A Wrestling Mat Brings Hope to a West Side School

WSC is currently celebrating a great success story as earlier this year they donated a wrestling mat to Howe Elementary school, helping their wrestling program immensely.  There had never been a wrestling program before at the Howe Elementary school, and the donation of the mat allowed for a new sport to be added to their roster and a new opportunity to be provided to their students.  Every single student who participated in the new wrestling program had never wrestled before, and what the team was able to accomplish with these brand new wrestlers is nothing short of extraordinary.

“In the neighborhood we are in on the west side of Chicago, the violence is inconceivable,” said Rob Harman, a new teacher at the school and one of the Wrestling coaches.  “We’ve got an Olympic level mat now though, on par with any college in the county.  It showed [the students] that we are worth something in this school.  Someone cares enough to give us the proper equipment.” 

The Howe Jets went into this year’s competition wanting to show everyone what they could do, and they came away with both their 5th/6th Team and 7th/8th Team winning the Chicago Public Schools City Wrestling Championship!  Not only did the teams from Howe Elementary excel, but a number of individual wrestlers did as well.  21 wrestlers from Howe made it to the semi-final round and 8 students won individual championships.  So in total, Howe Elementary’s 1st year wrestlers took home 10 City Wrestling Championships!

“Wrestling is a way to channel [these kids’ anger] and get rid of the feelings that they have,” Harman said.  “They can go home feeling confident that they worked hard in practice and accomplished something.  They are learning life skills.”

One championship winner’s teachers said that wrestling has changed his life for the better and given him a great path forward.

The donation of just one wrestling mat has made such a huge difference in the lives of these 40 outstanding students and athletes and World Sport Chicago will continue to work with Howe Elementary for find a longer-term solution for continuing wrestling success.

“These are all great positive things that [these kids] are experiencing because of their hard work.  There is a confident level, a belief in their own success,” Harman said.  “It’s changing lives, not to be overly dramatic, but it really is.”

By connecting those with the means to give, to those organizations with the means to help, great things can be accomplished.  All it takes is a small donation, a little help, and the sky is the limit.