Building skills: Perquimans Middle School students form wrestling club

HERTFORD — Every day after school, 26 students at Perquimans County Middle Schools aren’t in any rush to get home.

Instead, they rush to move aside tables and chairs in the school cafeteria so they can unroll their wrestling mats and start practicing.

They students aren’t tuning up for upcoming matches or tournaments. Unlike organized sports teams, they belong to a wrestling club where the goal is developing good fundamentals and technique.

Talan Pettus, 14, is a first-time wrestler and a member of the wrestling club. He said he played football in the past as a linebacker and defensive end. If he excels at one or more sports, Pettus figures he might become eligible for a college athletic scholarship once he graduates from high school. Right now, Pettus says wrestling is a great way to add a workout to his day.

“Seeing other schools doing it I thought it would be cool if our school could do it as well,” Pettus said. “I think it’s good for people to do something that builds their body up, to learn responsibility and discipline.”

Zak Lane, 14, is also a first-time wrestler. He said he wanted to try something new.

“We’ve learned new moves, new exercises I didn’t know before,” he said.

Lane’s interest in the sport is also growing.

“I haven’t been to wrestling matches in person but I watch more college teams and Olympic (wrestling) teams on YouTube,” he said.

Also new to the sport is 13-year-old Kelly Linton. Like Lane and Pettus, she wanted to take on a new challenge.

“I saw cheerleading coming to an end, and I wanted to try another sport that’s not using a ball,” she said. “I don’t have much to do at home except be on the phone so I might as well learn something new.”

Another female participating in the club, Anne Marie Enos, is also eager to take on a new challenge. Enos told coach Ronald Stites that wrestling “gives her an opportunity to be aggressive.”

Linton and Enos in fact are two of 13 females who are members of the club that also includes 13 males.

Stites, a retired naval aviator, is one of the club’s volunteer coaches. Five decades ago in Michigan, Stites said he joined a wrestling team during the ninth grade. He continued wrestling through high school and college. He was inducted into Olivet College’s Hall of Fame in 2003.

When he learned from a former coach that an old wrestling mat was probably stored someplace at Perquimans Middle School, Stites decided to see if he could find it.

“That’s how I met the athletic director here at Perquimans Middle School,” he said. “From wrestling, I gained confidence, emotional self-control and resilience skills that can help young people today.”

He said he wanted to help pass along those skills to middleschoolers by forming a wrestling club, and Perquimans Middle School Principal Laura Moreland and school board officials signed off on the idea.

Stites said the old, stowed away wrestling mat resembled one from when he started wrestling so he decided to purchase a new mat. Some of his Navy friends and Perquimans County residents pitched in to buy shirts, shoes, and wrestling accessories for the students.

“I knew I had to do this, coach the team,” Stites said. “There are college scholarships out there so eventually there might be another opportunity for another a young person to go to college. The Olympics is this year and that’s also a means of motivating them.”

The club’s other volunteer coach is math teacher Tyler Bridgers, a former college baseball player.

Because there’s no pressure for the club to win tournaments, both coaches say their focus is on teaching wrestling fundamentals and technique.

“The hard work is sticking to it, wanting to learn new stuff,” Bridgers said. “Not wanting to give up. Don’t get down on yourself because you make mistakes.”

According to Next College Student Athlete, wrestling is a rapidly growing sport among high school- and college-age females. That’s why it’s not surprising to see so many who’ve joined the Perquimans Middle School wrestling club.

“When I was growing up and wrestling, you might see one or two girls wrestling. Some days we have more girls than boys here,” Bridgers said.