Conference Offers Wrestling Information

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Veteran wrestling coaches from Pennsylvania will be available by video conference at a wrestling summit May 16 to provide information to Arkansas high schools interested in starting a high school wrestling program.

About 20 high schools in the state offer wrestling as a club sport, and interest is growing locally because of the number of families moving to the area from other places where their children have participated in the sport. Supporters are interested in seeking the approval of wrestling as a sport sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association, which governs high school athletics in the state.

Coaches, athletic directors, trainers, parents and student-athletes are invited to attend the summit that begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 16 in Room 311 of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) Building on the University of Arkansas campus. It is free and open to the public. Parking will be available nearby because the UA’s spring semester will be over.

Jeff Bonacci, director of the UA athletic training education program, planned the video conference as a service to area high school officials, parents and others interested in learning more about wrestling.

“We want to address two primary concerns — safety issues and the information needed to build a successful wrestling program at the high school level,” Bonacci said. “The people we have invited to present information have many years of experience coaching wrestlers and maintaining successful programs.”

The conference will also be broadcast at the same time to the Arkansas School for the Blind in Little Rock, and the public is invited to attend it there.

“Broadcasting the conference to Little Rock allows us to share the knowledge of these well-respected experts with high schools elsewhere in the state that have wrestling or that are interested in establishing a wrestling program,” Bonacci said.

A panel of high school and college wrestling coaches from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and from high schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey will provide information about such aspects as equipment, coaching, officiating, matches and safety followed by a question and answer session. Lehigh University consistently dominates the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, collegiate wrestling’s oldest conference.

The experts can also discuss the sport’s capacity for increasing self-confidence and discipline in the athletes. The panelists, all of whom have won numerous individual awards and team titles:

• Jack Foley, assistant athletic director and director of sports medicine at Lehigh University, has been involved with the wrestling program since 1987.

• Thad Turner, former head wrestling coach at Lehigh for 18 years and national collegiate coach of the year, is also a recipient of the lifetime service award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Okla.

• John Allen, who has 50 years of experience coaching wrestling at the high school and college level, most notably St. Benedict’s and Seton Hall University, has also produced numerous state and national prep championships.

• Steve Powell, winner of national and state coaching awards, has 31 years of experience coaching high school wrestling in Pennsylvania.

• Dave Crowell, winner of national and state coaching awards, has 23 years of experience coaching high school wrestling in Pennsylvania.

• Duane Brida, head athletic trainer at Phillipsburg High School in New Jersey since 1985, has been a recipient of state and regional awards in athletic training.

• Jon Trenge, assistant wrestling coach at Lehigh, is the program’s all-time career wins leader and was a three-time All-American being a two-time runner-up at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Trenge has a feature length movie titled “Veritas” about wrestling and life to be released soon.

In Northwest Arkansas, officials of several school districts are enthusiastic about wrestling’s potential in the area.

Annette Scogin, athletic director for the Springdale School District, said her district has seen considerable interest in wrestling from both boys and girls. The district ran the club sport this year as if it were sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association, using the association’s academic and physical requirements, she said. Several student-athletes have welcomed the opportunity to take part in a winter sport other than basketball, she said.

“It all goes back to opportunities for kids,” Scogin said.

Lauren West, athletic director for the Bentonville School District, said about 40 boys participated in wrestling this past year, which was the second year for wrestling in the district. Bentonville hosted a tournament that drew people from smaller schools who expressed interest in finding out more about the sport, she said.

“We’re always looking for more ways to get more students involved at the secondary level,” West said.

Educational efforts like the video conference are needed to address concerns such as health issues, West said, and sanctioning the sport would give it a legitimacy it needs, too.

Fayetteville High School officials also found significant interest when the school offered wrestling as a club sport. Arkansas and Mississippi are the only two states in the country that don’t have sanctioned wrestling.

“Wrestling is something that, even though it’s new in Arkansas, is one of the most popular sports in 48 of the 50 states,” said Dick Johnson, athletic director for the Fayetteville School District. “When we initiated a wrestling program at Fayetteville High School, we were very surprised at the enthusiasm of people and the high level of interest, and I think that’s probably true in many communities in Arkansas.

“We’re pleased to see wrestling making advances in Arkansas.”