CLEVELAND, Ohio — “I was an inner city kid that was poverty-stricken, but at the time I didn't know. My parents provided everything for us, did a good job at exposing us to different things,” said Demetrius Williams, executive director, Beat the Streets Cleveland.
One of those things, was wrestling — a sport that Williams says changed his life.
- Beat the Streets Cleveland gives student-athletes access to youth development, mentoring and wrestling
- Started operating out of 5 schools in the city and hopes to partner with 4 more this year
- 200 kids are enrolled
Williams, who is both visually- and hearing-impaired, started wrestling when he turned 15 years old. He says the sport gave him confidence and taught him lifelong lessons — lessons he’s now passing on to the youth living in his hometown of Cleveland.
“My background is similar to a lot of the kids that I worked with.They’re from the neighborhood that I grew up in. A lot of them look like me, they have similar experiences, so I think my experiences can help them overcome their obstacles,” said Williams.
Williams is the executive director of Beat the Streets Cleveland, a chapter of Beat the Streets USA, which gives student-athletes access to youth development, mentoring, and wrestling.
“This provides an opportunity to expose the kids to things they wouldn't normally be exposed to, to travel, to meet new people, meet unique role models,” said Williams. “We’re motivating, encouraging and engaging these kids to be great young men and women of the future.”
In 2019, Beat the Streets Cleveland started operating out of five schools in the city and hopes to partner with four more this year.
The program provides kids in kindergarten through high school with skills that they can use on and off the mat.
“It teaches you to be tougher, if something comes your way, you know how to deal with it. You don’t always have to fight, you can talk and settle it, and if you have real bad anger problems, it can calm you down,” said Xavier Pearson, Jr., of Cleveland.
13-year-old Xavier Pearson Jr says Beat the Streets has had a major impact on his life.
“I don’t know what I would be without wrestling. If wrestling wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be the same little boy I am today,” Pearson said.
200 kids are enrolled in Beat the Streets Cleveland, and they are taught and sometimes recruited by 10 wrestling coaches —one of them being the father of Reginald Beines.
“Some kids be out in the streets, and don’t have nothing to do. So, my dad, he walks up to them and asks them, do they want to wrestle?” said Beines, of Cleveland.
The students aren’t only wrestling for fun. Williams says Beat the Streets Cleveland has a club team that competes against schools in surrounding suburbs.
“We actually have a couple kids that qualify for states recently… have four state qualifiers on a youth level and two at a middle school level,” said Williams.
He says the ultimate goal of Beat the Streets Cleveland is to get the kids to college with the sport. He’s teaching them that wrestling is something that can lead to long-term success in other areas of life.
“I see myself on the world team when I turn about 25 years old,” said Derion Williams, of Cleveland.
In addition to Cleveland, there are currently Beat the Streets chapters in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and other major U.S. cities.