Steve, Scott, Doug and Andrew Joseph

The Josephs show you the Next Level of Pride Wrestling in the online video at: http://www.allekiskitoday.com/webcasts/1500

Ok, you've heard the phrase before. But these guys are the real deal. They REALLY are a "band of brothers." And the 'house' that they've 'built' on Greensburg Rd in Lower Burrell is extending that brotherhood to wrestlers in school districts from Kittanning to Fox Chapel and beyond.

"We look at it right now as a house of wrestling," Andrew Joseph puts it simply. "It's a place where a lot of wrestlers can get together and throw away their rivalries they have with different schools…because all wrestlers know what we go through to be in this sport. I think it's really easy for all the wrestlers in this area, all the talent, to collaborate under this roof. It's a haven, it's a shelter for wrestlers."

Andrew, Doug, Scott and Steve Joseph's 'house' is Pride Wrestling, a private wrestling club where athletes from different high schools come to gather to practice, receive instruction and compete with some of the best in PA and the nation. It is one of several area wrestling clubs with specialized instruction who've played a pivotal part in making the AK region one of the top wrestling communities in the nation. In a little more than two years, Pride Wrestling has already produced two champions in Tony Clark (three state titles) and Matt McCutcheon (Pride's first state champ and 2004's Pennsylvania State Wrestler of the Year.)

Doug Joseph, a NCAA National Champion and U.S. Open All American, says, "Our goal is to make good wrestlers great and great wrestlers champions. We're just proud of the AK valley. We're from western Pennsylvania, the toughest wrestling area in the country in my opinion. We want to just make the AK valley better."

Doug Joseph instructing Pride wrestlers

A big part of that vision for Pride Wrestling burning inside the Josephs was birthed in their own home growing up. Their dad, Steve, was a strong wrestler with several brothers, also great wrestlers. He now works with the Kiski youth wrestling program, while their mom, Karen works with Kiski's wrestling boosters.

The Joseph brothers grew up in the shadow of their wrestling family. Doug remembers in second grade watching his uncles demonstrate wrestling moves. "I was like 'I wish I could be in this mix,'" he say, "but I was the guy in the corner that they didn't worry about. I couldn't wait until it was the day for ME to be that guy."

It was not long before it was that day, and he won the Westmoreland County Championship. Then later, his brother Steve won it too. It didn't stop there.

"It's one brotherhood…when my brother Scott won it last year, and Andrew won it the year before, we all went to a corner, put our arms around each other," Doug reveals. "There weren't too many dry eyes in the crowd. Amongst the hovel of us four brothers, it was a special moment."

That flame ignited by their relatives and Kiski Area Coaches Tursky and Heater grew into a passion to spread that fire of excellence. "I try to do things the way I'm taught," Doug Joseph explains.

Next Level training equipment

"I'm not trying to make anything up. I'm just going from my heart and what I know. One of the goals I set in here is 'Let's go after your county championship.' Everybody that comes and becomes a part of pride wrestling, my goal is to have them this county's champion. Everybody in here has got equal opportunity."

The Joseph brothers are extending that opportunity all across the Alle-Kiski region. "My biggest goal is to get everybody in here: Highlands, Valley, Burrell, Kittanning, Kiski, says Doug, who was also coached by Olympic wrestler Kurt Angle. "I want us to go to our county tournaments and just tear it up. I will work as close as I can with any of the programs."

They already work with coaches from several high schools, including Highlands, Kittanning and Valley. The competition raises the bar for every athlete on the mat, Doug says. "I let [Valley's] Logan Downes come; they have their own club, so I let them come in for free and just get a workout. I want the AK valley to be the best, no matter what."

That is typical of the level of competition at Pride Wrestling. "[Highlands'] Eddie Petrosky came into today," Doug Joseph spells out. "We had Tony Clark, Zach Cecchetti, Tyler Oravec, Zach McKendree—all guys with 30-something wins and more. They're all going to get better, all going to be ranked in the state. Those were his workout partners, and Eddie got some takedowns on them. Those guys never quit, and then they all walked out of here giving each other fives. I didn’t set out for that to be my goal, but now that I see it, it's something that makes me take great pride. Hey, it used to be the Kiski wrestling community; now, it’s turning into the AK valley [wrestling] community. It's going to be a beautiful thing to come in here and see 10 kids from Burrell, 5 kids from Kittanning, 7 kids from Highlands, 20 kids from Kiski."

