UNC Wilmington and its campus community has long valued the tradition of supporting its student organizations and sports teams. The community helped revive the cross-country, softball, track & field and swimming & diving programs after a now-infamous incident involving a recommendation to cut the teams in 2013.

Now, the members of the UNCW Wrestling Club are asking both the university and local wrestling community for help in its quest to purchase mats and find practice space on campus.

An online petition, written by Vice President Max Cusatis and posted on Jan. 24, now has 225 signatures, 61 comments and over 200 handwritten signatures.

“Our goal now is to obtain our own space on campus, and mats to practice on,” the petition reads. “In order to do so, we must first demonstrate to the University of North Carolina Wilmington that this will have an exceptional benefit to the university and its student body.”

For the last three years, the wrestling club has practiced for free at Port City Sports Performance. The gym now wants to charge the club $50 per month for each member. The 15-minute drive to the facility already deterred many freshmen from joining the club.

The club has applied for a $500 semester allowance from Campus Activities and Involvement Center. Members are hoping additional funds will be granted from the Student Government Association. As for space, the club is eyeing the Student Recreation Center as a potential home, but the search process just recently began.

Though the UNCW Wrestling Club is unable to practice on campus, its campus presence was visible last week with sidewalk chalk promoting the club.

The club was created almost four years ago when President Mike Vindell and others used old mats in a service room at the University Suites as freshmen. In two consecutive years, the club has had two wrestlers place in the top six at the Virginia Beach National Games against other club teams with more resources.

Vindell realizes if the club he helped start solidifies its place on campus, it would benefit the university, students and local community collectively.

“It gives a lot of other people another reason to come here,” Vindell said. “Especially seeing that we have very good local high school wrestling in Wilmington, it would be great to see something so that those kids could stay local and stay involved in the sport.”

For the club, moving to campus would attract more members and ease travel constraints. For current members, it would help them continue to wrestle, something that is beneficial in more ways than one. 

“There are some things you learn from wrestling that you can’t from any other sport,” said Ke Wang, a junior and club officer. “It’s such a grueling sport. You learn perseverance, respect for coaches and how to speak to adults. It’s one of those sports that stays with you for a lifetime.”

Wang said the club is always seeking new members and is willing to teach anyone.

“It’s just good to see that someone as a freshman can come in and start an organization and make it last,” Vindell said. “It would be nice to prove that through the school and show that the school is behind student-run organizations enough to allot us some money and space.”

Vindell said that the club would need nearly $2,000 for four 10-square feet mats. The club is accepting donations and is in the process of planning fundraisers.