State of the Badger Regional Training Center

[WRTCSean]

Looking back at 2018...

2018 was a great year for the Badger Regional Training Center! I would like to start off by saying THANK YOU to everyone who made donations and attended fundraisers. Looking back at 2018, there were so many opportunities that I can only be excited for the future of the BRTC.

New Leadership
In the past 12 months, there have been many changes. In April, Coach Bono, Coach Reader, and Coach McDonough were hired as coaches at Wisconsin. Although we are a completely separate entity, this change greatly impacts the BRTC as they are also on our Staff.

Shortly after being named the head coach at Wisconsin, Coach Bono hired Ben Askren to be the head coach of the Regional Training Center. As you know, Ben brings so much knowledge and experience to our practices.

In June, I took over as the Executive Director after Tyler Turner stepped down from holding the position. We also saw some changes in post-grad resident athletes (I will highlight on this more later).

Competition and Training
With all the changes off the mat, we had a great showing on the mat! This past freestyle season, we had some great showings at the U23 Trials, US Open and World Team Trials. We had one athlete make a Senior National Team and another make the Junior Greco World Team.

Outside of competition, we had a strong showing at RTC practices. Each practice, we consistently saw over 50 wrestlers showing up wanting to get better. I hope to see this number increase this coming April when we begin RTC workouts again!


Currently, we have no full-time athletes training with the RTC. With the departure of athletes, I sat down with the coaching staff and we decided that it would be best to wait to bring in/keep wrestlers that we feel will best fit our program and the culture.


Fundraising Events
In 2018, we held multiple fundraising efforts, which we saw great turnouts and support! Reflecting on all of them really gets me fired up to have them again.

We started out the year with the Battle for the Badger Youth Tournament in Waunakee. All of the proceeds from this tournament go to the BRTC. In April through May, we had the online $50k in 25 days. In July we had a very successful Steak Fry at the beautiful Kalscheur Farm. During the Steak Fry, we were able to raise $40,000! With the change in staff, we moved the Golf Outing from May to September. It was a bit chilly but we were able to get a record number of golfers to join us!



Our Vision For 2019...

2019 is going to be the best year for the RTC yet! Sitting down with the coaches, during this next year, we would like to find full-time athletes to train at the BRTC. By the end of 2019, we would like to have 3 or 4 athletes training full-time, with one of those athletes taking on the role of Volunteer Assistant for Wisconsin.

We've also had a couple of wrestlers express their interest of staying in Madison to continue training. With this growth, there will be a need for more fundraising. We are looking to grow this next year from an annual budget of $150,000 to $250,000 per year in the future.

I know with all of the great support, we will be able to accomplish this task and help our wrestlers continue to achieve their goals on and off the wrestling mat!


With the increased need for funding, we are adding a few more fun events for 2019.

New Fundraising Events For 2019
First off, we will be starting with the $10,000 Raffle in February. This event will be held February 16th at Lucky's 1313. Each ticket (max of 250 sold) gets two individuals into the event where you get all you can eat and all you can drink plus a chance to win $10,000.


This is a great night of socializing with old friends and meeting new while supporting the BRTC. 

In May, we will be bringing back the Bucky Shoot at Milford Hills. More information will be sent out as we get closer.

In 2019, we will continue to have the Battle for the Badger Youth Tournament, Steak Fry and Golf Outing.

I hope you all are as excited for what the future holds for the sport of wrestling in Wisconsin in 2019! We greatly appreciate all the support and look forward to seeing you all throughout the New Year.

Thank you,

Sean Smalley
Executive Director – Badger Regional Training Center
P: 712-540-1810
sean@badgerrtc.org


p.s.  please reach out to me and share your ideas to make the BRTC stronger.  Better communication, fundraising or exposure.  This is your BRTC too and let's work together to build champions in Wisconsin!!!

[Ghetto]

We need to better fund the BRTC. We can't complain about it if we do nothing to help. If 100 people donated $10 a month...

https://www.badgerrtc.org/support