Westside Warriors Receive Grant
Westside K-8 School was selected as a R.E.A.C.H.E.S. grant recipient to support its wrestling program! The $3,000.00 grant will have a major impact on the growth of their program.
Westside is located in Kissimmee, Florida within the tourism capitol of the United States. Westside is a public, Title I (low-income), school. Our population is primarily Hispanic with a majority of our students speaking more than one language.
Our Warrior athletic program consists of soccer, golf, cross country, track, cheer, volleyball, basketball, softball, flag football, and now wrestling. Most of our sports are for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students ranging from 12 to 15 years of age. We also offered intramural wrestling this summer, and we opened it up to our elementary students hoping to spark their interest for when they get to middle school.
This past year, we had a wrestling team that included 2 county champions. Unfortunately, we had a small team due to students being overwhelmed by the cost of equipment needed to participate. Luckily, with this funding from R.E.A.C.H.E.S., we were able to purchase brand-new shoes and singlets. This year we are planning to be able to expand our program and have both boys and girls on our team. With this funding from R.E.A.C.H.E.S the students will be able to focus on enjoying their sport and excelling, rather than being stressed about the cost.
About R.E.A.C.H.E.S.
R.E.A.C.H.E.S. (Rewarding Educational Athletic Choices Helping Each Sport)is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2007 in an effort to promote, protect and preserve the integrity of amateur athletics by providing athletic and educational opportunities to all athletes of all ages and abilities. This unique experience will provide educational, technical, and lifelong lessons for athletes, coaches, parents and fans that seek to capture meaningful, compassionate, harmonious, interesting and active lives. All profits from R.E.A.C.H.E.S. will be used to support specific needs in each sport to ensure future generations of athletes, fans, parents and coaches will continue to learn from valuable lifelong athletic lessons.
