WICHITA, Kan. — Thanks to an expanding partnership, the Newman wrestling team has a new, state-of-the-art floor in its practice room, and Newman University will be offering a for-credit judo class.

Brothers Greg and Mark Gideon have made use of the Jet wrestling room for the past year, offering judo classes to the community. In return, they are now nearly done installing a cushioned flooring system to go under the wrestling mats in the room, which will immediately increase safety and prevent injury for Newman student-athletes and members of the judo classes.

While the high-density foam wrestling mats used to lie directly on the concrete floor of the room, the new system is made up of two layers of plywood that rest upon flexible rubber feet — nearly 1,700 of the 4-square-inch pieces — and also features a vapor gap that prevents moisture from coming up through the concrete foundation and getting trapped under the floor. This structure has been shown to reduce the force of impact with the mats by 62 percent.

The Gideons finished the room off with fresh paint throughout, and were helped in the installation by the Newman coaches and wrestlers.

While the wrestlers will be the main beneficiary of these improvements, it also allowed the brothers to expand their offering with the judo classes, which will be available as a one-credit class for Newman students, as well as for a fee as part of the high school outreach program, or to the general public.

"It was an informal class, but now we have it for credit," Greg Gideon said. "But you don't have to be enrolled as a Newman student to come join us, which is a big deal for what we're trying to do. The big issue for us was to get this floor done so we can do our full range of activities, and we're glad that it will be such an asset to the Newman wrestling program as well."