After a last-minute search, Haverhill Hammers Youth Wrestling finally found a location for its league’s annual tournament, but it still needed to pay for the event. Head Coach Joe Delgrosso said he approached Covanta, who agreed to pay the bulk of costs — trainer and rental fees, for example.
The club offers two programs, one an introduction to wrestling for kids in kindergarten through first grade and the other offering more serious instruction for fourth through eighth graders as they prepare for high school wrestling. Haverhill High’s team is ranked third in New England, according to Delgrosso.
Describing the program for older children, Delgrosso said, “that’s when wrestling starts to become a little more serious, with a focus upon winning, and if we’re not winning, we’re learning why we lost. It’s teaching the kids, the goal is to win, but if we lose, we need to learn about why we lost and what we can do to get better.”
The tournament is set for Sunday, Feb. 4, at the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School gym. In addition to donations from parents, Fantini Bakery donated bread and Servpro provided water and Gatorade.