hairline. But people always ask me, what is
398
00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:27.759
what is your most what is your most memorable call,
399
00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:30.759
what's your most memorable moment? It was Hellan in twenty sixteen.
400
00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:36.400
There is no close experience and what she did for
401
00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.359
women's wrestling, and let let's table that for a second
402
00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:44.039
right there in your backyard. This week, Columbia announced it
403
00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:48.200
was the first Ivy League program to announce women's wrestling
404
00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:50.279
at the division. We're now up to ten teams. Emma
405
00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:52.839
Randall's been vital there with the Beat the Streets in
406
00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:55.519
New York City RTC. She was named the head coach,
407
00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:58.279
so from you know, kind of a you know, an
408
00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:00.519
arms reach distance to see what Emma is done and
409
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:05.000
what the backers at Columbia have done. We have Division
410
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.319
one women's wrestling in New York City coming in twenty
411
00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:10.640
twenty seven to twenty eight. That's also got to make
412
00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:12.599
those Beat the Streets girls really excited.
413
00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:16.599
Oh yeah, I mean it's amazing what Emma's been able
414
00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:18.960
to do. I mean, first, obviously I met her when
415
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:21.119
she was coming off of working with Beat the Streets
416
00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.839
and I was starting. But what she's been able to
417
00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.200
do at Columbia has been nothing less than spec spectacular.
418
00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:31.160
The support the people they have involved in that Columbia
419
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.799
program on the women's side, they're the best people around.
420
00:21:34.839 --> 00:21:37.240
I mean, you have people like Kira Berry having your
421
00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.079
back and trying to build a program there, you're not
422
00:21:40.119 --> 00:21:42.519
going to go wrong. And with Emma running the ship.
423
00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:46.599
On the girl's side, it's I mean, the sky's the
424
00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:49.319
limit for them, and we've worked with them. The girls
425
00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:52.480
have been in our wrestling room each year, Emma's done
426
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:54.480
clinics for us, and we bring the kids over to
427
00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:57.200
the RTC to work out as well. So we're pretty
428
00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:01.039
close with the Columbia wrestling people and it gives it
429
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.960
kind of gives our girls something to shoot for and
430
00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:05.720
people to root for, which is awesome.
431
00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:08.960
Look at this women's line up. We talked about how
432
00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.079
deep the men's lineup is, but you also have that
433
00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:15.720
cross section of world medalist, Olympic champions, up and comers, veterans,
434
00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.119
and I'm looking right off the bat fifty I mean
435
00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:20.680
fifty kills. You know, Katie Gomez and Morgan Turner, both
436
00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:22.559
two young up and comers that are going to set
437
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.720
the stage pretty quickly. We mentioned Helen, you know, Kayla
438
00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:27.799
Miracle has been in a couple of big games, Kylie Welker,
439
00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:31.839
you know world medalist and Age Group world champion, Kennedy Blades,
440
00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.599
who is just electrifying every time she stuffs on the mat.
441
00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:37.880
We won't see I meet Illora actually compete because Alex
442
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.319
Glaudia unfortunately had to pull out due to an injury.
443
00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:43.480
But she's back on the mat just months after giving birth.
444
00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:46.279
And this is something that you know, Christy Morno, now
445
00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.720
Christy Davis had gone through in her career. Sarah McMahon.
446
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:51.599
Adeline of course, Adeline Gray made it to you know,
447
00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:53.599
a deal which after you know, coming back from twins
448
00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.160
to wrestle, so I meet in her early twenties, has
449
00:22:56.200 --> 00:22:57.960
a long stretch.
450
00:22:57.640 --> 00:22:58.480
Of her career to go.
451
00:22:58.599 --> 00:23:01.839
So this is this is again a dynamic matchup. You've
452
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:04.119
got your star power, you got your up and comers. Ever,
453
00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.160
s Lydecker, she's won hole. My goodness, she is a hammer.
454
00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:10.079
So again let's circle this up around the girls. You've
455
00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:12.359
got the beat the Streets girls that now have a
456
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.640
Division one team in their backyard at the IVY League,
457
00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:17.880
which it's not, you know, it's not a small school
458
00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:20.160
that you're like, where is that? This is Columbia. And
459
00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:24.160
then now you know, the week or change after the announcement,
460
00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:27.000
those girls get to go watch the elite women's wrestler
461
00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:30.359
wrestlers compete for a chance the world championship. So that's
462
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.440
really kind of sell that Beat these Streets mission to
463
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:34.680
these kids. These parents in these donors pretty easily when
464
00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.119
you when you frame it like that.
