Rulon Gardner, Andy Bisek, Chris Bono help Beat the Streets NE Florida kick off its inaugural season

Top Photo: Wrestlers from the Beat the Streets Northeast Florida program pose with top Greco-Roman wrestlers Andy Bisek and Nick Alvarez.

Bottom Photo: Wrestling stars Nick Alvarez, Andy Bisek and Rulon Gardner pose with a young patient at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. (Photos courtesy of BTS-NEFL)

This past weekend, Beat the Streets-Northeast Florida (BTS-NEFL) kicked off its inaugural season with a clinic and fall showcase. These events were designed to introduce the community to the Beat the Streets mission and vision for wrestling in this area of Florida.
With the help of USA Wrestling and corporate sponsors, BTS-NEFL was able to bring in VIP guests Rulon Gardner, Chris Bono, and Andy Bisek to work with wrestlers in the area.
Gardner was a 2000 Olympic champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, as well as a 2011 World Champion. Bono, a Florida native, was an NCAA champion, U.S. World Team member and is the head coach at South Dakota State. Bisek is a two-time World bronze medalist and top Olympic medal hopeful for the 2016 Olympic Games.
The clinicians also made appearances on the local television news; at elementary, middle, and high schools; and visited with patients at Wolfson Children’s Hospital while in town.
Gardner observed that these events gave them an opportunity to promote the sport of wrestling in a variety of ways.
“There is a lot of potential here in Northeast Florida and it will be exciting to see what wrestling with BTS can do for the kids,” said Gardner.
Saturday's Champions Clinic provided full mats of wrestlers for clinicians Andy Bisek and Olympic hopeful and Florida native Nick Alvarez.
The wrestlers, ages 6-19, enjoyed learning new warm-up drills and perfecting technique. Bisek noted that this clinic offered the wrestlers a chance to learn good technique as well as learning mat strategy and mental toughness from the clinicians.
In the afternoon, the wrestlers participated in instruction and drills presented by Rulon Gardner. Gardner also inspired the wrestlers with stories of his journey, training, and triumph.
“I came in as a clinician to show technique and ended up learning from Andy and Rulon. It was remarkable to see two of the greatest wrestlers in the world, both past and present, come to an event such as this,” said Alvarez.
Saturday evening Beat the Streets presented their first Showcase and Gala at the 1st Street Loft in Jacksonville Beach. Throughout the evening local wrestlers, coached by Bisek and Alvarez, provided exhibitions of technique and competition for the patrons. For many at the event this was their first exposure to wrestling.
Chris Bono and Rulon Gardner also spoke to the patrons, promoting the sport to a new demographic in Northeast Florida. Bono invited the community to get involved and support the mission of Beat the Streets. The aspect of character development and life skills learned through the organization will benefit youth throughout their lives, Bono noted.
BTS-NEFL is combining the traditional urban outreach of the organization with a rural outreach in Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, St John's, and Nassau counties. The organization currently has two neighborhood training centers and will open their third center in the next month. Leaders anticipate adding more than 100 wrestlers to Northeast Florida in the first year.
World class wrestlers were chosen for these events because they represented the mission of BTS. Athletes from 13 schools across Northeast Florida participated in the event.
They attended a private practice Friday evening with Bisek and Alvarez during which time they received Greco instruction. Saturday evening, each athlete worked with Bisek and Alvarez to choose what they would do during the exhibition to highlight their talent.
“The kids were put into a stressful situation and were nervous about wrestling on a stage. Afterwards, they were very excited and felt accomplished,” said Bisek.
Summer Hyatt and Matt Echevarria participated in the Showcase after only one month of wrestling instruction. Both are BTS-NEFL wrestlers at the Keystone Heights Neighborhood Training Center.
Matt was excited to learn from some of the best in the world. He and Summer know they became better wrestlers because of the experience. They also had fun and met people who would push them to be better, not only in wrestling but in everything they do.
Next month BTS-NEFL is taking some wrestlers to NYC to attend the Bill Farrell International Open. While in New York City, these athletes will participate in practices with BTS-NYC.
Learn more about BTS-NEFL and opportunities to get involved. Visit:
BTS-NEFL website 
BTS-NEFL Facebook page
Twitter @BTSNEFL
Instagram @btsnefl