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After spending five seasons officiating wrestling matches, Kurt Pelletier is back for his third season as coach at Windham High School.

“I loved officiating,” he said. “It was great, but I really missed the bond I had with the kids when I coached.”

This is Pelletier’s second stint as coach of the Eagles. He previously coached for five seasons.

“I wanted to spend more time with the family so I got into officiating,” he said.

Although he enjoyed refereeing, it didn’t provide Pelletier with the same kind of satisfaction he got from coaching.

“I didn’t have to worry about the grades and the personality conflicts, but the overall end result wasn’t there,” he said. “The personal aspects of not only coaching my kids but helping my kids through life (and) problems they deal with at school or at home was missing.”

Pelletier returned to coaching when his son, Devin, started high school.

“When he was a freshman, it so happened the Windham job was available so I got back into coaching,” Pelletier said.

His daughter, Bailey, is a freshman at Windham and wrestles in the 112-pound division. Devin, a junior, competes at 160.

“We’re struggling,” said Pelletier, who also coaches wrestlers from Gray-New Gloucester and Greely high schools. “We’ve got a lot of young, inexperienced wrestlers on the squad.”

But 33 wrestlers participate in daily practice, and Pelletier is optimistic about the future.

REIGNING CLASS C state champion Lisbon will try to make it nine wins in a row at the Bob Walker Duals at Kennebunk High on Saturday.

The 12-team meet was renamed last year for the former wrestling coach at Kennebunk and Noble. Walker, who teaches industrial arts technology at Kennebunk, will serve as meet director.

Teams from Biddeford, Deering, Dexter, Dirigo, Kennebunk, Marshwood, Mountain Valley, Noble, Wells, Westbrook and York also will compete.

“Each team will wrestle three teams guaranteed,” Kennebunk Athletic Director Thor Nilsen said. “Then it breaks down into semifinal and final rounds of competition.”

Wrestling starts at 8:15 a.m., with the final round expected to begin around 5 p.m.

WRESTLERS RECEIVED a one-pound growth allowance today, following another one-pound allowance received on Dec. 22.

That means wrestlers now can weigh in at two pounds above their weight class, which will be the upper limit for the rest of the regular season, regionals and state tournament.

Those wrestlers qualifying for the New Englands, March 4-5 in New Haven, Conn., will receive an additional 4-pound growth allowance.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com