Dr David Curby presenting the Jacob Curby award to Andy Bisek at the OTC in Colorado Springs.

The Jacob Curby award is given to greco-roman athletes who show acts of outstanding leadership and character. This year's recipient from the Colorado Springs based Greco-Roman National Team is Pan-Am games champion and 2015 world bronze medalist , Andy Bisek. Last Friday, Dr David Curby, founder of the Curby Cup and the Curby foundation presented the honors to Bisek in person at the OTC.

The Jacob Curby Foundation has been formed to honor the memory of Jacob Curby, and with the mission of teaching strong values through wrestling participation, growing youth participation in wrestling as a path to success and personal growth, and the advancement of Olympic-style international wrestling competition in the United States.

In an effort to memorialize Jacob and what he stood for with his wonderful character USA Wrestling established an award called the “Jacob Curby Memorial Award.” Every year USA Wrestling recognizes a Greco-Roman athlete from each of our two Olympic Training Centers. This award is given to a wrestler who has displayed strong personal character and commitment to the sport of Greco-Roman wrestling.

Curby said, “Presenting this award in Jake’s name gives our family great joy. Andy and Travis are both talented wrestlers, as well as classy people. Andy and Jake were friends and teammates in Marquette for about 6 years. It has been a thrill watching Andy win his two world championship bronze medals. My wife and I look forward to presenting Travis his award in New York at the Bill Farrell International Tournament on November 5th!”

The Curby Cup is the flagship event on The Jacob Curby Foundation calendar, showcasing the finest wrestlers from around the world in a competition with the American National Team.

Travis Rice is the 2015 Jacob Curby award recipient from the Northern Michigan University.

Each year Dr. Curby awards two wrestlers from the Greco-Roman national team program with the Jacob Curby award that embody the character and spirit of his son Jacob who passed away unexpectedly several days after returning from a wrestling tournament in Russia. Recipients from Colorado Springs at the OTC and from the Northern Michigan University in Marquette Michigan are eligible to win this award. This year's winner from Northern Michigan was Travis Rice.

Congratulations to Andy Bisek and Travis Rice for their outstanding character and leadership abilities both off and on the mat.

from newyorkwrestlingnews.com

A week before the Journeymen Classic, over 80 wrestlers prepared at the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club (FLWC) in Ithaca at a two-day training camp featuring numerous New York State champions and placers as well as out of state standouts.

“The training camp we had in September was a huge success,” said FLWC’s Kris Harrington. “It was a great training situation for everyone and it was nice to see the kids have success afterwards at the Journeymen Classic. Now, it’s time to gear up for the Freak Show and the Super 32. We’re trying to make these training camps a monthly occurrence now.”

The next one, which will be held October 17-18, has already reached capacity. Attendance is set to include New York’s Yianni Diakomihalis, Theo Powers, Kelan McKenna, Evan Barczak and Jack Buell as well as nationally-ranked wrestlers from out of state such as Ohio’s Ben Darmstadt and David Carr as well as Pennsylvania’s Brian Courtney.

Members of the Big Red team will be there as counselors, while coaches like Kyle Dake, Enock Francois, Nate Carr Jr. and Kris Harrington will be among those leading the event.

And this time, there will be another addition in the mix. Team USA Assistant National Greco-Roman Coach and Iranian Olympian Ahad Javansalehi will be there to offer an international perspective and more high level training.

“I’m absolutely very, very excited to be coming up to Ithaca,” said Javansalehi, who will be making the move in December to establish a Greco Roman program. “I look forward to participating and to getting to know the area and meeting everyone.”

While the opportunity to work with these wrestlers and coaches in October is no longer available due to full registration, FLWC announced that a similar camp will be held on November 21 and 22.

“The October one sold out so fast, we are excited to be holding another one in November,” Harrington said. “There will be one session on Saturday (4-6 p.m.) and then two in the morning on Sunday. It’s a great opportunity right before the season starts to grind out some good practices with really tough guys."

It's one of many events taking place in Ithaca that weekend. At the youth level, there will be the FLWC Fall Kickoff, which already has 18 K-8 teams as well as four girls teams signed up, according to Harrington. In addition, Cornell will open the 2015-16 campaign with a dual against Drexel before all of the more than 20 New York State college programs descend upon Ithaca for the NYS Intercollegiate championships.

"There will be so much going on," Harrington said. "It'll be a great weekend of wrestling."

Andy Bisek Earns Prestigious Jacob Curby Award

Gearing Up: FLWC Training Camps in Oct & Nov to Feature Top Wrestlers & Coaches