The past week, CEO and Owner, Guy Sako, and some members of our team traveled to Budapest, Hungary to take part in several events hosted by United World Wrestling. As a part of our partnership with UWW, we were first asked to take part in the World Wrestling Medicine Conference. The conference had speakers from all over the world present on topics that affect the wrestling community on a global scale. Some of the presentations included the science, engineering, materials, and safety of different wrestling mats, presented by Marton Tomin, precompetitive stress response in wrestlers before events, common wrestling injuries in the shoulders and knees, and skin infections in wrestling and what can be done to prevent them. We were able to learn a ton from these doctors, trainers, and researchers that are all leaders in their field during the three-day conference and were even able to give our perspective as wrestling coaches that see more than doctors with our daily interaction with wrestlers.
After the conference, we were invited to present to the UWW Medical, Prevention, and Anti-Doping Commission, which is led by President, Babak Shadgan, MD, MSc Sports Med, PhD. We have been working with Dr. Shadgan the last few months in providing perspective as former wrestlers and active wrestling coaches to their medical commission in how to better educate and protect wrestlers from skin infections. The doctors all admitted that there is a void in the community about this topic and were extremely positive about our message and even the products that we provided. Their input from a medical perspective will continue to be a valuable asset in creating better education, products, and protocols. The following day, the UWW announced that they wanted to move forward in creating a hygiene protocol to implement for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. They posted the following on their site announcing this:
This is the biggest partnership and moment in the history of Defense Soap and we are beyond humbled to share this with our supporters and the NWCA. We started 14 years ago in Guy Sako’s basement in Cleveland, Ohio making homemade soap. This past week, we made an agreement to help develop a hygiene protocol for the Olympics. Thinking about how much things have changed makes us very proud at what we have accomplished and motivates us to continue to contribute to the wrestling community, which has always been our core value. Needless to say, this was the highlight of our trip.
The following two days we attended the U23 World Championships. This was a business trip for Defense Soap but were lucky enough to be fans of the sport we love so much and watch some world class wrestling. The tournament was fiercely competitive as you might expect and definitely a peek into what the coming years will look like at the senior level for both Worlds and Olympics. The country of Hungary really supports the sport of wrestling and watching the young fans and fellow countrymen go crazy for their wrestlers was very cool to see. We have included some shots from the event we wanted to share.
Lastly, we want to thank everyone who has supported us in our journey to get to this point. We wouldn’t have been able to take part in a weekend such as this without the continued loyalty from the wrestling community, both in the US and abroad. We are beyond excited about our trip and make a promise to continue to stay true to our values and contribute to the world of wrestling. Thank you!
