Glen Ellyn man offers hope with wrestling

In neighborhoods where violence and low expectations can imprison kids, Brian Giffin of Glen Ellyn says he has a key to their success.

"Great wrestling is an art," says Giffin, 40, who recently became president of the Beat the Streets Wrestling Program in Chicago, which uses wrestling as a positive outlet for kids starting in fifth grade. "It's a beautiful thing to watch."

But wrestling is so much more than a spectator sport. Giffin says wrestling has the ability to change lives.

That life-altering, emotional power has been on display this past week with the story of Anthony Robles, the Arizona State wrestler who was born with one leg and capped off his undefeated season last Saturday by winning an NCAA championship. In the movie theaters, director Tom McCarthy's new film, "Win Win," stars a real teenage wrestler alongside actors Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan in a story that illustrates the way wrestling can add stability to chaotic lives.

The sport teaches determination, passion, patience, strategy, smarts, discipline and sportsmanship, says Giffin, who grew up in Geneva and whose family roots date back to the beginning of many DuPage County suburbs. His father, Forest Giffin, wrestled at Wheaton Central High School under legendary coach Ed Ewoldt, and his uncles Ron, Ray and Mike Stefan also found success through wrestling.

"Fourteen of our past presidents were wrestlers," says Giffin, alluding to people such as Abe Lincoln, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and U.S. Grant. Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert often notes that his success in politics came in part because of the lessons learned as a wrestler and then as a coach who took his Yorkville High School to the state championship.

Spending much of his childhood as a "mat rat," Giffin stopped wrestling in high school to concentrate on football, which he played in college before going on to graduate from DePaul University. But he never lost his passion for wrestling.

"The reality is once you have it in you, it never leaves you," says Giffin. "It's just a work ethic that takes over your athleticism."

Many people think wrestling is the violent TV entertainment with behemoth men and buxom women taunting opponents, sneaking in dirty punches and even smashing chairs over each other.

"That's a tragedy," says Giffin, who says the wrestling he promotes "does the exact opposite."

"We want to be recognized with the Olympics and that Olympic spirit," Giffin says. "Violence is not a part of our sport at all. There are no punches, no body slams. It's the only sport where you start every match by shaking hands and end every match by shaking hands."

A former operations manager for the Kane County Cougars, Giffin eventually worked for a candy company in New York City. But the father of two (Chloe, 17, and Brennan, 14) continued to work with kids. He started the Downtown Giants Youth Football & Cheer in lower Manhattan and began volunteering seven years ago as a wrestling coach with the Beat the Streets program in New York City. After leading that program in New York, Giffin returned to take over the Chicago charity at the start of 2011.

Beat the Streets has wrestling programs at 18 elementary schools in the city now, and Giffin says the agency wants to expand that to 60 schools in the next four years.

"We're hoping as it continues on in the city, we'll be able to nurture the growth of wrestling in the suburbs," he says, noting the wrestling teams become "havens" for kids. The skills they learn aren't just about escaping difficult holds and reserving positions on the mat.

"The goal isn't to win championships," Giffin says. "The goal is to put kids in a better position to advance their lives."