USA Wrestling Scores Another International Stud - Nodirjon Safarov

[dsdoubled]

The recent trend of foreign wrestlers relocating to the US to train and compete continues with Nodirjon Safarov. A multiple time national champ in Uzbekistan with several medals in international competition, Safarov has made the move to Iowa. This situation is unique, even compared to other recent transplants like Frank Chamizo and even fellow Uzbek Ildar Hafizov who came to the US and enrolled in the Army while competing in senior level Greco at the highest level, Safarov will be attending and wrestling for an Iowa Junior College and training freestyle at the Hawkeye WC but still repping Uzbekistan at this years world championships.

"The Hawkeye Wrestling Club is known to the world as having some of the top wrestlers and top lightweights on the planet," said Safarov. "My experience alongside Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark and Spencer Lee, along with the other great workout partners in the room gives me the best chance of achieving my lifelong goal of winning an Olympic title. I'm grateful for being able to compete under the HWC banner and ready to prepare with these studs for Budapest in October."

There has been quite a few active transplants over the years, lets see if any more big names come over.

https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/20488

 

[2arctanx]

so he's competing for the US? international sports these days is a joke. what happened to an athlete representing the actual country they are from.

 

[jack36767]

so he's competing for the US? international sports these days is a joke. what happened to an athlete representing the actual country they are from.

Learn how to read. He’s competing for a local college not the “USA”. Eye roll

 

[ArtemV]

Learn how to read. He’s competing for a local college not the “USA”. Eye roll

Lol, I knew as soon as I read the title that this guy would come out of his cave to comment on this...

 

[dsdoubled]

Lol, I knew as soon as I read the title that this guy would come out of his cave to comment on this...

Same here. You know much about this young guy? I know youre closer to that scene.

 

[ArtemV]

Same here. You know much about this young guy? I know youre closer to that scene.

I can't say that I do, I only really pay attention to Rus Nationals/bigger international competitions. But he will do well I think, it is cool to see some freestyle guys go for pins etc rather than just gut wrenches. I immediately noticed this with Bekzod Abdurakhmonov; he likes to jump on the back and get a sort of turk too. It is cool to see.

 

[dsdoubled]

I can't say that I do, I only really pay attention to Rus Nationals/bigger international competitions. But he will do well I think, it is cool to see some freestyle guys go for pins etc rather than just gut wrenches. I immediately noticed this with Bekzod Abdurakhmonov; he likes to jump on the back and get a sort of turk too. It is cool to see.

Its always interesting to see how top notch internationally freestylers do in American folkstyle. There are quite a few I can think of but because of the Language barrier that is usually there, not all of them wrestle DI, which sucks. Bekzhod is one of the few I can think of. Im actually thinking of creating a thread about this.

 

[Daniel Fox]

Maybe I am a dick, and I do admit that the US wrestlers will benefit from training with someone who has a distinct Soviet style. I don't like how foreign wrestlers, like Chamizo, are training and being coached in USA wrestling subsidized facilities, and then competing against our guys. It really bothered me to see Kendall Cross in Chamizo's corner when he was wrestling Jordan Burroughs

 

[dsdoubled]

Maybe I am a dick, and I do admit that the US wrestlers will benefit from training with someone who has a distinct Soviet style. I don't like how foreign wrestlers, like Chamizo, are training and being coached in USA wrestling subsidized facilities, and then competing against our guys. It really bothered me to see Kendall Cross in Chamizo's corner when he was wrestling Jordan Burroughs

I fully agree. Its one thing for guys to come over and our guys go overseas for camps and stuff but this is too much (namely the Chamizo thing). I also don't fully understand the rules, if there are any. I think of guys like Bekzod Abdurakhmanov who spent 4 years wrestling in the US Collegiate system, then repped USA Wrestling for a year or 2, THEN jumped over to the Uzbek team. All the while he is a full time NCAA wrestling coach.

Or what about guys like Georgi Ivanov and Boris Novachkov? Grow up wrestling in the USA, wrestle in the NCAA, but wrestle for Bulgaria their entire senior level freestyle career, all while training (much of the time) and/or coaching in the USA..

When Team USA acquires a foreign wrestler or coach its only after that person has completely relocated to the USA. The Chamizo thing just seems like starfuc*ing.

