Simonetti Hired as New Program Director

Beat the Streets Chicago is delighted to announce the hiring of Sonny Simonetti as Program Director effective July 1, 2019.    Sonny will oversee the youth and high school wrestling programs for the organization, which offers five seasons of wrestling in locations across Chicago for youth in grades 3 through 12.  

“Sonny is a terrific addition to our team,” said Executive Director Mike Powell.  “He brings a wealth of experience not just in youth and high school wrestling, but in working with Beat the Streets programs.”

With over one thousand student-athletes now wrestling in Beat the Streets Chicago programs, Sonny will focus on growing participation while enhancing program quality.  Sonny will be working closely with Beat the Streets Chicago coaches and UpMetrics, a data and impact measurement company focused on the NGO sector, to create a customized set of tools to evaluate programming.  This work is funded in part by a grant from the 2019 Community Impact Cohort.

Hailing from Hudson County, New Jersey, Sonny found his passion for wrestling by signing himself up for his local town’s wrestling program. After finding initial success after making the youth state finals in his second year, he searched for more help and found a Beat the Streets program partnered with The Edge Wrestling Club. BTS provided him with high level coaching, mentorship and the opportunity to train at an international wrestling camp in Naples, Italy. Furthermore, BTS allowed Sonny the opportunity to personally train with John Smith at the Oklahoma State wrestling camp for multiple years. 

As a two year Captain of a nationally ranked high school program in Saint Peter’s Preparatory School, Sonny elected to further his education at the University of North Carolina where he studied Political Science with minors in Public Policy and PPE. At UNC, Sonny was trained by Olympic Bronze medalist, Coleman Scott, Olympic Gold medalist Kenny Monday, and NCAA champion and multiple time world team member, Tony Ramos and earned all American Honors at the National Collegiate Open (NCO’S). While attending University, Sonny also participated in work-study jobs for the wrestling team and gained employment at the Campus Recreation gym where he received multiple promotions and earned the title as Zone Manager and supervised three gym locations with over 200 employees. 

Sonny is the son of Sonny and Angelique Simonetti. He currently has a younger brother who wrestles for Franklin and Marshall College. 

Welcome aboard, Sonny!

Sonny can be reached at ssimonetti@btschicago.org