Harlem Sixth Grader Becomes First Ever New York City State Wrestling Champion
On Saturday, March 6, 12-year old Elijah Scott of Harlem won the USA Wrestling New York State Folkstyle Championship in Binghamton in the 165-pound Novice division. Elijah wrestles at KAPPA IV middle school where he is a sixth grader. His wrestling program is sponsored jointly by Jets of Harlem and Beat the Streets Wrestling,, two New York City based non-profit youth sports organizations. With this victory he became the first New York City resident to ever win a state-wide wrestling event. Remarkably, in a sport that often requires years of grueling training to attain such success, Elijah has been wrestling for just four months. When asked to describe his reaction to what transpired in Binghamton, Elijah said, “It’s been a lot of work to get this far but it feels great. I had no idea of what to expect when I started last December, but I was certainly not thinking about a State Championship."
Elijah’s wrestling team is coached by Anthony Constantino, a math teacher at Kappa IV and the former captain of Columbia University's wrestling team. Last fall Coach Constantino was anxious to start a new program. With the help of the Jets of Harlem and Beat the Streets Wrestling he was able to secure necessary resources to build a team of 25 kids, 10 of whom participated in the State Championship in Binghamton last weekend .
Regarding Elijah’s performance Constantino said, "It all really came together for Elijah in Binghamton. He has been working really hard the past few weeks and has made some huge improvements. It's paid off. I hope this motivates him, not only in wrestling, but in other aspects of life."
Contacts:
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Jamel Wright
Jets of Harlem
(347) 386-7528
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Brian Giffin
Beat the Streets
(212) 777-5702
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