MANCHESTER, N.H. – This Saturday marks the Queen City’s first wrestling championship in five years, a moment that Manchester West Wrestling Head Coach Michael Garcia-Feliz hopes will be the first of many, as the city’s high school wrestling programs aim to bounce back from years of declining participation.
Garcia-Feliz is in his first full year as the wrestling coach at West, taking over last year in what was a truncated year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also a wrestler for West during his tenure as a student just under a decade ago and recalls the sense of tradition in Manchester wrestling he saw during his time as well as in tales told from times before him. Garcia-Feliz says his wrestlers are excited for the return of the tradition that is the city championship.
“It will be wonderful,” he says. “They’ll be exposed to the camaraderie and rivalries and potentially the pride of becoming a city champion and all the bragging rights that come with it.”
However, this Saturday is only one step toward helping Manchester’s high school programs climb to the level of powerhouses elsewhere in the Granite State.
Garcia-Feliz says that when he came on board there were only two wrestlers committed to the team at West. As of Feb. 7, he says there are now eight members of the team, a definite improvement if still not enough to have a wrestler at each weight class.
While he’s tried to grow the program, Garcia-Feliz says that the lack of student-athletes in non-winter sports such as football encouraging their peers to try out for wrestling as an off-season strength supplement has hurt the growth of his team. However, he says the key issue that has stunted the rejuvenation of high school wrestling in Manchester is a lack of feeder programs, especially after the Manchester YMCA ended their wrestling program recently.
“It’s about the aesthetics of making the sport look appealing, wrestling is difficult to make appealing because it’s not well known and it takes a lot of work,” he said. “You used to have more upperclassmen that helped keep younger wrestlers motivated and help recruit new wrestlers to the program. It’s always hard to try something new that you haven’t been exposed to.”
Garcia-Feliz says he has reached out to Parkside Middle School to inquire about creating a club that could introduce students to the sport, but has not heard back yet. For Garcia-Feliz, the creation of programs at the middle school level, whether at each school, or as a city-wide joint team or through private programs would help younger wrestlers alleviate the awkwardness that comes when first starting out in the sport and increase retention and morale among wrestlers in the program.
Still, he believes that currently West is on track to eventually join the ranks of elite NHIAA Division II programs elsewhere in the state, even if feeder programs would accelerate that process or prevent the current trend from reversing.
“I’d like to say that within the next three to five years, I think you’ll see Manchester schools more competitive, not just at state championships, but overall,” said Garcia-Feliz. “Right now, the key is the lack of a feeder program. When the program at the YMCA was cut, it became much harder for kids to be introduced to the sport.”
Due to injuries, West will only have four wrestlers participate at the 2022 NHIAA Division II Championship on Saturday, Feb. 19 in Goffstown. Senior Sean Vincent (126 lbs.) will join juniors Manny Broulidakis (195 lbs.), Thomas Acosta (160 lbs.) and Christian Morency (152 lbs.)
Despite his squad’s injuries, Garcia-Feliz believes that with proper form, the state’s current rigorous concussion protocols and communication between parents, student-athletes and medical professionals, serious injuries can usually be avoided.
This Saturday’s city championship meet will be held at Central High School, beginning at 2 p.m.