 

[Daniel Fox]

I fully agree. Its one thing for guys to come over and our guys go overseas for camps and stuff but this is too much (namely the Chamizo thing). I also don't fully understand the rules, if there are any. I think of guys like Bekzod Abdurakhmanov who spent 4 years wrestling in the US Collegiate system, then repped USA Wrestling for a year or 2, THEN jumped over to the Uzbek team. All the while he is a full time NCAA wrestling coach.

Or what about guys like Georgi Ivanov and Boris Novachkov? Grow up wrestling in the USA, wrestle in the NCAA, but wrestle for Bulgaria their entire senior level freestyle career, all while training (much of the time) and/or coaching in the USA..

When Team USA acquires a foreign wrestler or coach its only after that person has completely relocated to the USA. The Chamizo thing just seems like starfuc*ing.

This completely baffles me how USA Wrestling allows this to happen. At least Bekzod has spread his knowledge and has been an asset for American kids through his coaching. Jordan Burroughs is literally the poster boy for USA wrestling, if he wins in Budapest he will tie John Smiths record of 6 world championships. The fact that his number one rival, and his biggest threat is training at the NYCRTC , and being coached to beat Burroughs by a team USA coach and former Team USA competitor is really bad in my eyes.

 

[dsdoubled]

This completely baffles me how USA Wrestling allows this to happen. At least Bekzod has spread his knowledge and has been an asset for American kids through his coaching. Jordan Burroughs is literally the poster boy for USA wrestling, if he wins in Budapest he will tie John Smiths record of 6 world championships. The fact that his number one rival, and his biggest threat is training at the NYCRTC , and being coached to beat Burroughs by a team USA coach and former Team USA competitor is really bad in my eyes.

Yeah man. You really have to wonder about the NYC RTC, Kendall Cross, and USAW motivations. At first I thought they were preparing for Burroughs retirement but then he started saying he may very well go until 2020, AND, I realized Chamizo has been on the world stage longer than Burroughs (despite being 4 years younger than Jordan).

 

[Dirty Holt]

Kendall Cross gets paid by the NYRTC, not USA Wrestling. His job as a paid coach is to get NYCRTC athletes as good as possible. Bringing in a world class wrestler like Chamizo instantly raises the level of your room, and helps Kendall produce the best results. If he was paid by USA Wrestling, or if Jordan Burroughs was an athlete at the NYCRTC, we have a different story. All we have here is a coach doing his best to elevate the level of the team that employs him. That being said I hope Burroughs kicks his ass but being a college coach in the past, I understand what Kendall is doing.

 

[dsdoubled]

Kendall Cross gets paid by the NYRTC, not USA Wrestling. His job as a paid coach is to get NYCRTC athletes as good as possible. Bringing in a world class wrestler like Chamizo instantly raises the level of your room, and helps Kendall produce the best results. If he was paid by USA Wrestling, or if Jordan Burroughs was an athlete at the NYCRTC, we have a different story. All we have here is a coach doing his best to elevate the level of the team that employs him. That being said I hope Burroughs kicks his ass but being a college coach in the past, I understand what Kendall is doing.

Who do you figure Burroughs is talking about when he says he felt disrespected by a lot of US guys leading up to Beat the Streets?

 

[Daniel Fox]

Kendall Cross gets paid by the NYRTC, not USA Wrestling. His job as a paid coach is to get NYCRTC athletes as good as possible. Bringing in a world class wrestler like Chamizo instantly raises the level of your room, and helps Kendall produce the best results. If he was paid by USA Wrestling, or if Jordan Burroughs was an athlete at the NYCRTC, we have a different story. All we have here is a coach doing his best to elevate the level of the team that employs him. That being said I hope Burroughs kicks his ass but being a college coach in the past, I understand what Kendall is doing.

Yes, but the RTC's are funded by USA wrestling. Do you think the Russian government would allow Snyder to train in one of their facilities for the purpose of getting tips to beat Sudalaev?

 

[Daniel Fox]

Who do you figure Burroughs is talking about when he says he felt disrespected by a lot of US guys leading up to Beat the Streets?

