BTSP Podcast: Jordan Burroughs

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In this episode of the Beat the Streets Philadelphia Podcast, we welcome six-time World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Jordan Burroughs to the show. Jordan moved to Philadelphia in 2021 to become a member of the Pennsylvania Regional Training Center. And it wasn’t long before he began helping out around BTS Philly.

Jordan helped by giving clinics to the BTSP student-athletes and speaking with them at the mentoring center. It’s an experience that, he explains, changed his perspective.

“I think what I’ve learned now is we all don’t have an equivalent playing field. And there are a lot of individuals who I see that can be phenomenal athletes, if given particular care and attention. And wrestling is such a great sport for human development.”

In Jordan’s eyes, it’s not just about the wins and losses, but the individual growth that wrestling provides. “What it teaches is character unlike any other sport in the world, and I think that’s what makes this sport so great.”

And Jordan has been instrumental in inspiring so many in our community.. As a leader at so many levels in the sport of wrestling, Jordan takes this responsibility seriously. “I’m thankful for being able to be a person who can help indirectly and sometimes directly, but also, just trying to encourage the people that are there often and trying to help when I can.”

“For such a long time, I’ve considered myself a mentor, not only to my peers, but just to the next generation of athletes that grow up in the sport of wrestling.”

In the last year, Jordan took his work with BTSP to the next level by becoming a mentor and working closely with a BTSP studentathlete. He became a regular around the mentoring center and used his position in the sport to have a positive impact on the student-athletes.

“It was kind of eye opening,” he explains. “You don’t really understand what an individual is going through until they share their story, or until they’re caught up in a difficulty. And you have to really confront a lot of things that you’ve never seen.”

Jordan has had a huge impact on motivating and inspiring the next generation of BTSP Student-athletes, and despite all his years of experience in competing around the world, his work with BTSP has left a strong impression on him too. 

“I’ve had to let my guard down a little bit and say, ‘Okay, we’re not all playing with the same deck of cards. I have to be a lot more empathetic for the people that are going through the things that they’re experiencing.’”

BTS Philly Podcast: Ben Reiter

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Beat the Streets Philadelphia has some big news to announce.

Our Director of Strategic Partnerships, Ben Reiter, will be moving on to a new role as the Executive Director of Beat the Streets National. While we are sad to see Ben go, we are immensely proud of everything he has accomplished and we know he will continue to do incredible things at the National level.

“I just feel so grateful for my time with Beat the Streets Philly and I’m really excited about what the future holds for Beat the Streets organizations across the country.”

Beat the Streets National was founded in 2017 to organize and focus the efforts of the BTS organizations in different cities across the country. “There are currently eleven accredited chapter organizations and collectively we’re serving 8,400 youth across the country,” Ben explained.

At Beat the Streets Philly, Ben was instrumental in growing our organization’s mentoring efforts and strengthening ties with strategic partners. And we know that he will continue these ambitious efforts at the national level.

“This next chapter for Beat the Streets National is about growing, getting new organizations off the ground, strengthening existing cities, and increasing girls participation,” Ben says. “It’s a really exciting time to be doing this.”

James Mangan, the Executive Director of Beat the Street Philadelphia, couldn’t be more proud of Ben’s accomplishments. “Ben is the right person for this job at National. I’ve gotten to work alongside Ben, and over that time Ben has matured as a nonprofit professional as a leader in this space.”

“Ben did a tremendous job locally at Philadelphia, in developing systems around expanding and growing our mentoring center and our partnerships,” reiterated James.

According to James, Ben helped grow the mentoring center from the early days, “And it took participation from about 20 to 25 kids, to north of 150 in a matter of one season. So that’s tremendous to me.”

While we will miss Ben here at BTS Philly, we know that he will always be a part of our family and he will never be far away from us. And he will work tirelessly towards our mission of altering life’s trajectory for thousands of student athletes across the country.

“I just feel so thankful, so grateful that I can go to sleep every night and I wake up every morning knowing that I’m going to work hard towards something that I full-heartedly believe in,” said Ben. “And I know that the effort I’m putting in is making a difference in this world. How many people have had that?”