Connecting Middle Schools to High Schools is the Mission for expanding NYC Wrestling

 

Tale of two Baruchs:

Partners in school wrestling

By Granville Leo Strevens -Town & Village Newspaper-Manhattan, NY

 

Public School Wrestling? Yes! Wrestling programs at both Simon Baruch Middle School M.S.104 and (Bernard) Baruch College Campus High School, have taken this rigorous mat sport to a whole new and higher level this season, and have become powerhouses in the city and state wrestling worlds.

 

Baruch Middle School Coach and Science Teacher, Chris Poli, who started his team just a few years ago and saw it become the catalyst for a citywide middle school wrestling league, has created a student-athlete "pipeline" leading and pointing his young team members onward and upward to the next academic and sports levels at Baruch High School. The results of this connection speak loudly for themselves.

 

Baruch High School, with Baruch Middle School members on its roster, captured first place at the 2010 PSAL Championship Tournament and sent six wrestlers to the finals where two emerged as city champions. Out of 16 Baruch HS mat men who entered the tournament, 10 finished in the top three earning All-City Honors.  

Frank Portella, a former Pan American gold medalist, has coached the Baruch High School wrestling program since it began in 2006.

 

At the Middle School Level, Coach Chris Poli and Assistant Coach Kyle Hopkins, a student at NYU, have stepped up their efforts. The Baruch MS Lions team is comprised of over 30 students. The middle school league in which Baruch was the founding charter member, is funded by Beat The Streets Wrestling Inc.

 

This extraordinary organization has seeded new school programs and now has close to 100 teams in the league.

 

At this year's Mayor's Cup, the Baruch wrestlers finished in fifth place out of 100 teams, sending three sixth graders to the finals; and having 10 team members finish in the top four. These student athletes went on to represent New York City at the 2010 NY State Championship tournament in Binghamton, NY over the weekend of March 5, 6 and 7.