ALAMEDA — The Alameda High School wrestling team is no stranger to adversity.
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The team practices in the school’s small dojo that has little to no ventilation, on top of Velcro mats that are made for jiu jitsu and in a place where wrestling had been non-existent for more than 40 years.
None of the team’s wrestlers have more than two years of high school wrestling experience, going up against schools with the resources and history to compete at a higher level.
And despite all the hurdles, the kids keep coming back. Not because they have to, but because over the past two years they’ve built something that is bigger than a wrestling team at a local high school.
The Hornets have gone from not winning a single meet last season to competing for a league title this season. They are 5-1 in dual meets.
“These kids, they don’t quit and they never did,” Alameda coach Dennis Spencer said.
“It isn’t about the wins and losses. I’m super proud of all the kids for continuing because it’s so hard. It’s very taxing, but I’m so proud of the kids for sticking with it. I love that they’re seeing the improvement and the benefits.”
Alameda High wrestling coach Dennis Spencer, center, talks to his students before practice at Alameda High School in Alameda, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Last season was the first time Alameda had a wrestling program in 40 years. Before that, the last wrestling team at the school competed in 1982.
“I have no idea why the team was discontinued,” said Tim Goodman, who wrestled on Alameda’s 1982 team and is one of two wrestlers in program history to make it to the North Coast Section tournament.
Declining interest in the sport and the fact there are no wrestling teams at the local middle schools played a big role in the program’s demise.
Wrestling nearly returned at the school in 2019. Spencer brought the idea to administrators and both sides were interested in bringing in wrestling to Alameda until the COVID-19 pandemic halted those plans.
For Spencer, there was a feeling of defeat as he was unsure when interest would pick back up.
But in spring 2022, the momentum to get the wrestling team back started to gain steam with a chain of emails from incoming freshmen.
That summer, then-incoming freshman Aidan Sloan and his friends sent emails to Alameda’s principal and athletic director inquiring about forming a team.
“I just kept asking the school if there would be a wrestling program and they kept telling me no,” Sloan said.
Alameda High wrestling coach Dennis Spencer, left, talks to his students before practice at Alameda High School in Alameda, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
After a few months of silence, the school realized that there was interest in the sport and decided to bring wrestling back for the first time since Ronald Reagan was president.
Spencer, the man who nearly brought the team back just before the pandemic, was tabbed to be the team’s head coach.
There were immediate challenges. The new coach had to find wrestlers and then had to make sure they stayed with it.
Without much funding, Alameda was at a competitive disadvantage in its inaugural year. The team didn’t have traditional wrestling mats nor did it have resources to hire many coaches.
“We didn’t have any money to fundraise for our team,” said senior V.J. Spencer, the coach’s daughter.
While most teams had upwards of 30 wrestlers on their rosters , Alameda started with just 12. That number dwindled to nine after three wrestlers quit.
“I really had to wrangle in the nine that were here,” Spencer said. “I had to just let them know that wrestling was not for everyone. And some people left, but that was OK. I just told them wrestling is for them because they were willing to stick with it.”
Alameda High wrestling coach Dennis Spencer looks on as Kurtis Wong, left, and Aidan Sloan practice at Alameda High School in Alameda, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Though the team didn’t win a single dual meet in its first season, there were signs of improvement as some wrestlers won individual matches.
Fast forward to this season, Spencer was hopeful that more kids would give wrestling a try. But nothing prepared him for what he saw on after the first day of tryouts.
Expecting a roster of maybe 18 or 20, the Hornets opened he preseason with 43 total wrestlers — a number almost five times larger than the previous season.
With help from athletic boosters and the community Alameda bought a wrestling mat and added two coaches to Spencer’s staff.
On Jan. 24, Alameda hosted its first dual meet since 1982, defeating San Leandro.
During the day, Spencer is a teacher at Skyline High School in North Oakland and commutes to Alameda for practice every afternoon. Since Alameda only had one wrestling mat, Spencer rented a U-Haul to bring a mat from Skyline to borrow for last week’s meet.
Last season, the wrestling team often had to share facilities with other sports for practice and even used a utility closet to practice in when all other spaces were filled.
Seniors and returning wrestlers from last season hope they have laid down the foundation for the wrestling team to continue.
Alameda wrestling team warm up as part of their practice at Alameda High School in Alameda, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
For team members such as V.J. Spencer and Sloan, who were part of the the inaugural season, the wins and losses don’t mean much.
It’s about keeping the culture of wrestling alive and well at Alameda High because nobody in program wants to see another four-decade absence.
“Since I’m going to be here for two more years and since I was a founder of this team, I feel like I have a responsibility to keep the program growing,” Sloan said.
“We just have to keep it going from here.”
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