Central wrestling program making strides in its first year

Central High School has never had a wrestling program in its 44-year history, until this year.

Principal Dr. Teresha Jones-Hamilton first got the idea to create a wrestling program at Central two years ago.

"One of my drives for Central High School is to make sure every child has something to fit into," Jones-Hamilton said. "It can be athletically, as far as academics or any types of clubs. So, when I polled the students, I was like is there any sport or anything we do not offer that you would love to have. This was two years ago, and wrestling came up a couple times."

Last year, Jones-Hamilton began her search for a coach. She originally had someone lined up for the job, but when that fell through, one of her teachers, Amber Emberson, suggested her husband, Drew, for the job. Following a 30-minute interview and sometime later, Drew Emerson was named as Central's first wrestling coach.

Growing up in Hartselle, Alabama, Emerson is no stranger to the sport of wrestling. He wrestled in high school, winning two state championships at Hartselle High School. However, some time has passed between his days of high school wrestling to now. Now, he is a full-time lawyer with his own law firm, West Alabama Disability, and he has not wrestled in nearly 25 years.

In fact, prior to coaching at Central, Emerson had little to no wrestling coaching experience. He would volunteer at a local wrestling gym from time to time, but besides that, the closest thing he had to coaching experience was his high school wrestling coach Keith Corder, who he has not spoken to much since high school.

Instead, a few other coaches in the area reached out to offer advice and help — Brookwood's Ivan Bailey and Tuscaloosa County's Brian Foley. Bailey was especially helpful in the preseason, meeting with Emerson before the season to offer useful advice. Coach Foley, Emerson said, has been especially helpful getting Central involved in matches.

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Still, Emerson had a lot to learn when it came to the world of coaching wrestling, but it was a challenge he was readily accepting.

"I've had to catch up a lot in the past two months, learning to take the positive side of it where I am challenging them, pushing them, reminding them that wrestling and life overlap in so many ways," he said. "Because wrestling is an individual sport, you walk on that mat, and it is just you in that weight class wrestling another person. So, you are responsible for every win and loss, while at the same time your wins and losses contribute to the team or take away from the team. Well, there is not better analog to life than right there, right?"

Another challenge Emerson faced with his new position was building his roster. Amber, once again, played a big role in this.

"Amber made me come up here for two separate activity interest meetings where they opened up the gym and put tables out," Emerson said. "What Amber did was put up a sign board about wrestling with my accomplishments and a bunch of candy on the table. As the kids came up, I told them a little bit about myself and what I was wanting to do."

Another thing Emerson did to build his roster was speak to Central's football team during the team's athletic training class. By doing that, he met a handful of his future wrestlers, including sophomore Parker Evans. In fact, many of Central's wrestlers come from the football team, as wrestling helps them stay in shape for football.

"Every Thursday in football, we had character development where a speaker would come and talk to us," Evans said. "One day I was walking to get a chair, and I just saw them wrestling and I wanted to do it, so I got signed up and started."

Now, there are 13 wrestlers on the Falcons' roster, all of which are new to the sport. The team has come a long way, with sophomore Josh Evans placing third in the 215-pound weight class at the Brookwood Wrestling Invitational on Jan. 27, becoming the first wrestler at Central to medal.

The wrestling season ends on Feb. 17, but wrestlers at Central assure this is only the beginning for the Falcons program.

"In the future, I see us going to the (state) championships, every year," Evans said.

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

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Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: High School Wrestling: Central wrestling program growing in its first year