WIN Magazine Coaches Corner: Jimmy Greenwood Coaches Kids to Beat the Streets Just Like He Did

Coach Jimmy Greenwood credits wrestling for literally saving his life, and in return, he sacrificed a lucrative business career to do the same for future generations as a mentor and coach at Beat the Streets. 

Jimmy and his friend Michael were talked into stealing a bike when they were kids. They got caught and detained by a policeman, who gave them a strong scolding, then dropped the boys off at their homes. A few days later, the same policeman came back to Jimmy’s house, offering him a bike in exchange for a simple promise: focus on becoming a better human being and find something productive to do. The officer encouraged young Jimmy to try wrestling because the officer had wrestled as a kid. Jimmy was fortunate to find a team and develop the skills that enabled him to wrestle in the Armed Forces and at college. 

“Unfortunately, my friend Michael lived the same inner-city story I have heard all my life. Little education, few opportunities, crime, repeat incarceration, and death. Sadly, Michael passed away a few years after high school. When I think of wrestling, I truly think about how wrestling not only changed, but quite literally saved my life.” 

While coaching at a Cleveland inner-city school several years ago, Coach Greenwood experienced a full-circle moment when one of his wrestlers said, “Coach, you literally saved my life.” The young wrestler had begun to mix with a local gang, skipping school and practice. Greenwood tracked him down through an old friend in the gang-controlled area, who told the young wrestler never to miss wrestling practice again. Thankfully, he listened, and at his graduation, he told Greenwood, “Coach, you literally saved my life. The day you tracked me down, my friends and I had some guns and were headed to do something dumb, and then I got the call to come meet you.” Coach Greenwood coaches to change lives just like this one. 

“What we do as coaches is so much bigger than the actual sport. I love seeing kids who don’t know anything about wrestling when they first start out go on to win a state title several years later. Showing them how their character and competition overlap.” While Coach Greenwood’s philosophy is “score as many points as you can in a match,” he focuses a significant amount of time on respect, community, family, team, and developing his wrestlers into honorable humans. That’s why Coach Greenwood didn’t hesitate to join Beat the Streets. 

Beat the Streets is a mentorship program that uses wrestling as a vehicle to help kids become more than another inner-city statistic. “Before Beat the Streets, I did this for the local kids I coached. We recognize how important this mission is in helping these kids, who will become adults soon. I enjoy taking on the responsibility of coaching all the kids who enter my room. Hopefully, the kids we mentored are not only successful on the mat but also live full lives helping others.” 

Greenwood believes wrestling has a way of leveling the playing field. It’s egalitarian; it doesn’t care about your skin color or your background. “At Beat the Streets Cleveland, we want to provide wrestling opportunities to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have them. Wrestling is so impactful. It gives lost kids direction and purpose; it develops a sense of accountability and of what’s right and what’s best for everyone, not just the individual.” 

One clear example Greenwood gave of doing what’s best for the team was when three wrestlers willingly bumped up a weight class at districts to allow a backup wrestler to fill a hole in the roster. He then made the finals, helping the team to a runner-up finish, one match away from a sectional title. “Even though he lost the wrestle-off earlier in the season, our team made room for him because it was what was best for the team.” 

Greenwood pours his heart and soul into coaching because, “When I meet kids at Beat the Streets, I see a reflection of myself. Sometimes I see a reflection of my childhood friend Michael. I often wonder how different his life might have turned out if he had access to a program like Beat the Streets. I know we cannot save or help every kid. However, I see each kid as an opportunity to help them reach their full potential, on and off the mat. Win at life. Win at wrestling. In that order.”