Jay JO LaValley founded JO Wrestling in 2018, in response to the lack of International Olympic Training opportunities in the United States. Jay's coaching philosophy and versatile athletic experiences serve a strong foundation for his year round Olympic Style Training Program and still remains just one of less than 5 in the US.  Based in Metro Washington DC, his unique perspective is derived from training with the best, competing at the highest level, and learning from the most regarded.  Developing strong/healthy individuals to become successful effective leaders is his number one priority.

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MULTI-SPORT HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE ATHLETE

• 1991-1995 high school XC/track: :54.9 quarter mile, 2:14 half mile, 4:39 mile, 15:54 5k, 27:49 5 mile, 18'-6" long jump

  • wrestling sophomore & junior year, placed at high school state tournament junior year

• 1995-2000 wrestled freshman year at University of Massachusetts Lowell (program discontinued 1998)

  • ran cross country, indoor/outdoor track at UMass Lowell :49.5 quarter mile, 1:52 half mile (NCAA Qualifier), 25:38 5 mile

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POST COLLEGIATE TRACK COMPETITION/TRANSITION TO WRESTLING

• 2000-2005 earned a sponsorship with PowerBar Elite and Reebok Boston: 4:11 mile, 14:45 3mi, 1:12 1/2mar., 1:36 18mi, 1:55 20mi

• 2005-2007 transitioned back to wrestling; worked with Granit Taropin at Harvard University who trained the Russian Olympic Gold Medalists Beloglazov twins; learned from collegiate head coaches Carl Adams of Boston University and Jay Weiss of Harvard and Tom Layte of Massachuetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

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SENIOR LEVEL WRESTLING/TRANSITION TO  COACHING

• 2007-2012 trained with Olympian Cary Kolat in Baltimore, MD, competed at 60kg from 2007-2009

  • mentored by Kolat and eventually took the reigns to Kolat Wrestling Club in 2009

  • assisted in the programming of hundreds of elite Mid-Atlantic wrestlers through the club/camp system that Kolat created including Kyle Snyder, Joey McKenna, Jack Clark, Myles Martin, Chance Marsteller, Josh Llopez, Mason Manville, Fredy Stroker, the Kraisser brothers,

 

LEADERSHIP

• 2012-2017 appointed to the Chairmanship of Maryland USA Wrestling in 2012, for six years and served on the board for nearly ten.

  • launched massive grassroot efforts across the state; created the 1st All Girls’ State Tournament with 80 and 90 participants

  • directed the Path to Fargo program, earned 102 All Americans including record high 23 in 2012, 5th place Junior Greco in 2013, 8th place Cadet Freestyle in 2013 both in Fargo, as well as 8th place Schoolboy Duals in 2011.

 

PREVIOUS COACHING

• 2007-2017 National Team Coach for Team Maryland, including 4 Fargo National Champions, Snyder, Llopez, Daniel, Brooks

• 2013-2018 Assistant Coach at national perennial Mount Saint Joseph High School where he still serves as an off season coach.

• 2013-2016 Club Coach for DC Athletic Club at American University in Washington DC

• 2018-2020 Nova Wrestling Club Head Coach serving the immediate DC-MD-VA area.

• 2018-2021 Beat the Streets DC Programming Director providing services and coaching in urban areas with no wrestling

 

2018 to CURRENT​

• Cliff Keen Athletic sponsorship, the oldest wrestling apparel company in the world and presents weekly Technique Clips.

• JO Wrestling founder and owner, liaison with the Korean National Team for foreign exchange and developed an elite training group with Senior Level athletes vying for Olympic/World Team spots for Korea, Philippines, Puerto Rico, United States, Mongolia, Azerbaijan and train Mixed Martial Artist fighters as well as professional runners.  Train athletes virtually on 6 continents and over 30 countries!

• Suples partnership to meet athlete and coach demand for high quality training equipment

• DopamineO partnership to connect high quality resistance bands with athletes who want high quality training

• Gumroad Membership site helped organize all new content and archive older YouTube videos

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JO Wrestling was developed in 2018 to recognize Jay's Korean name/birthplace with strong wrestling tradition.