Kings and Queen of the mat from left Sam Belkin, Jess Todd and Scott Macgregor.

The New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association (NZGAWA) in its first year as a governing body has achieved much.

 The NZGAWA  consists of every wrestling club in the South Island bar one and grappling clubs with a combined total number of member clubs in the South Island of 26 and already 20 North Island clubs have joined  the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association.

This new governing body for combined submission grappling and wrestling is now New Zealand's largest organization of its kind.

The founding members formerly were members of the New Zealand Olympic wrestling Union and include a life member and former board member.

The mission statement and objectives of the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association include a referendum system where all clubs have a single vote and majority decides and rules with all major decision-making.

Referendum results are completely transparent and all member clubs receive the full results of all referendums.

Club and competitor registration fees are non-existent YES FREE and club and competitor registrations can be done online.  Tournament entries likewise are all submitted online.

The New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association’s strength is that the membership is wide ranging and diverse in combat sports and they have brought expertise on board that has truly improved the speed and efficiency of conducting competitions.

In the first year delegates Karl Webber in the South Island and Neil Swailes in the North Island were appointed along with a steering committee to establish the new governing body.

Obviously clubs like the idea of being a member of the People's combat sports Association owned and operated by its members for its members.

This has led to 46 Clubs joining and we are receiving regular inquiries from potential new member clubs.

In the first season combined wrestling and grappling competitions were conducted throughout the South Island and they were some of the best competitions we have seen in many years with entry numbers also very high.

In the North Island member clubs conducted submission grappling competitions but not wrestling.

However that is about to change with a North Island champs and  the nationals going to be conducted this season in the North Island.

Many facets of administration and conducting of competitions have been made more user-friendly and are far more efficient than we were accustomed to in previous.

We now have new members from the grappling fraternity that have been responsible for matchmaking at major international torments with several hundred entries and they have brought their expertise on board.

This has enabled us to dispense with the requirement for multiple pair masters and killing forests every time a competition is conducted.

The members voted and decided by referendum to change to a summer sport and conduct as many tournaments as possible on Saturdays instead of the usual Sunday tournaments.

We have major supporters including businesses in New Zealand and a major US corporation committed to combat sports and in particular mixed martial arts.

The CEO traveled out from USA in 2011 to an event in Timaru to publicly announce his future intentions for combat sports in New Zealand.

He like most of us realizes the contribution wrestling and grappling makes to professional mixed martial arts and how what we are doing should be applauded and supported.

The 2011 competitive season concluded with one of the best national championships I have seen in recent years.

It was conducted in Kaiapoi New Zealand and attracted more than 200 entries.

Mr. Kevin McLachlan one of the steering committee members of the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association introduced a new special category at the national championships.

This special category is the Kings and Queens of the mat.

To win this prestigious title and title belt the competitor must win in the senior division in both freestyle wrestling and submission grappling in their weight divisions.

 

The competition witnessed in pursuit of these titles was testament to the individuals desire to be crowned a king or queen of the mat in both freestyle wrestling and submission grappling at the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association 2011 national championships.

While there were a large number of wrestlers prepared to accept the challenge and compete in not only their principal discipline but also in submission grappling the same could not be said for a majority of submission grapplers.

We hope this will change in the future now that we have clubs in the North Island coaching wrestling as well as submission grappling.

The three recipients for 2011 were all wrestling specialists in Sam Belkin, Scott Macgregor and Jessica Todd.

 

Jessica Todd in black.

Jessica Todd in blue.

Sam Belkin in red.

Scott Macgregor in red.

Scott Macgregor in blue.

Sam a Greco Roman wrestling specialist has adjusted well to grappling competition.

Scott a freestyle wrestling specialist and MMA fighter has really honed his submission skills and is very formidable.

Jessica Todd has an extensive wrestling background but this was her first submission grappling competition.

Sam Scott and Jessica have each competed in hundreds of wrestling matches and this mat time and the explosive nonstop benefits derived from their wrestling background proved very valuable to them.

The interest in contesting the Kings and Queens of the mat titles at the 2012 national championships is growing and we look forward to some excellent competition.

Our success has led to inquiries from other combat sports codes and governing bodies in regards to meeting with them to discuss possible relationships.

This is very pleasing indeed that in only one year our efforts have been not only good for us but very much noticed by others.

We ensure we keep the official sporting organizations and delegates for our combat sports codes down under updated with our plans and progress. 

Our future lies in the hands of our member clubs and any changes in our structure or association with other governing bodies  will be decided by referendum by the New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association membership based on advantages disadvantages and economics.

The New Zealand grappling and wrestling Association is focused on grassroots development of both wrestling and submission grappling and growing the codes nationally.

We firmly believe especially in the wrestling code we do not have wrestles at a gold medal winning world championship or Olympic Games level and as such need to develop wrestling nationally first and foremost.

We have the expertise the resources and the backing to take combat sports to the next level in New Zealand over the next 10 years.

What we do not want to do is increase the cost to the athlete or the club that will lead to decreasing the numbers involved over our goal of increasing membership and participation.

Get our provincial and national levels raised by coaching clinics and increased competition and the potential international competitors will identify themselves and be better prepared and capable of winning medals on an international stage.

The reality is there may not be competitors capable of winning in major international competition and as such we will continue to grow the codes nationally and will have some excellent provincial and national championships.

One year on and we have automated systems the largest combined wrestling and grappling club numbers by considerable and two Kings and one Queen of the Mat decided at a national championships that set the standard for our future national championships.