College Wrestlers Give Back

Posted: July 18, 2013

July 18, 2013  |  Three of greater Los Angeles’s most accomplished wrestlers have found a way to give back this summer to the sport and communities they love.
College wrestlers and LA natives Noel Blanco, Kyle Acevedo, and Joey Davis contributed to BTSLA’s mission by coaching youth wrestlers enrolled in the Pico Rivera program, a new youth site in partnership with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Youth Activities League. Blanco completed a 10-week internship in BTSLA’s headquarter office in addition to coaching the youth program in Pico Rivera while Acevedo and Davis volunteer as a coaches for the Pico Rivera BTS program.
Blanco, a Sophomore Sport Management major at Drexel University and El Monte native, was a runner-up at the California Community College Wrestling State Championship in 2011 for Mt. San Antonio College, and a standout at Arroyo High School finishing 7th in the 2010 CIF State Championships.  The internship fulfilled a degree requirement for his program major at Drexel University but it was his interaction with the youth in the Pico Rivera program that left a lasting impression. “It was a tremendous honor to work with BTSLA and to coach the youth in Pico Rivera. Having grown up in this community, it is important to me to try to give back.”
Kyle Acevedo is a Sophomore member of the wrestling team at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, CA and is a native of Monterey Park.
Joey Davis capped off a stellar 2013 Freshman year at Notre Dame College with a 33-0 record and the NCAA Div. II National Championship. The Compton, CA native won 2 CIF State Championships while a prep star for Santa Fe High School.
“What Noel, Kyle, and Joey bring to our programs is immeasurable. They serve as living, breathing examples of what the sport of wrestling can do for our youth. They have defied odds, each overcoming challenges within their own communities, and now to have the desire to give back through our programs is a testament to the young men they have become.”, said Program Director Kevin Lake.
BTSLA continues to grow wrestling in greater Los Angeles and was recently awarded as a grantee from the prestigious LA84 Foundation for youth sport programs.
To learn more about BTSLA and how you can help, click here.