The following announcement is from Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz, director of Stand Up, in regards to the Stand Up theatrical event in Hanford CA on April 27th, 6:30 PM at the Metro 4 Cinemas.
When we, the team at Reel Nation Media, set out to get Stand Up in theaters, we had one goal that prioritized over all else:
to inspire wrestlers across the nation to dig deep within themselves for true success, to illuminate the value of hard work, and to promote, support, and fund wrestling teams and organizations.
We were blessed with the opportunity to fulfill this goal for the Hanford West Wrestling Team when their high school head coach, Lance Brown, messaged Stand Up on Facebook. He got in touch with the interest to bring Stand Up to a theater near him to promote wrestling in his area, and school.
We took a few moments to talk on the phone to Coach Brown about his team. He’s a very experienced coach who has helped many league champions reach their their goals.
“Hanford West is like the middle child that’s overpassed on a lot of things,” Brown expressed.
The high school is in the middle of two wrestling super powers in the area: Hanford High, and Sierra Pacific.
“The school’s wrestling team has to fight for everything it needs. We have to really work hard to get the kids onto the mats. Though like in the sport of wrestling, the harder you work, the better the reward- just like the film (Stand Up),” says Coach Brown.
Even though Hanford West’s program can be considered an underdog in the area, Coach Brown says they have promising years to come:
“We have an upcoming great team. A few wrestlers can definitely make it to states in the next 4 years. We already have had 37 divisional qualifiers go through in the past.”
One of the biggest challenges that the team faces is their decaying wrestling mats. Lance told us that the two mats they have have been in use for over 20 years, and are both beyond repair. Whenever he has asked for funds to replace the mats, he was told that they have to find funding himself.
“The culture of this area expects to fundraise. The district giving to such causes is not high on their agenda. Certain sports are just not as big as others, and unfortunately wrestling is one of those sports…” says Brown.
That is why Stand Up is offering all of its ticket proceeds from the Stand Up Theatrical Screening in Hanford to the Hanford West Wrestling Team for new wrestling mats!
The screening will be at the Metro 4 Cinemas on April 27th at 6:30 PM for this special one night screening. After the film, there will be an inspirational talk from a surprise legendary Californian wrestler that no one can spare to miss. Tickets can only be bought on Tugg at https://www.tugg.com/events/stand-up-igdf before April 20th. The event has to fill in 83 seats for it to actually happen.
If you’re not able to make it to the event, you can choose to donate to the team through the contributions on the bottom of the page at https://www.tugg.com/events/stand-up-igdf. You can earn special rewards like the special edition DVD of Stand Up.
We hope you join us on our mission to boost the Hanford West Wrestling Team on their path to #DefyDefeat! Let’s give back to wrestling, and come together for this awesome event. See you at the movies!!!
Keep it Reel!
Watch the Stand Up Trailer Here: