USA Wrestling is now accepting media accreditation requests for the Final X Series, the three competitions in June which will determine the 2018 U.S. World Team in men’s and women’s freestyle wrestling.
The events included in the series are Final X in Lincoln, Neb. on June 9, Final X in State College, Pa. on June 16 and Final X at Lehigh (in Bethlehem, Pa.) on June 23.
In order to receive a credential for one, two or all three Final X events, media members must send an email with all the necessary data about themselves and their media outlet.
Each journalist must provide this basic information:
- Full Name
- Media outlet
- Cell phone number
- Job function (Club or college staff, print journalist, print photographer, internet reporter, Non-Rights Holder-radio, Non-Rights Holder-television, Rights Holder broadcaster)
- Past major wrestling events or Olympic-family events covered
- Which Final X event(s) will be covered
Please send media requests immediately to:
In addition, all accredited media must then comply with USA Wrestling’s athlete safety media policy which was announced on April 16. All media seeking to receive credentials to cover an event on USA Wrestling’s national and regional schedule will be required to pass USA Wrestling’s background check, as well as go through the U.S. Center for Safe Sport’s online training. These will available to journalists online and will be provided free of cost to all members of the media seeking accreditation.
After sending in the accreditation request, media applicants will be sent information on how to create a profile in USA Wrestling’s membership system and take the SafeSport online course. There are three segments involved in the SafeSport training. 1) Emotional and Physical Misconduct; 2) Mandatory Reporting; 3) Sexual Misconduct Awareness Education. This should take a little more than an hour to complete.
Once a journalist has completed SafeSport training, they need to notify Gary Abbott via email, who will send them the link to submit the free background check. The background check should take no more than 15 minutes to complete.
Please understand that the approval of the background check could take as long as a week to process. With this in mind, the deadline date for media accreditation for each Final X event is one week prior to the competition (for Final X Lincoln: Saturday, June 2).
USA Wrestling and Flowrestling are excited to bring Final X events to Lincoln on June 9, State College on June 16 and Bethlehem on June 23. At this time, we have completed half of the field for Final X, with the other half to be determined at the Freestyle World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in Rochester, Minn., May 18-20. Each of the three Final X locations will have top internationally and nationally accomplished stars competing. We look forward to working with you prior to and during each Final X event.
Thanks
Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
719-659-9637 cell