Having Kendall Cross in Chamizo's corner with a Team Chamizo shirt on, was the ultimate form of disrespect. Regarding who the other wrestlers were that he felt disrespected by? I do not know, but unfortunately there is a lot of politics between various clubs in the US. Mark Perry was considered a traitor for going to wrestle for Iowa (when he actually had a very good reason for it). On the Flip side Mocco was given a lot of shit when he transferred to Oklahoma State. The US team is very divided, unlike the Russians.

 

[jack36767]

Yes, but the RTC's are funded by USA wrestling. Do you think the Russian government would allow Snyder to train in one of their facilities for the purpose of getting tips to beat Sudalaev?

RTCs are funded by their college or their main donors before USA wrestling. I work for Beat the Streets and help run a local youth-Hs RTC.They cut my check, I have a USA wrestling card, but the check I get is from the nonprofit organization Beat the Streets not USA wrestling.

* @Dirty Holt please correct me if I’m wrong

 

[Daniel Fox]

RTCs are funded by their college or their main donors before USA wrestling. I work for Beat the Streets and help run a local youth-Hs RTC.They cut my check, I have a USA wrestling card, but the check I get is from the nonprofit organization Beat the Streets not USA wrestling.

* @Dirty Holt please correct me if I’m wrong

The clubs are funded by donors and are 501(c)(3), which means they are exempt federal and corporate income taxes taxes. They are Charitable donations to the actual clubs which are run through USA wrestling. The clubs are primarily for the development of USA Wrestling. In my opinion, coaching a guy who wrestles for Italy and is Burroughs number one competitor, while being funded by rich donors who use it as a tax write off, as well as the tax payers is pretty fucked up.

 

[jack36767]

The clubs are funded by donors and are 501(c)(3), which means they are exempt federal and corporate income taxes taxes. They are Charitable donations to the actual clubs which are run through USA wrestling. The clubs are primarily for the development of USA Wrestling. In my opinion, coaching a guy who wrestles for Italy and is Burroughs number one competitor, while being funded by rich donors who use it as a tax write off, as well as the tax payers is pretty fucked up.

My checks don’t come from USA wrestling. They are cut by BTS, in fact I give USA wrestling money to be certified and be allowed/cleared to coach. Beat the Streets is also not a tax write off that wastes the donor money. At least 90% of the money goes to the kids, I know for a fact high school teachers/coaches who have taken board positions in BTS have taken significant pay cuts from a teaching salary...

The only real way practical way USA wrestling is involved in “running” BTS or the clubs/RTCs is acting as a way to clear and certify coaches. One of the significant reasons but double edged swords the RTCs have worked is because of the autonomy given to them.

The funding comes from sources primarily not USA wrestling the organization. It comes from the donars who cut the checks and pay the people involved. The foriegners brought in bring significant help to the American high school and college wrestlers there and so on.

Much worse and more aggregious stuff goes on with high school recruiting and clubs with much much more sketchiness than this.. but most of that is excused usually.

Now I completely understand Burroughs annoyance at the NYC BTS and RTC people for focusing on recruiting Chamizo than on him.. but acting like Kendall or the NYC RTC is acting like the bad guys is.. naive.

Additionally, people need to stop having a closed ass parochial mindset about training. The RTCs work because wrestlers travel around and train together. The best areas for high school wrestling have the kids train together at least sometime in the year. Avoiding people or saying a person should not be allowed to train somewhere because of “scouting” is the opposite of a growth mentality for the sport

 

[Daniel Fox]

Regardless of who cuts the check, the RTC’s were created by USA Wrestling to uplift the US Wrestlers competing on the world stage. The current team is the best team we have had since 1992, so the program is working. I have no problem allowing foreign wrestlers to help train and teach US wrestlers to make them more versatile against other styles, in fact I would encourage it. However there are limits, allowing the number one rival, of quite possibly the greatest international Wrestler the US has ever produced, and train at one of these facilities crosses a line. Aside from Helen Maroulis, there aren’t any other team USA wrestlers training there. This goes against the whole spirit of why the Training Centers were created (like I mentioned earlier to uplift the United States Wrestling program). This is benefitting Chamizo, and Italy. I feel Burroughs has every right to be pissed. No other country would allow the top rival to train at their facilities so they can learn how to beat the countries best wrestler. I respectfully disagree.

 

[cjd]

...so, can we call start calling Kendall Cross a creonte?