“We’ve got a good group of kids, all of them hard-working. And while they may be small in number, they have big goals. Everyone wants to wrestle at the next level, everyone’s dedicated…working hard. I can’t stress that last point enough. What more can a coach ask for?”

So says SPIRE Academy Wrestling Director and Head Coach, Mike Kulczycki, as he weighs in on the upcoming wrestling season. The program has nine wrestlers returning for 2024–2025. That’s not a lot compared to the teams these student athletes will be going to the mat against, but Kulczycki has identified what he sees as a clear advantage in fielding such a small team: “This is a tight-knit group of kids…they do stuff together on the weekends. One of them is local; he lives 15 minutes away from SPIRE…so the team hangs out at his house. They socialize as friends, and train and fight together as friends. I count that as an advantage.”

One wrestler returning this year is Joelle Scott, a SPIRE female wrestler. Scott won’t be wrestling, as she’s recovering from hip surgery, but she’s at every practice, supporting the team and staying in the fight mentally, if not physically. Kulczycki: “Joelle is amazing. We’ll miss her on the mat but her presence will be felt. She’s doing everything she can to help the team short of actually wrestling, and is a shining example of the kind of student we want here at SPIRE: someone who strives not just for the benefit of herself, but for that of her teammates as well.”    

There’s no doubt Scott will also make her presence felt by being at this season’s upcoming matches, which brings us to the competitions of note Coach Kulczycki and SPIRE Wrestling have on the calendar. There have already been two: (1) the 2024 Grappler Fall Classic, which was held at the end of September in Michigan, and at which SPIRE’s Ryan Kennedy placed; and (2) the Preseason Nationals, at which SPIRE’s Jason Dube lost the first match but came back to win the next six and take third place overall. Looking ahead, the Iron Man, Powerade and Escape The Rock Tournament are all coming up. The SPIRE squad will also be attending between six and eight college opens, including the Clarion Open in Pennsylvania.

Kulczycki: “We’re excited for every competition. This weekend coming up is Clarion. Last year, it was one of the better college opens in the country. We have four Post Grad wrestlers competing there, as well as senior Denis Kodakov. Denis wrestled in U17 in the World Championships for Spain. He reached out to us about two years ago. He wants to go to college here in the U.S. and wrestle at the Division I level. Denis is a great kid with big goals. He’s another perfect example of the type of person we want here at SPIRE, no matter where in the world they come from.”

And that gets at a major goal for SPIRE Wrestling: to grow the program. One of the ways SPIRE is attempting to do that is through partnerships. The school will be hosting the Buckeye Wrestling Association League Championships next February, which will bring hundreds of young wrestlers, along with their families, to campus. And SPIRE is already partnering with USA Wrestling, the sport’s national governing body. The other way SPIRE works to grow the program is through word of mouth, a method Kulczycki gets: “I’m from Cleveland. I’m well connected in the world of Ohio wrestling. People who know me, by extension, know about SPIRE. But look at Denis Kodakov. He reached out to us, so word of mouth obviously goes well beyond me and Ohio. Good news travels fast, and that’s going to continue happening with SPIRE Wrestling.”