PROTECT YOURSELF. PROTECT YOUR CLUB. PROTECT WRESTLING.

BCWA
6 hours ago
7 min read

To everyone in our wrestling community: please note that this communication is important.

If athletes or coaches are participating without current BCWA membership, you may be putting your club, yourself, BCWA, and our sport at risk of lawsuits and significant liability. Registration must happen before anyone steps onto the mat or engages in practices —not just before competition.

We recognize the email below is lengthy, but we want to be as transparent and informative as possible about why membership matters, what and WHO is at risk when participants are not covered, and how to make sure your club and participants are protected. Please take the time to read through the email in its entirety and share it within your community—it should take approximately 5–10 minutes.

Important Notice to All Members in the Wrestling Community

Hello BC Wrestling Community,

As we begin the 2026–2027 wrestling season, we want to take a moment to emphasize something incredibly important:

Every person participating in wrestling needs to be registered with BC Wrestling Association (BCWA) before participating in wrestling activities or stepping on to the mat.

This includes athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, and other participants who are required to hold BCWA membership. We say this because we want to protect you, and to ensure our sport can continue in the province of British Columbia. Please read through the below and communicate throughout our community as it contains really important information that impacts our sport as a whole.

September 1 = Membership Turnover

September 1 marks a hard membership turnover for BCWA. This means that your 2025–2026 membership expired on September 1, and a new 2026–2027 membership is required for the new season.

If your membership has not yet been renewed, you are not currently covered under BCWA's membership insurance program.

The same applies to clubs: clubs must have current BCWA club sanctioning in place to operate under BCWA's insurance coverage, and all club/team participants must have BCWA membership.

We understand that every year, membership registrations tend to happen in a flurry as we get closer to the first major competition of the season, the West Coast Open (formerly SFU War on the Floor).

We also understand that coaches are busy, clubs are getting organized, and registration often happens closer to competition.

However, membership is not something that should wait until competition. If practices are already underway, every person participating needs to have the appropriate BCWA membership in place.

WHY DOES MEMBERSHIP MATTER?

BCWA membership is about much more than being able to compete.

It is about protection.

BCWA pays a significant annual insurance premium to provide coverage designed to protect our members, clubs, events, and the sport of wrestling.

When you register with BCWA, you are helping ensure that:

Athletes are protected
If an athlete is injured while participating in a sanctioned wrestling activity, having the appropriate membership and insurance coverage in place can provide important protection when it is needed most.
Without coverage, an injury can create significant financial and legal consequences for the individual and their family - and for you, your coaches, and your club/team.
Coaches and volunteers are protected
Coaches and volunteers are also putting themselves in a position of responsibility of themselves and others every time they step onto the mat. Proper registration helps ensure that the people who give their time to our sport are participating within the framework of BCWA's insurance and safe-sport systems.
Clubs are protected
Clubs have a responsibility to ensure that the people participating in their programs are appropriately registered.
Allowing individuals to participate without the required BCWA membership can expose a club and its leadership/coaches to significant risk.
Your club's insurance protection depends on following the requirements of BCWA's sanctioning and membership system.
Our sport is protected
This is bigger than any individual athlete, coach, or club.
Wrestling is a regulated combat sport in British Columbia falling under the umbrella of the BC Athletics Commission, and maintaining appropriate standards around safety, insurance, event sanctioning, and participant registration is essential to the continued operation of our sport.

We cannot take that responsibility lightly.

A REAL RISK — NOT JUST A REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT

We want to be transparent with our wrestling community about why we are emphasizing this so strongly.

Combat sports inherently involve a risk of injury. That is why there are regulatory and safety requirements surrounding the operation of combat sport activities in British Columbia.

A serious incident at an unsanctioned combat-sport (not wrestling) event a few years ago highlighted just how significant the consequences can be when appropriate safeguards are not in place.

The purpose of these regulations is not to make sport more difficult.

The purpose is to make sport safer, to protect participants, to protect clubs, and to protect our sport as a whole.

That means ensuring that appropriate standards are in place, that clubs/teams and events are properly sanctioned, and that participants have appropriate protections in place. If clubs operate without the required sanctioning, or allow people to participate without the appropriate BCWA membership and insurance coverage, they are creating unnecessary risk for themselves, their participants, BCWA, and wrestling as a whole.

In a worst-case scenario, serious safety or compliance concerns could jeopardize our ability to sanction wrestling activities and events in the province (in simpler terms, we wouldn't be able to provide insurance coverage to events - and clubs would have to obtain sanctioning for events and operations through the BC Athletics Commission). Additionally, clubs and coaches can be suspended - or face serious legal consequences outside BCWA's control - and wrestling activities can be halted province wide.

