While Roberson Middle School is well-known – and both locally and nationally recognized – for its specialty academic programs emphasizing math, science and the fine arts, the school’s athletics also offer something unique among Spring ISD campuses, including non-UIL wrestling in the fall and a spring semester lacrosse program that welcomes players at any level, both boys and girls.

Last month, the school’s wrestling team took 23 students – almost half its overall roster – to the 2024 Houston City Middle School Championships, where four wrestlers won medals, including sixth-grader Johan Gonzalez, who earned Houston City Champion status for his weight class. Held Saturday, Jan. 6 at the campus of St. John’s School in Houston, the meet brought together students from public and private schools across the region to compete.

“We’ve got great kids in the program this year, and some very good younger students, including our sixth graders,” said Roberson Coach Ernest Webb, who has secured grant funding and coordinated with parents and volunteer coaches to build both the wrestling and lacrosse programs at the school. “I’m real proud of them.”

The full list of Roberson students earning medals at the event includes:

• Darby Chavarria, 6th grade – 3rd place medal, 200 bracket
• James Chicas, 7th grade – 3rd place medal, 132 bracket
• Christian Cordova, 6th grade – 2nd place medal, 285 bracket
• Johan Gonzalez, 6th grade – 1st place medal, 200 bracket

To earn his gold medal, Gonzales won his final match-up with a sudden-death point in overtime, against a much-taller eighth-grade opponent, using a variation on a move he first studied in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

“It felt pretty good,” Gonzalez said, “and my dad started crying. He does martial arts as well.”

Gonzalez initially joined Roberson’s wrestling team in hopes it would give him crossover skills to strengthen his Jiu Jitsu training. He plans to stick with it, and said he enjoys getting to train with the Roberson team and learn from the school’s coaches, including Webb, Cory Idlebird and Paige Phillips. 

“You’ve always just got to be prepared for stuff that you don’t expect to happen,” Gonzalez said. “My coaches are good. They’ve taught me a lot, and that’s probably the main reason why I won.”

Other students also did well in their own brackets, including Chicas, who has seen himself grow as a wrestler since first joining the program in sixth grade.

“Last year, I had gotten fourth place,” Chicas said, “so this year I wanted to do better, and I did. I was really happy about that.”

After first joining the team at the suggestion of his father, Chicas has come to see wrestling as a valuable part of his Roberson experience.

“It makes me feel more engaged with the community, and it keeps me healthier,” Chicas said. “I feel like a better person overall. I can talk to people easier, and I have more confidence.”

Seventh-grader Kiara Hightower, meanwhile, joined wrestling at the encouragement of her older sister Victoria – who is now in eighth grade and headed to Carl Wunsche Sr. High School in the fall. Hightower wasn’t so sure about wrestling at first, but found that the sport gave her an outlet for strong emotions – like anger – and a healthier mindset to help her deal with adversity.

“Now, when I start to get mad at people, I’ll just say, ‘I’m not going to get mad about it, I’m just going to let it go, and I’m not going to hold any grudges,’” Hightower said. “And I just go on with my life, because I have better things to live for, you know?”

With her sister headed to Wunsche in the fall and both siblings interested in studying veterinary science, Hightower doesn’t know whether she’ll be able to continue wrestling in high school, but said she’s glad for now to have the chance to participate in the sport at Roberson.

“Other kids [in Spring ISD] don’t get the opportunity to wrestle, and I know some of them might want to,” she said. “So, I’m grateful to have this opportunity.”

Roberson Wrestling Team Captain Elijah Johnson is in his final year with the program before heading to high school. Like many on the team, he was first drawn to the sport as a way of expanding his horizons and balancing his academic life at Roberson with something different and more active.

“I wanted to try and do something productive, and not just sit at home and be lazy,” Johnson said, laughing. “I tried it, and I feel like it really brought something out in me that I didn’t know I even had.”

Now, as captain, he said he’s happy to witness that same transformation in many of his teammates as they grow in the sport, learning new techniques and putting in the work needed to improve.

“Wrestling can do a lot for you, it really can,” Johnson said, describing the resilience and sense of independence that wrestlers develop from facing different opponents – always up close and personal – on the mat.

“Nobody can bring you through it but yourself,” Johnson said. “It’s the same with everything in life. If you get knocked down, you’ve got to get back up. You can’t just stay down, or you’re going to stay down forever.”

Webb agreed, saying that as a wrestling coach he especially enjoys seeing the personal growth his young athletes make during the important middle school years.

“It’s such a good sport to learn,” Webb said. “It teaches kids resourcefulness, and you can’t just point fingers and say, ‘Oh, my team is terrible, and that’s why we lost.’ It’s a look-in-the-mirror sport, and it teaches them a lot about themselves.”