In order for a high school wrestling program to consistently have success at the varsity level it has to have a feeder system in place.

While the Sanford high school program has been on an upswing in recent years, they know that without a youth program in town it will be tough to maintain that success.

That’s why Sanford head coach Brent Coleman and assistant coach Paul Rivard are thilled to have Chris Hill in charge of the new Spartan Youth Wrestling Club.

Hill is focused on building the foundation of Sanford wrestling from the ground up — and he is off to a strong start.

I spoke with Hill at a recent high school wrestling meet. Here is the complete interview:

PM: What kind of numbers do you have this year, and how much growth has there been since you started?

CH: We have 71 kids right now. The program really didn’t exist (last year). It was another program in town that was run by another individual and they had less than 10 kids.

PM: What has it taken to get it to where it is now?

CH: A lot of hard work, a lot of recruiting … getting the program out there, getting good people into the program including coach (Paul) Rivard, coach (Brent) Coleman and just starting the program right from scratch. Also what helps is the donation of the space from Nasson Community Center. That was a huge help for us.

PM: How important is it to have a youth program to feed into the high school program?

CH: Myself and my family we wrestled over at Massabesic for the last three years, and as much as I appreciate everything that they’ve done over there for us, it’s huge (to have a Sanford program) and I knew it needed to be done … I took a step away from (Massabesic youth program) at the end of last season and decided I was going to start the program back up. I know it’s going to be the key factor in really bringing Sanford back to the top. The youth program is where it all starts. All of these other (high school) programs that are doing well have youth programs and that’s where Sanford really needs to focus in getting those kids back up through the system.

PM: How big is it to have kids like state champion Sam Anderson come down and help out with the youth program?

CH: It’s huge. It gives the little kids mentors, somebody to look up to and we absolutely love having the high school kids around.

PM: What are your expecations at some of the big events like youth New Englands?

CH: We’re going to upset a lot of people I think. With our numbers we are going to do well. We have a lot of good talent on the team. (We have) a lot of first-year wrestlers who have no experience, but who are really shaking up things in the state. I’ll tell you how we’re going to do (at New Englands) after states.

PM: If there’s a parent out there that has a young kid looking for something to do, why would you tell them to wrestle?

CH: All kinds of reasons. It builds character, builds teamwork skills … life lessons in general. I mean there’s no other sport out there that compares to wrestling.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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