VOLUME XIV – The Other Side of Club Sports

Dear South Jersey,

Back when I first got this thing started, I made specific reference to the great volunteerism that is parental volunteerism in youth sports. You can read all about the great things that were happening in both Bucks County and Cinnaminson here.

However, more recently, I found that not everything is crystal clear and picture perfect for youth sports. I’ve been in contact with one club in particular concerning their parental volunteerism, and while the involved parents are an amazing help, the quantity of help is simply not enough.

Lenape Junior Wrestling has existed since 1996 in the Grapevine Wrestling League, which now hones over 48 teams in the area. In their glory days, they carried about 80-100 kids on the team. Now, the team is struggling to survive and the status of the club is in flux going in to the 2011-2012 school year.

I recently spoke with head coach and commissioner Anthony Iuliano and one of his assistant coaches Andy Samson for an article that will be appearing in The Central Record about their plight as a club, and they made me aware of how dire their situation truly is.

“I’m not from New Jersey,” Samson said. “I grew up in New York. I don’t know if things have changed, but when I was growing up, there were barely any programs for wrestling. You have the infrastructure here. You have 45 townships that have anywhere from 50-100 kids. You have a great support structure and a great system in place.”

Samson and Iuliano are currently working hand-and-hand with the Mount Laurel Board of Education to try to get the word out better. Since the board’s policy on disseminating information via paper to children in school is quite restrictive, the club is trying to either overturn that policy or find other ways of getting the word out.

“We just have to get the word out,” said Samson. “I don’t think the issue is convincing people that wrestling is a great sport. I think it’s more an issue of ‘I didn’t know you guys existed. I didn’t know you guys were here.’ Sometimes when we put signs up on public property, they’re removed. Not by anyone we know, but they are. Those are the obstacles we’re having. We just can’t get parent volunteers that are really cyclical.”

Iuliano has been heading up the club and volunteering a huge chunk of his time for the past six years. He will be stepping down next year, but has no problem doing behind the scenes work for the club. Samson, along with four other parents, is very dedicated and will do everything short of running the club. The club just needs that one person to take over.

It will sort of be a trickle-down effect for the club if they are able to get the word out and increase membership. They’ve seen in the past that the more members there are, the more parents want to become involved and the more the club flourishes.

The most unique thing about the club itself is the fact that it is not restrictive in who it takes in. Beginners from any age can come in and learn the basics. It’s a very rewarding process.

“The greatest accomplishment that I’ve had at doing this is seeing a kid with zero experience and by the end of the year, the kid’s a wrestler,” said Iuliano. “There are growing pains. Deer in headlights, but by year end the kids are going at it. That’s fantastic to see, because the kids have matured as young adults. They start becoming confident in themselves, even if a kid loses every match, because they go the distance for themselves.”

So, South Jersey, and Mount Laurel residents in particular… I encourage you to check out Lenape Junior Wrestling’s website at: http://www.lenapejrwrestling.com. I also encourage you, if you are interested, to support the club in any way that you can.

Our children need parental volunteers more than ever. I firmly believe that sports are the best personal development tool a young individual can have in their lives. I would hate to see one avenue of achieving that personal development be taken away because of poor awareness.

Take care.

Yours,

Kevin Haslam