Sunday May 1, 2016

Belmont, MA – On Sunday May 1st, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame honored BYW Founder & President José Valenzuela with their Bay State Pride Award. Alongside the top coaches and top wrestlers in the state, Valenzuela was recognized for his contributions to the sport through his efforts to expand wrestling for urban youth in Boston, Chelsea, and Lynn. In 2015-16, Boston Youth Wrestling served 400 youth, its largest number yet, and expanded its offerings to Lynn at the Thurgood Marshall Middle School, a partnership with the Lynn Public Schools and BYW, with generous support from Jared Nicholson, Matt Picarsic principal at RCG LLC, Biondolillo Associates, the Gilberg family, Edison Realty LLC, Seabay Realty LLC, and Eastern Bank. At the award ceremony, Valenzuela spoke passionately about how wrestling continues to transform the lives of so many young people, and how the efforts of BYW is making a difference in the Commonwealth. As an example, Valenzuela announced that through the efforts of BYW, the Lynn Public Schools had recently announced the resurrection of the varsity wrestling program for Lynn Technical High School, which will act as a co-op for all Lynn high schoolers next season.

Boston Youth Wrestling would like to thank the members of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame who work tirelessly to fulfill their mission of preserving the history of Massachusetts wrestling, recognizing our excellence and inspiring future generations to learn from our great sport.