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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 student– athlete. 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.’”