465
00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:39.200
Absolutely, And I think one of the big things is
466
00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:44.319
you were talking about earlier, but showing the kids what's possible,
467
00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.599
no matter where they come from, what their situation situation
468
00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:52.960
is at home, here's what's possible if you put in
469
00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:57.000
time in your schoolwork and in learning how to wrestle,
470
00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:00.839
on developing as a wrestler and a human. Uh. We
471
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.480
surround them with those people, whether it's the Columbia girls
472
00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:06.839
coming into practice or Emma doing a clinic. Oh, look,
473
00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:10.279
this is possible. So I think that's it kind of
474
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.279
gives our girls and all of our athletes just, hey,
475
00:24:15.319 --> 00:24:17.119
this is something that I don't just hear about or
476
00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:19.480
see on social media. I can attain this. I've met
477
00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:21.640
these people, they've done it, They've told me how to
478
00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:24.039
do it. So I think that's really where that Beat
479
00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:27.079
the Streets mission really comes to fruition.
480
00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:31.880
When we go back to what beat the Streets New
481
00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:36.200
York means nationally. I remember, I've been to numerous functions.
482
00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:39.519
There's whether it has the first one at the Bowery
483
00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:41.759
where I got sides whited by a taxi driving back
484
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.680
to Pennsylvania, such as Life in New York City to
485
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:49.920
Times Square to you know, the Potential Center, to wrestling
486
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:53.480
in a bank. You know, we had Neil Degrass, Tyson
487
00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:58.079
and you know out there with Tim Ferriss and Jordan Burrows,
488
00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:01.119
like we have so many different uniques. They wrestled in
489
00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:05.480
Grand Central Wrestling, wrestled in in subway stations. You've basically
490
00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:10.000
been putting this everywhere and giving it. Putting across the
491
00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:12.359
River New Jersey and Arena makes things a lot, I
492
00:25:12.359 --> 00:25:14.920
guess easier from a permit standpoint to get things done.
493
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.359
But when when you look back at history, even before
494
00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:19.480
you were there, what Beat the Streets in New York
495
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.000
and this event and now tying it into the World
496
00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:24.160
tem Trials and Final X has meant to the sport
497
00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:28.240
of wrestling as a whole. How do you look at
498
00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:29.079
that and go.
499
00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:33.480
Man, this is this is nuts. Yeah. I mean when
500
00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:35.839
I first heard of Beat the Streets it was through
501
00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:39.279
their events years and years ago, and I was like,
502
00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.759
that is so cool. Like I even where they were
503
00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:46.599
putting it on. They were just masters at promoting the sport,
504
00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:50.519
not only to wrestling fans, but to people who didn't
505
00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:52.839
know anything about wrestling. They're like, what's going on there?
506
00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.480
That's awesome, And then you learn more about Beat the
507
00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:57.720
Streets and its actual mission and what it does, and
508
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:02.200
you're like, that's one of the best organizations around. Yeah,
509
00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:05.599
they've done everything. I mean, they were true the founders
510
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:09.400
that Beat the Streets were true visionaries and really knew
511
00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:11.720
what they were doing in terms of impact and in
512
00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:14.279
terms of getting the word out about what a great
513
00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:17.920
organization from Again, can't say enough about Al Devil Lock
514
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:21.160
with Bill krum Mike Novigrats who has just been a
515
00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:24.160
constant for the last twenty years and his support and
516
00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:30.480
Beat the Streets and making whatever we do possible. I
517
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:36.359
just think that you can really see what the impact
518
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:40.000
of what they'd done and how it's come and where
519
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.799
we are now, and it's a good place and we
520
00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:44.519
hope in the future to expand on it.
521
00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:49.319
When we go over and look at the donation page again,
522
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:53.480
give dot btsny dot org is a landing page, but
523
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.039
we're gonna have QR codes, We're going to have texts
524
00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:58.640
what do you got from us? For those that maybe
525
00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:00.440
listing in their car and they're not to be able
526
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:03.000
to like, oh, well you you're not supposed to text
527
00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:04.920
and drive. You're definitely not supposed to browse and drive.
528
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:07.559
But you got a couple pitches here. What's the first one?
529
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:10.119
We can give an advanced warning on the text messages
530
00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:11.279
on where they can contribute.
531
00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:14.200
Yeah, I think the easiest thing to do is go
532
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:19.920
to that website bts NY dot org and donate. If
533
00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:22.160
you cannot make the event. If you can make the event,
534
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.480
I highly recommend doing it. I mean, I don't think
535
00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:28.680
there's any better place for a wrestling fan to be.
