PARIS- Hot winter nights inside Paris Gymnasium have just gotten warmer with the district’s announcement that it has added the sport of wresting starting with the current 2023-24 school year. Now, Paris fans will have not only basketball games to attend indoors during the winter, but they will also be able to watch both boys and girls wresting starting in December.

RNN Sports had the opportunity to visit with Paris Schools superintendent, Jim Loyd, to discuss the addition of this new sport to the Eagles’ athletic department.

The start of what would eventually become a new sport to Paris that was approved by the school board last week, began when Mr. Loyd served on the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) board of directors. It was at that time when the AAA approved a proposal to sanction the sport of wrestling in Arkansas. That, coupled with new Paris Middle School science teacher, Andrew Cannon, who had wrestled in his school career, proposed the addition of the sport, Mr. Loyd began to work on how it would be possible to bring the sport to Paris. Mr. Loyd explained, “The first mention of it was from our teacher, Andrew Cannon. He wrestled in college, and he coached the wrestling program at Subiaco. So, when I got here (as superintendent in 2022) he came by to see me about starting a program. I said, “Well, this is something we could definitely put on our radar; I watched my grandson wrestle for three years and he was state runner-up in Class 5A, and I saw what it did for him from the time he was approximately seven years old until he graduated from high school. He loved it. I think wrestling is one of those sports that, you don’t have to be a football player, not a basketball player, and still participate. And I have always had this dream that there is something that every kid can be involved in. So, there will be football players and basketball players that will participate (in wrestling). So, we worked on it all last year and kept thinking about it…putting our feelers out there, talking to students at their schools and asking them what they thought about it. Several came to me and said we would really, really like to add wrestling.”

Anytime a district adds a new sport, especially smaller districts, there is always the concern of how the sport will fit in with the existing sports and the number of kids who play in each sport. In other words, districts try to avoid adding a new sport at the expense of another sport. When the district considered adding the sport, Mr. Loyd went to the Paris football coach, Jeff Weaver, to seek his input on the proposal. Mr. Loyd said, “One of the first things I did was to go to the football coach, Jeff Weaver, and asked him how do feel about this (adding the sport)? Because things don’t work if we are not all going in the same direction. And Coach Weaver’s response was “I would love it. The balance, foot work, and the whole idea of wrestling just fits in to what we do in football.” And he said, “I would support it 100%.” So, with that obstacle being behind me that I wouldn’t have to face, and we still had some money left from our COVID money (federal money provided to school districts) that was unrestricted, because the biggest expense is the mat. So, we began to get some bid prices for the mat. When we (AAA) first sanction wresting in Arkansas, I was on the AAA board, and a person who came to the board to propose sanctioning of the sport told us that if any school would start wrestling, I will buy their uniforms and their mats. So, the AAA sanctioned the sport of wrestling. In our proposal at Paris, one of the first things I did was to call that person again and ask if that offer (to buy the mat and uniforms) still on the table for schools that are starting wrestling? He said that he had gotten burned a couple of times, but he would reimburse us. You buy the mat, you fill the team, you bring wrestlers to the district tournament, and then I will write you a check (for reimbursement). So, that removed a big obstacle on how we pay for a mat.”

The Paris school approved the recommendation to add the sport in its meeting the week of August 17th, and after its approval, the district has moved quickly to begin creating a competition schedule and to recruit students to participate. “He (Coach Andrew Cannon) is already building a schedule, and he’s already talking to students. We are probably going to put the mat up on the mezzanine level of the auxiliary gym for practices, so it doesn’t have to be moved every day. On meet days, it will be taken down and put on the gym floor for competition.”

Competition, usually in the form of dual meets, will likely begin the second week of December. Wrestling schools are divided into divisions, and Paris will compete in a division of school in Classes 3A, 2A, and 1A. There are also 4A, 5A, and 6A divisions across the state. This will be a sport for both boys and girls. Because wrestling is sanctioned by the AAA, Paris will compete for both boys and girls state titles in the Class 3A – 1A division. Paris students in grades 9-12 are eligible to compete.

Mr. Loyd explained that wrestling is not an expensive sport to operate, with the district’s re-occurring cost being mainly transportation and a coach’s stipend for the sport. Admission will be charged at the gate, primarily to pay officials for each meet. Approximately two meets per week, with one mid-week meet and several Saturday meets will be held throughout the season.

Mr. Loyd and the school district are excited to make this announcement that affords more students in the district an option to participate in a school activity. “If we can do anything for our students to have something to do, whatever we can, we want them to be part of something that they can identify with in a positive manner. I think this first year, we can expect 10-12 students participating, and then after the others see what the sport is about, then I think that number will increase.”

As we concluded our interview, Mr. Loyd added a few comments by saying, “I just want to thank our school board for approving the proposal to add the sport. There are a lot of things we need to do, and we can’t do them all at once, but let’s just do what we can, and they (the board) are all for the students, and I really appreciate them.”

RNN Sports will bring you more on this exciting addition to Paris sports as the inaugural season approaches! Good luck to the Eagles in their first year of wrestling competition!