That is something none of us want to see happen.

We want wrestling to continue to grow in BC. We want more athletes on the mat, more coaches involved, more competitions, and more opportunities for our community.

But we can only do that if we are operating safely and responsibly. We are doing our best to be honest with you, and as transparent as possible.

SO, HOW DO YOU GET COVERED?

There are two important steps:

1. Set Up Your Club for BCWA Sanctioning

Club sanctioning protects the club and the space in which your programming takes place.

Club sanctioning also helps BCWA understand our membership and plan for the future. To register for club sanctioning, start by completing a new Club Application, even if your club was registered with BCWA last season or in previous years: https://2mev.com/#!/memberships/bcwa-club-sanctioning

It only takes about 5–10 minutes, and you’ll choose the Uplifter setup that works best for your team. In future years, all you will need to do is click renew! If your club requires a certificate of insurance, please indicate that in the club sanctioning process and BCWA will follow up with you. Club sanctioning also helps grow wrestling in BC because it lets BCWA know

How many athletes are participating?
What age groups are represented?
Where are wrestling communities located throughout BC?
What programs and opportunities does our membership need?

For example, following a review of BCWA membership groups, a significant portion of BCWA's membership is school-age athletes. As a result, one of our goals this year is to provide more opportunities and tournaments specifically for elementary and school-age wrestlers.

The information clubs provide helps us make those decisions. It can also assist us in applying for grants that provide funding to put on more events, provide more support to the community, and to continue to build wrestling.

Club sanctioning isn't just paperwork — it helps protect your club and helps BCWA build better programming for the wrestling community.

2. Register Every Participant with BCWA

Before an athlete, coach, official, or volunteer who is required to hold membership participates in wrestling and steps foot on the mat, they need to have current BCWA membership (Coaches - please also make sure you are up to date on your NCCP training - as a safeguard, the 2Mev system will indicate to you if you require further training once you register for membership).

This means:

No "trial" practices before registration
No stepping onto the mat while waiting to register
No assuming someone is covered because they were registered last season

A September 2025–August 2026 membership does not carry over into the new season.

Everyone needs to be registered for 2026–2027.

We know that some clubs use trial periods to allow new athletes to see whether they enjoy wrestling before committing to a full season.

We absolutely want new people to discover our sport.

However, a trial period should not mean participating without the required BCWA membership and insurance coverage.

To register, please visit:

https://2mev.com/#!/memberships/british-columbia-wrestling-association-2026-2027-membership

Wrestle for a school team? Are you an official without a club affiliation? You can still register for BCWA membership and participate in BCWA events. If you don’t have a BCWA-sanctioned club to affiliate with, simply register as an Unaffiliated/Independent Member.

EVENT SANCTIONING MATTERS TOO

This same principle applies to competitions and other wrestling events.

BCWA event sanctioning helps ensure that the event, venue, organizers, and participants are operating within the appropriate framework and have access to the required insurance protection.

When an event is properly sanctioned, we can work together to make sure the appropriate safety, insurance, and organizational requirements are in place.

To register for event sanctioning, please visit: https://www.bcwrestling.com/events

Sanctioning protects the event — just as club sanctioning protects the club.

OUR SHARED DUTY OF CARE

At the end of the day, this comes down to duty of care and shared responsibility.

BCWA has a responsibility to protect our members and maintain the standards required for our sport.

Clubs have a responsibility to ensure their programs are operating appropriately.

Coaches have a responsibility to ensure the athletes in their care are properly registered, that their coaches complete the mandatory minimum safe sport training.

And every participant has a responsibility to make sure they have the appropriate membership before stepping onto the mat.

Safe sport should be accessible and should go without saying.

People should be able to come to wrestling, learn, compete, coach, volunteer, and build community without being exposed to unnecessary or avoidable risk.

That is what we are trying to protect.

PLEASE REGISTER NOW

We are asking every club, coach, athlete, official, and volunteer to please take a few minutes to ensure that their 2026–2027 BCWA membership is current.

If you are a club administrator or coach, please also take the time to make sure everyone participating in your program is properly registered.

If you are unsure whether someone needs membership, whether your club's sanctioning is complete, or how to complete registration, please reach out to BCWA. We are here to help.

We would much rather answer a question and help you get registered than have someone discover they were not covered after an incident occurs.

Please don't wait until the West Coast Open.

Membership is not simply a requirement for competition.

Membership is how we protect our people, our clubs, our events, and the future of wrestling in British Columbia.

Thank you for doing your part to keep our wrestling community safe, protected, and moving forward.

Together, we can protect our sport.

BC Wrestling Association