Not only did Roman Bravo-Young’s dream of opening a wrestling club come to fruition on the Southside of Tucson on Saturday, it was welcomed with an overflow crowd and numerous wrestlers ranging from elementary-school age to seniors in high school.
The community came together for the event marking the official opening of the Roman Bravo-Young Wrestling Club, a goal of Bravo-Young’s to operate since he started his journey at Penn State in 2018 following an 182-0 run with four state titles at Sunnyside.
“The time to do it is now; I’m getting older and now it’s time to give back,” Bravo-Young said. “I’m still competing at the highest level. Obviously, the goal is 2028 (Olympics). I wanted to get something going now and I have a lot of people who want to help me.
“Strike while you can. I’m excited to bring something back. I love Tucson, especially South Tucson. I’m excited. I put a lot of thought and effort into this as you can see. Just trying to make a gym that’s unique and different.”
The two-time national champion at Penn State is putting to good use his Recreation, Park and Tourism Management degree he earned at the school.
The facility is part of an industrial area near Park Boulevard and Ajo Way, south of I-10 (722 E. 46th Street).
Participants can be as young as 2 years old. One age group is 2 to 12 and the other is 13 to 18. Registration is open at the RBY Wrestling Club website.
The training will include wrestling techniques with a dose of mastering the mental aspect of the sport as well with discipline and a strong work ethic.
Bravo-Young told the young participants, who were looking at him with their undivided attention:
“This will be a good place, a happy place. There won’t be any yelling. Wrestling is a very hard sport to begin with. I wan’t you to enjoy it and get better.”
Bravo-Young wrestled at nearby dynasty Sunnyside for nine-time state champion coach Anthony Leon after he was groomed in the sport by his grandfather Mike Bravo, considered by many in the sport in these parts as the Godfather of Wrestling.
While interviewing @RomanBravoYoung soon after his graduation from Sunnyside in 2018, at the outset of his career at Penn State, he talked about opening a wrestling facility on the Southside with the intent to properly train young athletes in the sport he loves while helping them… pic.twitter.com/RFXTLR0SX1
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) December 13, 2025
Bravo-Young went on to wrestle at Penn State under Cael Sanderson, who was an Olympic gold medalist and four-time national champion at Iowa State. He has coached Penn State to 12 national titles since 2010 and produced 101 All-Americans and 40 individual national champions with the Nittany Lions.
He trained with Mexico’s Olympic team after qualifying for the Paris Olympics last year.
He joined the Oklahoma State Wrestling Club last year before recently returning to the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He has trained with some of the world’s top wrestlers at both places.
No question that nobody in Tucson’s wrestling history is more knowledgeable about the sport than Bravo-Young.
Opening a wrestling training facility here for the community’s youth has to rank as the most impactful move by a Tucson born-and-raised athlete.
“It’s great for the community,” said Patrick Piña III, a nationally-rated 120-pound wrestler who is in a transition year before joining the Sunnyside wrestling program as a freshman in the fall.
“There’s not a lot of wrestling here. For example, in Pa. (Pennsylvania), you have all these top clubs competing against each other. In Tucson, it’s maybe one or two. What he’s bringing here, he’s bringing high-level minds. Once a month, he’s going to bring one guy from the highest level — college, world. He’s bringing that and showing us in Tucson all that knowledge so we can be prepared in high school and college. He’s giving us a taste of what the next level looks like.”
Remember the name: Patrick Piña III. He will transition into being a freshman wrestler at Sunnyside next fall. In the meantime, he will train at Roman Bravo-Young’s new wrestling facility near Park and Ajo by the freeway. He presently is wrestling in national meets, No. 2-rated… pic.twitter.com/sX34nKpM1H
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) December 13, 2025
Bravo-Young’s list of guest trainers is star-studded already this month.
Those scheduled to be at the gym include:
Wednesday — Coleman Scott, former Olympian and national champion at Oklahoma State who is an associate head coach with the Cowboys.
Dec. 22 and 29 — Audrey Jimenez, world-class wrestler who was a four-time state champion at Sunnyside now wrestling at Lehigh with the ambition to be in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Dec. 23 — Eric Thompson, Arizona State assistant coach who was a three-time national champion at Grand View (Iowa).
Dec. 26 (6:30 p.m. to 8) —
— Khaled Dassan, runs the KD Training Center, a prominent wrestling club in Yonkers, N.Y., known for developing high-level athletes.
— Aaron Brooks, four-time national champion at Penn State who wrestled in the Paris Olympics.
— Gable Steveson, two-time national champion and five-time All-American out of Minnesota.
— Dom Cruz, two-time bantamweight MMA world champion who hails from Tucson.
— Shakur Rasheed, former All-American at Penn State
— Andriy Yatsenko, Ukrainian world-class wrestler.
— Mirzo Khayitov, six-time Uzbekistan national champion who is wrestling at Oklahoma State
— Kaito Morikawa, multi-national champion in Japan
— Justin Lopez, former Penn State standout who is now an MMA fighter
— Brody Teske, All-American at Iowa who is also an MMA fighter
“One thing about me, I’m cool with everyone; I’ve got a lot of people who want to help me,” Bravo-Young said. “My friends, college coaches, big-name wrestlers that are going to come. I’m getting married this month. All those guys are going to be in my wedding.
“They said they’d love to help out. That’s one thing being part of this you get access to people I know, my people … that’s what separates me. I’m here to take over.”
.@bobbythejet Rodriguez helped train @RomanBravoYoung at his Jet Sports Training facility during Bravo-Young’s careers at Sunnyside and Penn State. Now, the former Sunnyside football standout and walk-on at Arizona is a business associate of Bravo-Young at the new Roman… pic.twitter.com/Uwh9mm0zUj
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) December 13, 2025
A longtime friend and associate, Bobby Rodriguez, owner of Jet Sports Training, will be the best man of Bravo-Young’s wedding. Bravo-Young will marry professional soccer standout Ellie Wheeler on Dec. 27 in Tucson.
Weehler, who met Bravo-Young while competing at Penn State, plays as an outside back for the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Rodriguez is serving as an advisor to Bravo-Young’s business venture with new gym after successfully operating Jet Sports Training over the last decade. His 5-year-old son Pierre is embarking on a wrestling career and will train often at Bravo-Young’s gym.
“I know deep down inside, it comes with good intentions that Roman has,” Rodriguez said of opening the gym. “Great intentions and great vision on what he wants to do for Tucson and for the Southside here.
“I’m talking bringing in high-level, world-class athletes to pass down their techniques and methods to the community, and also the mindset approach of every-day life, school, home life, how to avoid distractions. That’s the unique part of this gym — Roman can bring more to wrestling and life skills at the end of the day.”
The young wrestlers engaged on some conditioning drills and observed Bravo-Young demonstrate wrestling techniques with members of his staff during the gym’s grand-opening event Saturday.
The mats were crowded with the wrestlers and their famillies watching nearby. Food was served outside. Prizes were given away. Vendors sold products. It was a true celebration of the community coming together, supporing one of its favorite sons.
“It’s new. It’s hot, but at the end of the day, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Bravo-Young said. “We’ve got to get these kids to college. This stuff is cool now, but Monday (when official training sessions began), none of this stuff is here. We’ve got to put the work in.
“That’s the fun part.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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