For Plymouth-based Reach Wrestling, the relationship with City College Plymouth is very much a two-way street.
The business, which is going through a sustained period of growth, is keen to promote its offering to as wide an audience as possible. At the same time, Reach is mindful it is committed to helping encourage talent in the South West by work placements and other avenues for students to hone their skills.
Reach was founded in 2018, the brainchild of established UK wrestlers Jason King and Grayson Reeves. Offering quality family entertainment, they organise wrestling events across the region and provide training sessions for youngsters and adults keen to get involved and learn more about the sport. Sessions and shows have proved increasingly popular, with the audience reach expanding significantly in the last 12 months. Plans are already in place to continue this growth in 2025, with Public Relations Officer Charlotte Jenkins being tasked with helping drive continued expansion by increasing the exposure of what they do.
Jason King, owner of Reach Wrestling
For the business to continue to grow, they have placed a heavy emphasis on social media content, with a particular focus on generating engaging and entertaining videos to help spread the word. Reach therefore made a formal commitment in 2024 to branch out and work with more businesses and a partnership with the College was forged which covered two key elements they wanted to focus on – the sport itself, and promotional filming.
City College’s Curriculum Lead for Sport, Health & Fitness, Liam Stevens, worked closely with Charlotte to offer students the opportunity to be involved in numerous aspects of the business, including support on show days, logistics, administration, and other work experience roles. These placements have been particularly impactful for sports therapy students, who provide crucial support to the wrestlers during shows. This backstage support has been invaluable, offering advice on injury prevention, strength and conditioning, and sports massage – all of which are rare but vital components in professional wrestling. For athletes competing in the ring, this level of care and preparation enhances their performance and helps ensure their long-term wellbeing.
To help address the need for high quality promotional videos, City College’s student-led media company, One20 Digital, has been busy working with Reach Wrestling. The videos are helping promote a series of key messages and boosting the company’s profile, showcasing what they do and enhancing their online presence through social media and their website. The compelling visuals are helping them build emotional connections with viewers, while collaborating with the company to create video content and storytelling offers media studies students invaluable experience.
Charlotte said: “Our relationship with the College has been fantastic from day one. They always communicate quickly and efficiently, and I can’t praise them enough for how they have committed full force to this partnership from the beginning. We feel like we are providing opportunities for students to learn different skills through working with us, while we are benefiting in areas like video development where the College helps us because we don’t have those skills inhouse.”
Charlotte added: “We have loads more ideas in the pipeline which we are discussing with the College, and we see this very much as a long-term relationship, it’s worked so well.”
