Teacher’s summer wrestling camp also pins down math, reading skills
Gary McLendon
Staff writer
Arkee Allen coaches wrestling in the suburbs. But he hasn’t forgotten his city roots.
This summer, in a combination of two of his passions, Allen started the Roc wrestling program, linking sports with academics.
The five-week program, free for participants because of corporate sponsorships, enabled children between ages 5 and 14 to spend time reading, spelling, writing, doing math ” and wrestling ” at Downtown United Presbyterian Church on North Fitzhugh Street.
“When I signed them up, they’d say, ‘Oh, we’re going to learn how to slam people! Oh, man, we’re going to get into a ring?’
“I said, ‘You’ve seen WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)? We’re going to do some of that stuff.’ … They like it, “Allen said.
The wrestling is a hook.
“I tell them, ‘You’re going to learn to wrestle after you do an hour in math or reading. Math and reading is why we’re here.’ ”
Still, wrestling is natural fun.
“We like it, “said Alana Worth, 8, who was working on her spelling as the program wound down in mid-August.
“I’m happy here when I come. Wrestling is fun, “said Armani Anderson, 9.
For Allen, 29, a wrestling coach and 10th and 11th grade math teacher at Irondequoit High School, introducing city kids to wrestling gives them an option they don’t usually have.
“The biggest thing in city schools is basketball. Basketball can hold 15 kids on the team at the most. What do you do with all of the other kids who have been playing since they are seven years old and now they’re not on the team?”
The program is a result of hard life lessons learned in an impoverished childhood. Fatherhood, and the murder of his brother Alton in 1999, also drives him to put his beliefs into action, to bond with and motivate children.
“These kids can learn. I understand they have things up against them. … You know what? I grew up the same way. I was hungry. I was in poverty.”
Allen lived as a youth in northeast Rochester, in the area of Avenue D, Friederich Park, Wilkins and Alphonse streets.
After attending Jefferson Middle School, he entered the Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program, the voluntary busing program that was started in the 1960s to give city kids a chance to go to school in the suburbs and vice versa. He went to Irondequoit High, graduating in 1994.
The experience served as an awakening. “I saw the houses in Irondequoit. I saw the kids (there). I saw that you could have a better life than what I was living.”
His enthusiasm for wrestling started in high school. He made all-state in the 126-pound weight class his senior year.
At Columbia University, he was a four-year varsity starter and a two-time all-Ivy League wrestler. As a senior, he ranked 11th in the nation in the 142-pound class.
Allen started coaching at his high school alma mater eight years ago. Parents and students alike praise him as a motivator.
“He just approached me one day when I was walking in the hallway. He looked at me and said, ‘You look like a wrestler.’ I started wrestling and I enjoyed it, “said Anthony LaRosa, 17, a senior at Irondequoit.
For two weeks this summer, LaRosa worked as a counselor in the program. “The kids really seemed to enjoy it, “he said.
Jose Rivera, whose son Armando, 15, is being coached by Allen in high school, called him “an excellent coach. I’ve seen him working with his team, and the kids really look up to him and respect him. Since my son has been on the team, I’ve seen the positive changes he’s going through after interacting with Arkee. He sets high expectations athletically and academically.”
Allen dreams of leveling the playing field. He wants to help give city kids “other options, “and is considering teaching lacrosse next year. “Do you know how good city kids would be in lacrosse?”
He also has a new wrestling partner these days ” his 3-year-old son Styles.
“He’s a wrestler already, “Allen said. “He’s all over the mats.”
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