That level of competition established in the club, though fierce, is not a series of grudge matches between schools. "We have matches [between schools] once a year," Doug declares. "We don't have to be friends then. 364 days a year we hang out, we bang heads, and we're friends. One day a year, we don't like each other. That's my philosophy."

Rachel, Stone and Doug Joseph

The band of brothers behind Pride Wrestling has a wrestling resume far beyond Doug's. Steve, a teacher, went to States as a senior and wrestled in college as part of a top-ten-in-the-nation wrestling program. He has also been Valley's assistant varsity coach the past few years.

Andrew, who finished seventh in the state two years ago, is a sophomore starter on Slippery Rock's team. And brother Scott—"our last hurrah," Doug says—is a Kiski senior and a football player who also started on the wrestling team that finished in the top four in the state last year.

Rounding out the brothers Joseph and working behind the scenes are Doug's wife, Rachel and their son, Stone. Rachel handles the administrative matters, while 2 year-old Stone is the enforcer who takes care of any matters on the mat.

No, actually he is not the enforcer, but he does watch practice and is already practicing moves on his dad. Doug explains, "I go home after practice and get a shower, he's going to make me wrestle, he watches what I do with the wrestlers. I don’t push him, I jus t bring him." And his wife, Rachel, Doug says, is "like Visa/Mastercard, she's priceless."

Pride Wrestling gets its name from a Kiski tradition started by Coach Chris Heater. Every time a wrestler left the lockerroom, they had to touch a place on the wall that said 'Pride' in big letters.

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"'Heat' (Coach Heater) made me touch it every day," Doug Joseph says. Now, "My place is called 'Pride' because I got pride from my dad and Coach Tursky." He learned from them, "…a love for kids and that wrestling is a good medium for teaching kids life's lessons," and that "A coach can be a friend, a father figure, and a big brother."

This house of wrestling has been transformed into an ideal facility for that medium. When they looked at the place along with partner Joe Vaglia, there were three inches of mud from Hurricane Ivan along with old machine equipment. They all made the decision to strip it to the core and start all over with it.

"We said, 'You know what? Let's take a risk.' The Lehigh Valley (the eastern Pennsylvania home of perennial champions Easton and Northampton) says they invented wrestling. Around here Washington, Canon Mac, McGuffey, they think they're the hot stuff in wrestling. They all think they're the hottest spot in the west, Lehigh thinks they're the hottest spot in the east. Well I disagree. I just thought we didn't have a facility or a place for us all to bond."

According to Joseph, Joe Vaglia made a good point. "Joe said 'all we need to get is to do is get these kids. They're all good at their places but if we had a central location, they can compete and train together and get the coaching from different people. We'll take it to the next level.'"

Doug continues, "As soon as he said 'the next level', we said, 'THE NEXT LEVEL!' That's what we're about: reaching the next level. So his facility is going to be personal training, speed, agility, and weight training, called the "Next Level Sports Complex," and this is Pride Wrestling Club, a part of it."

Doug Joseph, Pride Wrestling

In the Next Level training facility next to Pride, Joe Vaglia offers "Sports Specific Training," where athletes can receive specialized instruction and preparation for their particular sport. He has a variety of weight and exercise machines for other athletes to utilize as well as wrestlers from Pride.

Besides Pride's wrestling room and equipment, the entire complex has a locker room and office/media center, two shower rooms and two bathrooms, a handicapped bathroom downstairs. Expansion plans include a 50-car paved parking lot, an eighth of a mile track surrounding the property, an outside wrestling pavilion, and a summer league.

Together, the resources of Pride Wrestling and Next Level training put feet on the dreams of the Joseph brothers to strengthen and fortify Alle-Kiski wrestling. It is their goal, Doug says, "to better themselves and to take pride back to their communities. It is [to do] the little extras that kids need to take it to the next level."

See the Next Level of Pride Wrestling in the online video at: http://www.allekiskitoday.com/webcasts/1500

Pride Wrestling and the Next Level are located at 1360 Greensburg Rd (Rt. 366) in Lower Burrell, PA, between Styleright Kitchens and Oasis Golf. Call Doug or Rachel at 724-681-5793 for more information or visit www.pridewrestlingka.com