EAST LONGMEADOW – Marco Basile and Donna Pather had a vision.

“We wanted to bring back East Longmeadow wrestling,” said Basile, wrestling coach for the East Longmeadow Department of Recreation and head wrestling coach at East Longmeadow High School. “In the past decades, wrestling has gone down in Western Mass. It’s been a dying sport in this area.”

So he and Prather, director of the town’s recreation department, created the first Bob Mazarello Youth Invitational.

The Jan. 26 tournament, hosted at high school, began with weigh–ins at 7:30 a.m., and saw 51 kids from around the area compete.

“It was great,” Prather told Reminder Publishing. “We had girls, we had little ones, it was incredible.”

No wrestling experience or gear was needed to compete. All that was required was an interest in the sport. The tournament was open to all genders.

Prather said she was pleased with the turnout and that the recreation department would “absolutely,” host more tournaments.

East Longmeadow Department of Recreation youth wrestling program includes 22 children, in grades K–8, from East Longmeadow, Palmer, Three Rivers, Feeding Hills and Monson, among other towns, said Prather.

Ideally, Basile explained, the youth program will become a feeder program for the high school wrestling team.

“Our goal is to be able to host a high school tournament down the road, so we figured we'd start with the youth,” Basile said.

Before the wrestling began at 10 a.m., a ceremony recognized Bob Mazarello, for whom the tournament was named. Basile described Mazarello as “a legend” who “went eight to 10 years undefeated.” He credited Mazarello for bringing wrestling to East Longmeadow.

“I want to be able to keep that legacy going,” Basile said.

Also honored during the ceremony was Carol Driscoll, a wrestling program parent who died in 2018 in a scuba accident.

“The ceremony went really well. The family was there for [Driscoll], to recognize her,” Prather said. Basile said Driscoll was “an asset to the wrestling program.”

To learn more about East Longmeadow’s youth wrestling program, contact Donna Prather at 525-5437 or donna.prather@eastlongmeadowma.gov.