Alex Samayoa, Michael Meissner, Adam Abdelmoety, and Chris Cales all took home gold medals at the South Brunswick Wrestling Tournament last year. (This submitted photo has been edited.)
Before Dashawn Tye took over as Ewing Rec Wrestling’s head coach, he assisted at a couple of area high schools, including Ewing. While there, he worked with current Ewing Rec coach Mostafa Omara, whose brother, Mohamed—also a Ewing Rec coach—wrestled with Tye when they were students at the high school.
Are you sensing a pattern?
“What makes this a unique thing is that we all wrestled together,” Tye said. “This is basically a family thing. Our motto is ‘Team Equals Family.’ That’s my motto. It’s always been that since I was in high school, and I try to portray that to the kids.”
Tye came on board when Mohamed took over as the program’s head coach four years ago. Several coaches left just before the start of the season, leaving Mohamed alone. Tye took the reins last year when Mohamed had to lighten his load after starting a new job.
“We all know each other,” Mohamed said. “We’ve been through the program. We know how it is. We want to keep it going. Without a feeder program, you’re not going to have a high school team.”
The men feared the program was on its last leg after many of its coaches left four years ago, so they did whatever they could to keep it afloat.
“Being through this program, we didn’t want to see it die,” Mostafa said. “We thought that Ewing had potential. Seeing throughout other cities and towns, it’s starting to die off, but I think Ewing can bring it right back up.”
Mostafa said a good majority of the program’s athletes have family members who have wrestled with Ewing Rec in the past. Many still support the league through fundraisers or volunteering their time, which is what Tye said has allowed the league to sustain even through its hardships.
They were even able to afford new singlets and warm-up shorts, something for which the kids and coaches have been striving for several years.
“Once you look like a team, other people want to come,” Tye said.
Tye, Mostafa, Mohamed and the other coaches’ efforts have not gone unnoticed.
“I like how the coaches teach every kids hands-on,” Johnny Prieto, 17, said. “They take you to a bunch of tournaments. They film you to see what you did wrong and what you did right. They work on your progress to become a better wrestler.”
Wayne Staub, 13, said they teach “more than just wrestling.”
“They also work on your endurance, your strength,” he said. “A lot of places, it’s just wrestling on the mat.”
The coaches, though, just want to transfer their love of the sport to as many young athletes as possible.
“It teaches you discipline, self-esteem,” Mohamed said. “They’re out there networking and making friends. I think it changes your life. It gives you that drive. It’s an individual sport. You can’t say, ‘He didn’t pass me the ball and that’s why we lost.’ Even though it’s a team effort, you’re technically individually winning. You can’t blame anyone but yourself. You have to work out harder, train harder, mentally train yourself. I don’t look at it as just having fun. All the other sports are like entertainment. This is so different.”
The kids view wrestling exactly how Mohamed hopes they would.
“If you win, you win for yourself,” Alexander Samayoa, 10, said.
Brendan Byron, 11, said he appreciates the even playing field wrestling offers.
“It’s not just one-on-one, but it’s also pairing you up with people who are the same skill and weight as you,” he said. “It’s a good way to exercise.”
Tye said the sport benefits its athletes outside of the gym, too.
He knows from experience.
“My big goal is to keep the kids out of trouble,” he said. “This sport helped me so much in life. When I was younger, I was always getting into trouble. Then I found sports. Sports kept me grounded, and that’s what I want to do with these kids. That’s why we do off-season tournaments, camps, stuff like that, so we can keep them together. The less time they have out on the street, you can’t get in trouble.”
The program has certainly grown, but the men feel it still has a long way to go before it’s to their liking.
“I want to see more championships,” Mostafa said. “I feel that we have a lot of young guys out there who have potential. They don’t realize it until they’re actually out on the mat. I didn’t win a lot of matches in rec.
“As I got older, I kept pushing myself and started winning championships, districts, counties, and so on. I feel like more of the Ewing kids need to try to accomplish that goal. It’s happening, but I think there should be more.”
The Ewing Rec Wrestling season begins on November 26. Practices are held at Ewing High School on Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 6:30-8 p.m. For more information, contact Dashawn Tye at tye@princeton.edu. Phone: (609) 273-2739.
,
