Nicholls now has an on-campus wrestling club, which is open to all interested students.Matt French, freshman from Rhode Island, started the club, which currently has about five members, last semester after discovering Nicholls has never had a wrestling club.

“I wrestled in high school and I loved it,” French said. “I was a football player, but I switched to wrestling because it was getting big where I lived.”

The club currently practices in Shaver Gym on worn out mats but will have their own practice area in the proposed recreation center.

“They have guaranteed us an $8,000 wrestling mat and a place to practice and compete,” French said.

The wrestling club had practices last semester, but was discouraged from heavy contact because they have not acquired an insurance plan yet and is hoping to locate a place to practice this semester.

The wrestling club is considered a student organization, which makes it unavailable for funding by the University.

“We hope to become part of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association in the next two semesters,” French said.

“This is what I would call a pilot program this year,” Tim Mead, assistant professor of teacher education and faculty advisor to the wrestling club, said. “We are just trying to gain interest and see who will come to practice.”

Once a team is established, it can begin setting up meets with local teams such as LSU and UNO.

Anyone interested in joining the wrestling team can contact French at 628-2278.