We asked COACH CAVOLO:

What is it that he does?

I am a middle school special education teacher and a coach at Markham IS 51 in Staten Island. I coach volleyball and wrestling at my school.

I spend the summers volunteering in Tottenville high school’s weight room focusing on teaching wrestlers how to get stronger and fit with their chosen sport in mind. I enjoy giving back and seeing kids improve their lives through sports. I have the privilege of seeing kids gain confidence and actual strength which creates higher levels of engagement and productivity.

My mantra is

“I Encourage Progress,”

or IEP for short. I’m blessed with being able to encourage progress in their lives because it is hard to get into trouble when you’re busy and exhausted from hard work. The work I do allows me to have a positive impact on the kids of this island, especially the ones that need guidance and help, like I did when I was growing up. I want to be the person I needed when I was a young student.”

I encourage progress, in the classroom, the gym, the wrestling mat or anywhere in life where people want to improve. As a teacher, it’s not about getting perfect results, it’s about being better than yesterday so that you’re able to compete in life. I work with any person that wants more from themself even when they don’t see their own potential. I have seen the non-athletic kid or the kid who is always in trouble turn their life around for the better after being on the wrestling mat. I take the kids that some have given up on, and show them they have a purpose, a place, and a reason to show up for themselves.”

My mission is to grow the sport of wrestling on Staten Island at the middle school level giving our community more access to a sport that has been ignored in New York City. This mission is geared towards keeping the kids productive and engaged as well as off the streets.”

Middle school wrestling on the island didn’t exist until recently, and we are still in the developmental stages. In other states and cities, students begin wrestling in grade school, giving them a clear advantage over the kids of Staten Island. I began in middle school by following my brothers to their practice and because I started earlier than most, I was given a huge advantage and experience over my peers which earned me many college scholarships and gave me a better life. This sport kept me on a good path and taught me life skills that not only saved my life but enhanced it. This gave me the confidence I needed to thrive.”

I’m not supposed to be here but here. After a major life threatening injury at 20 years old, I had to pivot and take my path in a different direction. I used the habits I learned on the wrestling mat to make my part in this world amazing.”

Having a passion for making others better allows me to teach at a higher level and connect with the kids other adults struggle to reach. I get to be the teacher I needed when I was a kid.”

Iron Sharpens Iron

When I was A Kid

I was born with a hearing impairment and learning disabilities, My grades were not good at a young age. I labeled myself stupid and many teachers didn’t disagree. But somehow at the age of 7, I earned my first blackbelt in Taekwondo. I could barely pass my classes and spent a lot of time in summer school but somehow won many state championships in Taekwondo. This gave me an identity at an early age when my only identity was the ‘dumb kid in class.‘

Everyone has several things they excel at but it takes exposure to new things in order to see what a kid can be good at when you learn something new. You learn habits to improve, which translates to the rest of your life if coached properly. I hated school until I got to college. In high school the only thing that kept me from dropping out was wrestling and a few positive teachers encouraged me to be my best.”

Wrestling gave me something I could excel at and I no longer felt dumb or stupid. I felt like the champion I knew I was. I graduated late from high school with a very low average but with a city title and many full college scholarships for my abilities and development on the wrestling mat. 

Injuries kept me from wrestling in college but the habits I learned on the mat finally translated to the classroom. When I decided to attend college, I earned a 3.9 GPA and earned my degree in less than three years. I found out that being able to excel at something you just need to find what works for you and give it the same intense focus and drive you give to any passion.”

Why should they care

Learning how to wrestle and compete is one of the best preparations for life. It teaches kids how to take a loss and keep going. It will train your brain how to get over fear and work towards a goal. It makes you work through being uncomfortable, in pain and never to give up. It humbles you to keep learning and progressing. Wrestling reveals character then it rebuilds it.

I have had a lot of setbacks in my life and if I didn’t learn how to work through a set back and win I would have stayed on my back in life and given up on my own potential. I was crippled at age 20 while working out when a 295lb barbell crashed down on my skull suffering a severe concussion and resulting in over 13 herniated discs in my neck and lower back and a lifetime of pain, I had to learn how to walk twice in my life. I have had over 30 neck, back, and hip surgeries and gained over 120 pounds. Looking at me today you would never know that I have ever been through any adversity in my life. It’s because I just did what I did on the wrestling mat: I got off my back and stood up for myself. I am now in the best shape of my life to live out my dream. The kid that was dumb now has almost a PHD and the young man who was crippled and fat looks and lives like an action figure. The universe will give you the opportunity you just have to do the work.”

These are skills and habits we teach the kids that will carry them a long way and this is why I choose to spend my time getting kids involved in a sport that has blessed me with so many amazing things. Become a wrestler and like Dr. Seuss says:

Oh the places you will go.”

I am with an amazing organization called Beat The Streets. Their focus is aligned with my mission and that is to get the youth of NYC on the wrestling mat learning, achieving, and building habits. For the middle school students of IS 51 Markham and the kids in Staten Island they are getting more opportunities to become something amazing and we are looking to expand this program into every middle school on Staten Island.”

www.btsny.org/

CONTACT

WHY & WHAT : I Encourage Progress.
WHO & WHAT : COACH Jeremy Cavolo
WHERE : Edwin Markham I.S. 051
WHEN : Oh, the places you will go.

Email : jcavolo51@gmail.com
Email : JCavolo2@schools.nyc.gov

by Breuk Iversen
SI-nyc.com + siff.nyc + 8grape.com
House of 8grape