The mission of Tanniehill Wrestling Academy and Take Down Crime is to help kids develop:

Physically - by learning sports skills, improving physical conditioning, developing good health  habits, countering childhood obesity and avoiding injuries.

Psycholgically - by learning to control their emotions and to develop feelings of self-worth, reducing the incidents of behavioral problems, contributing to crime prevention, and

Socially - by learning how to cooperate in a competitive context and by learning appropriate standards of behavior. 

Special Thanks

Take Down Crime wishes to thank:

• The Mayor Greg Ballard and Deputy Mayor Oljen Williams for their support through the Crime Prevention Grant. 
• The Crime Prevention Grant Board for their consideration, belief in our program, and recommendation.  A special thank you to Marshall Lewis and Richard Schulte.
• Reverend Tommy Brown and The Ebeneezer Missionary Baptist Church for your partnership and mentorship.
• Pike Township Regional Athletic Director James Perkins for immediately seeing the need for our program in Pike township and all of his continued support, as well as the support of everyone else in the Pike Township School District.  You have all been amazing to work with. 
• Jeff Saturday for his selfless contribution of time in participating in a speaking engagement for us when no one knew who we were.  Thanks for your continued support, Jeff.
• Reverend Ronald Covington, the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church congregation and church board of directors, and the Friendship Westside Center For Excellence for allowing us to bring this program into your neighborhood and for all the work you continually do to help support our efforts.   
• USA Wrestling and Indiana State Wrestling Association for your dedication to wrestling and to kids.  You have been a great support to us and our cause.  Thank you so much.
• To all the folks at Beat The Streets in New York for your guidance and encouragement from the very beginning.
• Gretchen Becker with the Indianapolis Star for following our progress, increasing awareness and taking an interest in positive programs in the community.
• Dr. Campi and Dr. Adelsperger.  Thank you so much for being supporters of community efforts and of us particularly.  Your help has had unmeasurable impact on the success of our program. You are both assets to this city and your staff are fantastic.  Thanks so much.  
• Meet Me Under The Bridge, Kathy Albright, Barb Richardson, and everyone else who has always been so welcoming of us when we help serve the homeless.  Your determined efforts to touch so many lives on a regular basis is beautiful.  Thank you for allowing us to help out.
• Jordan's Journey, what a wonderful cause you serve.  It was a pleasure to join you in celebration of living a joyful life even through struggle.  Thank you for inviting us and for being so great while we were there.
• Engaging Solutions for all of your help and support.  It's great that you help out the community like you do.
• The Take Down Crime Board for bearing down and working through whatever challenges present, for pulling together resources and for the keeping sight of the common goal. 
• The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge  # 86 for your support of our efforts.  Special thank you to Bill Owensby for getting behind us and our mission.
• To Richard Rader for taking team and event photos for us, donating your time and your financial contribution, for helping out with ideas and for all of your (and Mary's)  support and guidance.
• Tim and Tammy Hancock for donating our first piece of mat for our new location.
• United Water for your sponsorship of our efforts. 
• To our coaches, each of you brings a special piece to our Take Down Crime puzzle.  We are so honored to have you put so much of yourselves into working with these kids and making it fun for them.  Your dedication to giving back is to be commended and we are blessed by each and every one of you.  Thank you.
• To all of our parents, thanks for seeing the big picture, for all you do to help out our cause, your participation in our events, for your dedication to your kids, and for giving us the opportunity to work with them.  It has been life changing to walk this path with you. 
• To our wrestlers.  Thanks for your hard work, for continuing to put forth effort to grow into great citizens for this community, and for believing in us.  You are the reason we do what we do. 

Who We Are

Coach James Tanniehill, CEO and Co-Founder

"Coach" has an amazing track record in the sport of wrestling.  He has been active in wrestling for over 47 years now and has achieved the following accolades:

• 12 x National Champion
• 4 x USA Masters Champion
• 9 x Military Inter-Service Champion
• Member of 4 World Teams
• Alternate on 3 Olympic Teams
• Member of 5 Hall of Fames

He loves wrestling, as it put him back on a good path when he was in high school.  As a kid, Coach had begun down a path of bad decisions and hanging out with the wrong crowd.  Wrestling, he believes, saved his life.  He attributes much of his success to his coaches, who made a huge impact on him in his young life.  Coach pays it forward every chance he gets, and has a special place in his heart for helping kids who are headed in a wrong direction. 

Laura Rader, President and Co-Founder

"Miss Laura" has always had a passion for kids.  She has worked with kids in one respect or another for most of her life.  At one time she worked at the St. Elizabeth's Home for teenage moms and their babies.  Most of the girls who were there at the time were wards of the court system and were assigned to be there, as it is a residential facility teaching life skills and parenting skills, while enabling the moms to continue with their high school education. 

With a strong administrative background, Miss Laura takes care of all the paperwork, planning, scheduling, communicating, etc. for Take Down Crime.  She also meets with each of the wrestlers one on one to follow up on progresses, problems, areas of concern and anything else they need to talk about. 

Coach Hugo

Coach Hugo is a volunteer coach to Take Down Crime.  He was a Greco Roman Wrestling Champion in his home country of Peru and now is a great help to Coach Tanniehill on the mats.  He was also a Police Captain, member of SWAT and bodyguard back in Peru, which is a perfect marriage into our crime prevention goals.  Coach Hugo has a son and a nephew who participate in the program.  His commitment to the program is so appreciated.

Coach Holmes

Coah Holmes is a volunteer coach to Take Down Crime.  He was a 4 year Varsity and 3 year Letterman Wrestler in High School at Lawrence Central High School where he graduated in 1990.  He is also a mentor for the Hoosier Youth Challenge Academy, which is a program working with at-risk youth in a controlled, quasi-military setting molding youth into productive members of society.  Coach Holmes is a married father of 2 girls and 4 boys, 2 of which are also Take Down Crime wrestlers.  He is invaluable to our program.

Coach Peterson

Coach Peterson is an occassional volunteer coach with Take Down Crime.  He trained under Coach Tanniehill when he was a High School Wrestler  at Pike High School.  Coach Peterson is also a Youth Minister at his father's church and is a married father of 2 boys, all of which keeps him very busy.  We are thankful for the time he has to be with us.