My students are from a small town in Maine. These children and young adults are energetic and enthusiastic, and love to learn about new things.
Many families in this area struggle with poverty and various types of abuse.
An after school wrestling program has been created in a school district that has never had wrestling in the past. There are 35 kids in the program. The goal of this program is to help students develop character traits such as work ethic, dedication, and perseverance.
My Project
Recently, I decided to start an After School Wrestling Program at the Elementary School where I teach Physical Education Classes. This program is open to boys and girls from 3rd through 8th Grade. I have a background in coaching the sport, and I wanted to introduce this sport to the kids of this school in Central Maine. This school district has never had wrestling and the kids know very little about this sport.
This sport is unlike any sport that I have every played or coached because of the life and character lessons that can be taught to our youth.
In the 16 years that I have coached wrestling, I have literally seen lives changed. Because of the nature of the sport, there are so many life lessons that can be learned such as work ethic, dedication, integrity, perseverance, self confidence, etc.
Many of the families in this area of the country are struggling with poverty and different types of abuse. I am very excited to offer these students an outlet from whatever they might be struggling with in their lives and an opportunity to develop skills to overcome obstacles in their future.
For the most part, this sport is rather cheap to participate. The first initial expense is for these students to have wrestling shoes. Out of the 35 kids in the program, 5 of them have shoes at this point. The rest of the kids are participating in their socks.
Thank you for your consideration in helping our students have the proper footwear for this after school program!
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