Little Warrior Wrestling Club growth is sign of success and sustainability

By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register

There is a rich wrestling history in the state of Iowa, dating as far back as the “catch-as-catch-can” days of the late 1800s and early 1900s, and popularized in the late 1880s when Martin “Farmer” Burns from Wheatland traveled around the state and country, wrestling for money and calling for challengers like Lewis the Strangler and English champion Tom Connors. He eventually became a champion in three weights. 

It wasn’t long after that intercollegiate programs emerged at Iowa universities, with the University of Iowa forming a team in 1911, followed by Iowa State University in 1916 and the University of Northern Iowa in 1926. Since then, Iowa has produced numerous wrestling stars, perhaps even legends of the sport. Gerald Leeman won gold at the 1948 Olympics and Dan Gable finished his collegiate career at Iowa State with a record of 118-1 in 1970 and went on to win the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics. More recently there was Cael Sanderson, the first four-time undefeated NCAA college wrestling champion, who finished his career at Iowa State with a 159-0 record and went on to win a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.

That tradition continues today in every small, rural community where youth wrestling programs are building and molding the future of Iowa’s wrestling success. Maybe, in one of those small town gyms is the next Mark Ironside, Jim Zalesky or Spencer Lee. 

It’s in youth programs like the Little Warrior Wrestling Club where most will start their wrestling journey, and it will be under the tutelage of Little Warrior coach Jarod Bormann, who joined the program roughly 12 years ago to help then coach Lanny Deitchler, who oversaw a program that produced several future accomplished wrestlers: Nick Winter, Mitch Funk and Jed Siegwarth. 

Bormann previously served as the coach for Central’s high school program and saw a need to help out. After about a year, he found himself at the helm of the program, when Deitchler stepped down. While the program was successful and, by all measures sustainable, there were inevitably improvements that could be made. 

That started with establishing a youth W]wrestling board, which Bormann believed was essential to the continued growth of the program. Something to help establish a core set of policies and a group to manage daily functions, like lining up volunteers, doing apparel orders and handling registrations, along with other “paramount tasks” that make the program run, allowing Bormann the freedom to focus on coaching. 

Forming the board happened quite quickly after an end-of-season banquet, when Bormann asked parents to help. By happenstance, a group of moms stepped up and took the initiative to get things organized. It was a “game changer,” Bormann explained, and helped usher in a new phase for the program. 

Another change in the last decade is how the club is funded, again aided by creation of the board. Initially, the club was funded through the athletic boosters, which required attending meetings and explaining why the club needed singlets or other equipment. Over time, however, it became necessary to have access to funds more quickly and without the delay of waiting for meetings and decisions, especially in providing financial assistance to kids who want to participate but might not have money to purchase equipment, pay registration fees or when the club purchases memory boxes should a parent pass away during the season. Around 2015, the club became independent and transitioned away from the boosters. 

In addition to changing the structure of funding, which has been vital to the club’s growth, is the growth itself. When Bormann first arrived, the club averaged around 20 wrestlers per season. That number has steadily grown to over 60 last year.
Entering this season, which started in November, the club had 76 wrestlers spread across kindergarten to eighth grade. According to Bormann’s rough calculations, it is one of few youth programs in the area with that many kids. 

This growth comes with some challenges, one being the need for coaches, something Bormann has steadily tried to recruit over the last five years. Currently, the club has between 10 and 12 coaches, all of whom are required to obtain a USA wrestling certification, something that wasn’t always the case. The logic behind this decision was to give the program added credibility and trust.  

“We want to make sure the coaches are certified and to be aware of ethics and policies that are the important parts to a wrestling program,” Bormann said.  

The other big challenge is managing 50 or more kids at a practice, something Bormann joked was akin to “herding cats.” In the early years, the club practiced in the wrestling room at Central, which was turned into the current library center during remodeling. From there, the wrestlers moved into the small gym, but as numbers grew, so did the need for more space and practices. 

Solving the space issue happened after a conversation with John Moyna, who offered space at the Mobile Track Solutions building. Practices included a third night. As of now, the wrestlers practice on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights. 

The level of success is owed to what Bormann described as a “growth mindset,” which essentially means focusing on the process toward the end goal rather than the goal itself. It’s not just about winning and losing, but what is needed to get there and what you learn and can improve upon along the way. 

It’s about having the “belief in your ability to learn anything,” Bormann said, because wrestlers aren’t born, they’re built. Through years of dedicated hard work and effort and valuable skills such as self-reliance and accountability, wrestlers learn that, on the wrestling mat, there are no scapegoats. 

“With wrestling being more of an individualized sport…you can’t point the blame at other teammates…and they can reflect on that and get better. That self improvement process is very important,” Bormann said. 

One specific way Bormann achieves this is through what he calls “legitimizing all the athletes,” which is done at the end-of-the-year banquet when coaches hand out plaques not for wins, but for how many years wrestlers have put into the program. Athletes focus on the process rather than the outcome, and Bormann insists it works, even offering up an example. 

“I know it works because a parent talked about how it convinced her son to come back out. Looking at the plaque and medals,” he said. 

This has also led to the creation of the Never Quit Club for wrestlers who started in sixth grade or earlier and don’t take a year off. The club holds four members, including Owen Hammersland, Reese Berns, Braxton Bormann and Sean Wilwert. Hammersland was a 2023 AAU state qualifier, while Berns has been an AAU and USA State participant with multiple third-place finishes. Bormann participated in tournaments as far back as 2014 in the Pee Wee State Wrestling and was a four-time AAU state qualifier. 

Aside from practices, the club hosts a tournament every year with individual awards and a team competition, which was won by the MFL MarMac Bullpups last year. In addition, the club holds an annual camp which has brought in high profile wrestlers like Felicity Taylor, Max Murin and four-time undefeated Iowa high school state champion Ben Kueter, all funded of course because of the board. 

With the current season underway, the goal is self improvement as well as making it to one of the state meets for youth wrestling, such as PeeWee State in March at Young Arena in Waterloo or the AAU State held at the end of February in Des Moines. The goal for Bormann remains the same: to teach the kids life lessons that extend beyond the mat. 

“I feel like, as part of a youth wrestling program, instilling those positive aspects is more important than a state wrestling championship team. It’s a great goal to have, but it’s not the end goal. Those trophies stay in a trophy case…but what we’re teaching will go with them beyond this sport,” he said.