Should we park in the driveway?

2011 World Championships - Istanbul, Turkey - September 14, 2011

When I was a kid, we always parked in the driveway at my grandpa's house. This made me feel uncomfortable because all of my aunts and uncles parked in the street. What made us special? Why were we privileged to be in the driveway closest to the door? It never made sense and always made me uneasy. We hadn't earned that right, but took it anyways.

This is kind of how I feel today. In the wrestling world, we (USA) are sort of parking in the driveway, but we haven't earned the right and I'd even say we don't deserve it. I love the United States and believe in USA Wrestling, however, I'm starting to think that we're taking for granted some of the wonderful opportunities we have. I believe in USA Wrestling, trust me, I do, and the last thing I want to do is stick my foot in my mouth, but consider a few of these facts below.

We have 24-hour security and police escorts back-and-forth to the hotel. Many teams cram into one bus to get to and from our hotel, but we have our very own. The Turkish delegation believes it's important to have extra security for the US. I'm not sure if they think we're uncomfortable here or if they're uncomfortable with us being here. China and Israel also have additional security.

We are the only country at this event that brings "practice partners." This year, all of them individuals placed 2nd at the US World Team Trials. Their responsibility is to be on call and to support the needs of our World Team. They also have the opportunity to be a part of the World Championships and see what takes place behind the scenes so they're prepared when it's their turn. In addition to the extra wrestlers, we have a team chiropractor, athletic trainer, massage therapist, nutritionist and team leader. The women's team has five coaches, which I believe is reasonable (especially with emotional needs and all, wink wink). There are many more coaches for men's freestyle and Greco-Roman and a plethora of additional delegation members. I think this is fantastic and appreciate that we are in a position as an organization to make this happen, however, after three days of competition, we have zero medals. It doesn't compute, so I feel like we're parking in the driveway when we should really be in street with everyone else. Seriously, Azerbaijan, North Korea, Kazakhstan, etc. have medals, but we don't.

I think we've had some unfortunate things occur that have put us in this place right now, but we do have ALL the resources we need...maybe we have too much. I don't know. I don't make those decisions and I don't want to. I just feel the same way I did when we used to park in the driveway at my grandpa's house while everyone else was in the street. Do we really deserve to be this close to the door? Is it making us better?