CPS SCORE! Gearing Up For A New Season
CPS SCORE! Gearing Up For A New Season
By Tia Carol Jones
In 2016, Beat The Streets Chicago and Chicago Public Schools began a partnership for a wrestling program that would make wrestling accessible to students throughout the city of Chicago. Since then, the CPS SCORE Wrestling Program has had more than 400 wrestlers enrolled and expanded to 20 sites.
The CPS SCORE program is a six-week program which is free and open to Chicago Public School students in grades fifth through eighth. The CPS program is seasonal and began on February 10th and ends on March 22nd. The program includes after school practices, Saturday regional tournaments and a City Championship.
Beat The Streets reached out to more than 30 schools to host the SCORE program. In addition to the SCORE program, there also is a Spring Break Camp from March 24-27, which takes place at Beat The Streets’s Midway site, located at 5985 S. Archer, and the Avondale site, located at 3301 W. Byron.
Patrick Martinez is the Wrestling Coordinator for Beat The Streets Chicago. Martinez said that Beat The Streets wanted to enter the partnership to incorporate middle school wrestling into as many schools as possible. Beat The Streets is the only outside organization that is partnering with CPS. Martinez said since the partnership began, the numbers have increased by 25%.
“It’s about bringing new wrestlers into our community and providing them opportunities and resources and further levels of programming in hopes of becoming a life champion,” Martinez said. He added that the goal of the SCORE program is to get the students hooked on the sport of wrestling.
Alexander Peacock is the coach at the James Madison Elementary School in the city’s Essex community. He said in the three years the school has been involved with the SCORE program, enrollment has increased each year. He said the students are enthusiastic about wrestling and trying something new. Peacock became interested in wrestling while in high school.
“When I got involved with Beat The Streets, I was very passionate about the mission they had to make it more accessible to students that were like me, who maybe were in a CPS school, but maybe never heard about it, but if they had more resources, they would gravitate toward it,” Peacock said.
Last year, Madison’s SCORE wrestlers placed in the top four, with homegrown talents from the community’s around the school. He said there is a deeper interest from the students to continue wrestling and think of other avenues for them to go to college and look at high schools that have the academic rigor and wrestling.
Peacock said through the SCORE program, he has seen students improve in their social, emotional and physical skills. He said wrestling has been a great equalizer. He has noticed that new English language learner students have been participating in the program and have been determined and he has watched them grow and take hold of the sport. As a diverse learning teacher, Peacock is adept at making learning accessible to all types of learners.
Martinez said it is the mission of Beat The Streets to provide opportunities and resources for young people so they can build character and change their lives. He said hearing about the success of the Madison location is a testament to Peacock’s dedication and his success is something the organization wants to grow in as many locations as possible.
Parents with students interested in wrestling can participate in the 2025 CPS SCORE! Wrestling Program. To register, visit www.btschicago.org/cpsscore. The deadline to register is February 24th.
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