SEWrestle is Jason Fulmore. They’ve been encouraged to start a Patreon page in an effort to support their work covering wrestling (primarily at the high school level) across the Southeast. They learned to wrestle from their dad. He wrestled in high school in Utah and encouraged them at a young age to get involved in the best sport in the world. Unfortunately, that encouragement took a bit of time to take hold and they never really developed into the wrestler they feel they could have been (they grew up a military kid, moving every two years, so that was a challenge in their development as a wrestler, as well). They graduated from high school in Florida as a better than average wrestler, and gave wrestling a go at the #nextlevel, but quickly realized that they didn’t have the ability or the drive to be successful. After graduating college they were still enamored with the sport and began coaching. They are fortunate to have coached some outstanding athletes (and more importantly, outstanding young men and women) and have worked alongside some fantastic coaches during their eight years in the corner. In 2002, they left coaching to start graduate school. That choice has afforded them the opportunity to take on a different role as it relates to the sport … more a promoter than coach or athlete. Don’t get them wrong, they dabbled in the promoter role during their years coaching (they ran a website dedicated to Florida Wrestling throughout the 1990’s), but this was a real opportunity to give back to the sport. In the fall of 2010 they launched SoutheastWrestling (better known to most as SEWrestle). It began much the same way they ran Florida Wrestling for years … focused on rankings, results, etc. It wasn’t until they had no stake in the outcome on the mat that they were truly able to view the sport, coaches, programs, and wrestlers through a neutral lens. They focused solely on trying to promote the sport and its participants. The evolution of social media has played a significant role in that development. Twitter and Instagram are the mediums where they reach their most fervent audience … and they’re still working on finding the best ways to engage the audience – from their most ardent supporters to the mom or dad who have no idea what wrestling is or why their son or daughter might be interested in doing it. The purpose of SEWrestle, whether on Twitter, Instagram or through the website, is to promote the sport. They are a research professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but their passion is wrestling. They are not looking, nor do they expect, that the money raised through Patreon will allow them to give up their day job (nor do they want it to … they love their job and plan on being a research professor for the next 15 years). The money raised through Patreon is simply a way to help offset their expenses (travel to events, maintaining a website, maintaining a SmugMug account for photos, etc.).
Find SEWrestle online:
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/sewrestle
Twitter
https://twitter.com/SeWrestle