East Stroudsburg University President Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D., announced Monday that the University will add women’s wrestling as an intercollegiate sport beginning in fall 2019.

Women’s wrestling will be ESU’s 21st varsity sport. While not recognized as an NCAA intercollegiate sport, it is governed by the Women’s College Wrestling Association (WCWA) and is in the process of pursuing emerging sport status from the NCAA.

“We are extremely excited to bring women’s wresting to ESU,” said President Welsh. “High school girls’ wrestling participation has grown for 27 straight years and continues to expand. Currently there are 48 college teams that sponsor a varsity women’s wrestling program, and most teams have about 30 members by the program’s third year. Women’s wrestling has been under consideration for some time and we’ve already developed our schedule for next fall. We are eager to recruit new student-athletes for this opportunity.”

According to ESU’s athletic director, Dr. Gary Gray, ESU wrestling coach Anibal Nieves will initially coach both the men’s and women’s wrestling teams. Nieves, who earned All-America honors at ESU in 1989 and represented Puerto Rico in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, is in his first year as men’s head coach at ESU. His coaching experience includes the previous six years as women’s head coach and men’s assistant coach at Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield, Mass.

“Coach Nieves’ success in coaching both men’s and women’s wrestling, including four women’s national champions at Springfield Technical Community College, gives ESU an excellent opportunity to launch our women’s wrestling program while also continuing to build our men’s program to a championship level,” said Dr. Gray.

Dr. Welsh also announced two sports that are also being considered for addition at ESU – acrobatics and tumbling, and esports – as part of the University’s Athletics Master Plan.

Acrobatics and tumbling offers students the opportunity to develop acrobatic, tumbling and cheer skills and is associated with the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA). Esports is a form of athletic competition involving the use of video games intended to provide opportunities for students to gain a college education. Esports is supported by the National Association of College Esports (NACE), a non-profit association with more than 80 member schools and associated with more than 1,500 student-athletes.