Get to know your Athletic Director
Roy Wentworth
Norwich Free Academy
Roy Wentworth transferred to the Norwich Free Academy from a small school in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire in 1980. He was fourteen years old, in tenth grade and little did he know that he would never leave NFA. 

Roy competed in Soccer and Wrestling as a student athlete at NFA. He was NFA’s Most Outstanding JV Wrestler in 1981 and in 1982. In his senior year, Roy broke into the Varsity lineup, placed 4th at the “LL” in his weight class and the team won the Class “LL” Wrestling Championship as a team (the first of what would end up being six in a row and a total of 9 State Titles for the program).

In the fall of his freshman year of college (ECSU), Roy stopped in for a casual visit with his coach and was asked if he had any time to help during the upcoming season. It was purely by chance that Roy Wentworth began his thirty plus year coaching career under the direction of National Wrestling Hall of Fame Coach Carl Snitkin. Carl was more than a mentor; he became Roy’s friend and the greatest single influence in his life. It was Carl who persuaded Roy finish his degree and become a teacher. 

The decision to teach did not come easy. By the time Roy was ready to take on that challenge, he was in his early thirties; he had a wife (Susan), a son (Bennington) and a successful landscape business that serviced NFA as well as the greater Norwich area. Eventually, when he made the decision to sell his business, Roy got a job at NFA (as the In-School Suspension Supervisor and worked in the Facilities Department during the summer), three years later (2002), Roy Wentworth had his Biology teaching credentials and began his teaching career at NFA. 

When Roy Wentworth retired from coaching Wrestling in 2012, he had coached Wrestling for a total of 29 years; 16 as the assistant and 13 years as the Head Coach. Roy has also served as an Assistant Football Coach (9 years) and Assistant Girls Golf Coach (6 years). In the spring of 2013, Roy Wentworth was honored with the Connecticut High School Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year for Wrestling.

​In the forty four seasons that Roy coached, he expressed that he felt fortunate to have worked with thousands of young men and women who inspired him and shaped him into the man he is today. Roy has coached numerous athletes that have placed at the State, New England and National level. The most rewarding coaching experience for Roy was being able to coach his own son during his son’s four years on the NFA Wrestling Team. “It was exciting to watch the growth he experienced pursuing a sport that we were both passionate about”.

​Prior to being tapped for the Athletic Director’s position, Roy Wentworth was the Director of NFA’s Summer Credit Recovery and Night School Programing. Roy directed NFA’s Summer Credit Recovery for eight years and it was here that his team integrated online learning and in person lessons to help students earn their credit and graduate with their peers. The his seven years as the Night School Director was where Roy felt he had the greatest impact on the students he served. It was here that Roy and his team was able to provide a more individualized education to students, who for various reasons were not able to access their education during the traditional school day. Under his direction the Night School Program at NFA was able to graduate ten to twelve students a year, who may otherwise not been able to do so.

Roy Wentworth has spent the last forty years on the Campus of the Norwich Free Academy in one capacity or another and he is extremely humbled and proud to currently serve as their Athletic Director.


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