There are a lot of things about this sport that shock me. That don't make any sense to me. You and I both know that wrestling is a predominately Christian sport. In America anyway, most of the people you meet in wrestling are going to be of the Christian faith. They might differ as far as whether they're Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic or Methodist, but they're Christian. I've been around this sport since the early 1990's & I have more fingers on one hand than Muslims I've met, & I've met only slightly more of the Jewish faith. I'm the only agnostic I've ever known in nearly 35 years of being involved in wrestling.
I'm going back to the time I was 7 years old, to thinking about last week. I mean nearly everyone I ever run into in wrestling is Christian & for so many their faith is such a huge part of their wrestling and their lives. I think getting wrestling into private Christian High Schools has been one of the best things to happen to wrestling. You look at states that dominate, and a lot of the top schools are private Christian. Even here in Iowa where I live, when you think Iowa High School wrestling, you immediately think of Don Bosco & everything they've achieved over the years.
So, I can't be the only one that is left shaking my head about the following facts.
1 - The National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) does not sponsor wrestling.
2 - Out of 88 Schools attached to the NCCAA only 8 of them have wrestling.
3 - Most of these weren't discontinuations either. In fact, only 4 schools (Maranatha Baptist, Northwestern University in St Paul, BIOLA & Pensacola Christian) discontinued their college wrestling teams.
4 - The Other 76 Schools in the NCCAA? They never had a wrestling program.
Now there are some things to consider here. Some of these schools are extremely small. They have less students attending them than you may have had in your junior high that consisted of 7th & 8th grades.
We had one that has been shut down since in Iowa called Vennard. You could walk the entire campus in less than 10 minutes. You had a large building for classes, a large building for housing & a large building for the Men & Women's basketball program. I believe they might have had soccer too, which they shared facilities with William Penn University. Maybe Women's volleyball.
The point is, all of these schools have at least some sports & it blows my mind that with as Christian as wrestling is, that wrestling isn't one of their sports.
It was at one time though.
Ben Peterson who was the Head Coach at Maranatha Baptist got wrestling into the NCCAA & they held a championship from 1975 through 1998. I haven't found a lot about it, but among their stars Mike Houck & Jim Gruenwald come to mind.
The other thing that makes this kind of complicated are the schools that were NCCAA members, that had wrestling & the school has since shut down. Examples include: Pillsbury Baptist & Clark's Summit
Then there are schools that have dropped wrestling & they are also no longer a part of the NCCAA, which include - Liberty, Carson-Newman, Anderson (SC), Olivet-Nazarene, Cedarville & LeTourneau.
Before I go off on too much of a tangent, the NCCAA decided to stop sponsoring wrestling because in 1998 it had pretty much dwindled to nothing.
I'd like to see the NCCAA get wrestling again. This isn't like a Division. So don't think of it like that. It wouldn't be like DI, or DII or NAIA. Think of it more like PSAC. I think that'd be the best way to look at it.
Currently we have 6 NAIA wrestling programs, whose schools are affiliated with the NCCAA.
Central Christian
Oklahoma Wesleyan
Wayland Baptist
York (NEB)
Campbellsville
Hannibal-LaGrange
Plus we have two strong NCWA teams that are also a part of the NCCAA.
Azusa Pacific
Ottawa (Arizona)
That's 8 teams, & I'd like to see a yearly NCCAA tournament. 8 man brackets, give medals to the top 3 finishers in each weight class. A trophy for the team champs.
Would this lead to anything? I don't know. I'd like to think it would. 79 schools in the NCCAA that don't have wrestling. If the championship could grow, get some prestige and some recognition, who knows what could happen.
Love seeing the sport grow & this may be a way to do it.
Don't know about you, but I like the look of this & think it's a good start.
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