East Rockaway parents lobby for a wrestling team

Lynbrook Titans wrestling only allows boys ages six through 12, and East Rockaway athletes looking to continue competing have no alternative.

Courtesy Liz Romero

Andrew Cancel, 11, will age out of the Lynbrook Titans program next year.

Courtesy Liz Romero

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Half a dozen letters from East Rockaway families in favor of adding a high school wrestling program were formally presented to the Board of Education on Feb. 23 to be considered as part of the 2016-17 school athletics budget.

Liz Romero, who organized the effort, said her son, Andrew Cancel, 11, and many other wrestlers are on the verge of aging out of the Lynbrook Titans wrestling program and have no alternative to continue the sport. “Wresting was really the only sport that he had a strong interest in,” Romero said. “Little by little he liked it even more. He was also a very shy boy … but he started wrestling and that completely changed — it brought him out of his shell.”

The Lynbrook Titans wrestling program is only available to boys between the ages of six and 12. Currently, 13 members of the program are East Rockaway residents.

Both of Manny Alvarez’s sons, Josh, 16, and Caleb, 13, have already aged out of the program. “It’s taking a lot away from the kids,” he said, adding that both of his sons miss playing the sport. He said that Caleb was a Nassau County champion when he was 7, and the lack of programs denied him the opportunity to continue improving on his abilities.

“Wrestling helps you in any sport,” Alvarez said, adding that, “mentally and physically — you had to be in tip top condition.”

Alvarez said he tried to inquire about Lynbrook and East Rockaway merging wrestling programs, but because this would change the division the Lynbrook team presently competes in he said it the coaches he’d spoken to weren’t interested.

Romero said she wasn’t ready to give up, and she was generally pleased with how her presentation was received at the meeting, in which she suggested creating a combined team with the Malverne School District.

“I feel optimistic,” she said. “I kind of feel also that it’s kind of up in the air — I really don’t know if there’s going to be a positive outcome — but I’m trying to be optimistic.”

Romero created a Facebook page several weeks earlier called, “East Rockaway School District Needs a Wrestling Program,” to help connect her with other parents and families who shared her opinion.

“[Parents] were really receptive to it … I got so many likes right away on the Facebook page,” she said.