536
00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:34.279
It's exciting throughout the whole day and night, and you
537
00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:37.160
get to meet some of the best wrestling fans in
538
00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:38.559
the country as well a see some of the best
539
00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:40.680
wrestling in the world. And it's all off of the
540
00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:46.079
website BTSNY dot org. All the money coming in from
541
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:50.400
Final X that's fundraised will go directly to our programs
542
00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:53.400
on and off the mat. It goes to our year
543
00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:56.079
round training center. It operates four or five days a week.
544
00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:01.079
It goes to social emotional learning classes, skills workshops, and
545
00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:05.079
college and career readiness programs. So we really try and
546
00:28:05.400 --> 00:28:07.240
wrestling is great and it teaches you a lot of
547
00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:10.079
skills that will help you in life. But we're also
548
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:14.480
working on everything else off the mat to help these
549
00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:16.839
kids be into the best position possible to succeed at
550
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:19.720
whatever they want to do. So every dollar you help
551
00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:21.960
let's bring in, that's what it goes to.
552
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:25.759
It also helps, you know, we've got these events that
553
00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:27.960
come around those you know, there's certain things that you know,
554
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:29.920
we talked about those permits and things of New York
555
00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:32.400
that you know, there is the cost of doing business
556
00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:34.920
when you provide an event like this. But to to
557
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.240
tangent off that a little bit with the relationship between
558
00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:42.359
USA Wrestling, of course it's their events that are really
559
00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:45.200
in their athletes. And then of course Flow Sports and
560
00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:47.799
Flow Wrestling, which streams this thing and provides a lot
561
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:51.480
of production value to the sport and visibility to the
562
00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:53.519
sport as a whole. So what's it like having those
563
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:55.039
two as a partner for this type of event.
564
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:58.559
I mean it's great. I mean great to partner with
565
00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:04.880
USA Wrestling. They obviously run events throughout the year, so
566
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:07.200
they are very their seasoned veterans and they've been great
567
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:10.039
to work with. Pete isaiahs, rich Bender and the whole
568
00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:14.599
staff have been really good for us. Flow wrestling. I mean,
569
00:29:15.559 --> 00:29:19.160
they are the broadcaster of wrestling events, so it's great
570
00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:21.920
to have them on board, and they've done amazing things
571
00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:25.359
to help grow the sport almost at every level. So
572
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:28.319
it's again we're working with an all star group of
573
00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:32.920
people and organizations. So I think it's going to be
574
00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:33.519
a great show.
575
00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:40.160
Final X and the annual Beat the Streets Benefit June nineteenth, Newark,
576
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New Jersey, the Prudential Center rounds. We got actually we
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jumped over the start time just a little bit because
578
00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:48.160
let me go find that just to make sure if
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my mouse wants to be it really doesn't want to work.
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When the technology works and when you're a one man shop,
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let's say we can go over here, we can click it.
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I think my mouse just died there it goes. So
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we got the true third matches that are starting beforehand.
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So you show up at too, you go see the
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main event, but we've got the true third matches starting
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before then. Then we go to the two o'clock five
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o'clock if you're interested in hanging around benefit. Of course,
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the information on how to get tickets for the benefit
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is also at btsny dot org and and Bob in
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the time we got left. What are we close with? Man,
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We're excited for this. I leave in about what six days,
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I'm in, I'm out. It's it's Father's Day weekend, it's
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my daughter's birthday. But first Final X beat the Streets.
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Yeah, I mean, I think this the way we prep
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this and the way it's set up with the lineup,
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I think it's going to be one of the best
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Seat the Streets USA Wrestling Final x's that we've seen.
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If you haven't planned on going, I plan to get there.
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We're running a Father's Day special now through the end
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of the event, so please check it out for tickets.
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There are all there are every level of price point possible,
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so we have tickets for everybody. We hope to see
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you there and and I hope to see your intro
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at the beginning of the night and the CEF the
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after party.
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Yeah, the the now it's the glistening of the dome.
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00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:10.920
We'll actually probably I used to see you'll hear me
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before you see me, but now it's just like I'm
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going to be blinding people that come. Those are great,
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great light seared Pruential Center. Bob always a pleasure. We
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can tell more more stories about your recruitment to schools
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not named UVA that are always fun. Twenty five years
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after the fact, So Bob Sidel beat the Streets, New
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York exec Director. Thanks for the information again. Those of
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you can watch on Flow Wrestling. Information on the event
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found at the Matt dot com, and of course, the
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donation is at BTSNY dot org. Click the big donation
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link you can find all that out. June nineteenth, We're
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setting a world team. Man, it's gonna be fun. Bob,
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I'll see you there.
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WUSA