Our history is something to celebrate

The FWCWS was created in 1992 and has funded over $400K in support for long-term development of amateur wrestling.

The Friends of the World Cup of Wrestling Society was formed on July 1992 under Alberta's Societies Act to enhance and foster fundraising to support Edmonton in hosting the 1994 FILA (International Wrestling Federation) World Cup for Freestyle. Historical practice was to form a new group for each individual event. After the event, the Board of the FWCWS saw value in continuing the organization to continue to seek, plan and organize future events as well as fundraise to support the creation of longer-term infrastructure.

“The Friends of the World Cup of Wrestling Society has been dedicated to supporting athlete development and growing the support in northern Alberta.”

The FWCWS has sought the opportunity to host four international events and 10 national events since inception. In addition, during this period, our fundraising events have resulted in the investment of over $200,000 in wrestling mats and equipment. This combined with funding of athlete and coaching endowments, scholarships and grants through the University of Alberta and Strathcona Wrestling Club have exceeded $400,000.

While COVID impacted the FWCWS and the cancellation of national events in 2020 and 2021, we are actively planning to host the 2022 Canadian Wrestling Trials in March (Chair is JJ Kennedy) and support the University of Alberta in hosting the USport National Championships in February 2022.

The history of our board of directors

The founding member was Joe May, Executive Director with Alberta Wrestling. At the first General Meeting, a five-member Board of Directors was elected, with each individual a former member of the University of Alberta’s Golden Bear Wrestling Team. Bill Dowbiggin was elected as President and served until 2012, when Russ Pawlyk was elected and continues to serve in the role. Vang Ioannides and Kelly Rich were elected as Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer respectively, both which have served continuously on the Board since 1992.

In 2014, WCL elected Theresa Vladika as our first female Director. John Alcock is our current Auditor and Owen Dawkins is our Casino Chairperson, both which have served for many years. Other long-term serving past Directors, include Jerry Derewonko and Allen Boychuk.