Women’s wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the country according to AP News. Men’s wrestling is growing at a fast rate, too. I believe we should have it at the Community School of Davidson (CSD).
The national high school numbers serve as a basis. Both men’s and women’s wrestling interest has skyrocketed in the past few years per USA Wrestling.
As of the start of the 2024-2025 school year, 60,000 more boys participated in the sport than only three years prior.
Participation in women’s wrestling has jumped 102% since the 2021-2022 season with a total of 64,257 girls participating in high school wrestling across the country.
Wrestling is a sport that doesn’t require a special field such as baseball or track. A simple gym suffices and CSD has three separate ones – two in the high school and one in the middle school – that could host wrestling practices and meets. Andthe high school weight room is more than sufficient for the needs of a team.
Student interest is there, too, not only for the sport itself but also for the ancillary benefits it adds to athletes.
“Wrestling teaches strict discipline and promotes healthy eating and intense physical exertion that keeps athletes in extremely good shape,” Mateo Wright (‘25) said. “People who play other sports would benefit by wrestling. They’d be stronger, in better shape, and overall healthier after wrestling.”
And while some people say there simply is no interest at CSD, I disagree. I have always found wrestling to be an interesting sport. Kids wrestle in weight classes so the matches are fair and skill is necessary to be victorious. It’s not about size as many think.
I’m not alone in my thinking. Brandt Fajerman (‘23) was a CSD student athlete who was an elite wrestler and wanted to compete for the school but because CSD didn’t have a wrestling team he transferred to nearby Hough high school where he found success. Fajerman is now wrestling collegiately at Franklin and Marshall College.
CSD has had athletes who have wrestled or have wanted to wrestle for the school but were unable to due to CSD not having a team.
“Mateo (Wright) and I have always been interested in a wrestling team,” Noah Watson (‘25) said. “And I would definitely sign up if we had one.”
Building a team (or teams) would take time and CSD has shown it can make it happen. A perfect example of a sport people showed interest that is now a reality is men’s volleyball. Over the course of my four years at CSD, many athletes voiced their opinion that CSD should have a men’s volleyball team.
Each year during Homecoming Day, the senior boys create a volleyball team and play a match against the women’s team. Historically we have lost but always put up a good fight because we have solid athletes at our school.
During Spartan Day, a celebratory last day of school where students step outside the classroom, sign yearbooks and play games, the annual volleyball tournament is over subscribed.
Finally, after years of asking, CSD now fields both varsity and junior varsity boys volleyball teams. As a spring sport, both teams play full schedules.
Wrestling could follow a similar path: Interest leads to a formal idea that eventually results in the formation of a team.
