Zach Kokinda was willing to go far and wide when it came to finding the best wrestling competition.

He still is.

But Kokinda wanted to bring the competition closer to home, and create a culture centered around development on and off the mat.

His passion became a family project that resulted in the Rush Wrestling Club in Hometown - which is focuses on advanced youth level boys and girls wrestlers.

“Both of my kids - I have a son (Cole) and a daughter (Aubrey) who are twins - wrestle and we have been a part of the Tamaqua school program for years,” said Kokinda. “But we always were looking for extra practices, and more competition. You know, as my kids started to excel in the sport, we started traveling and hitting some clubs outside of the area. The reason why we hit clubs outside the area was mainly because we had no clubs inside the area. They either had to go to Wilkes-Barre where there’s numerous clubs, or you had to go to Lehigh Valley. So, and we were doing that for years. We have been driving up to Wilkes-Barre since my kids were eight-years-old.”

So Kokinda found a way to make wrestling year-round easier for his family and the community.

“Two years ago, my wife and I bought a building in Hometown on Route 309,” he said. “We bought it with the hopes of turning it into a day care. But when we were doing the renovations to get everything up to code, I was looking at the basement of the building and thinking, ‘wow, it would be awesome to roll out some (wrestling) mats down here.’

“At that time, the person at the club my kids were wrestling at ended up losing his building and he offered me the mats. So I took them and put them in the basement of our building and then started to run in my own practices. We’ve probably been doing it for about 18 months now, and it’s kind of taken off.”

The group of youngsters who joined the club haven’t only been dedicated, but they have been successful as well.

“Wrestling is a tough sport, and it’s hard to keep kids at it,” said Kokinda. “But we have we have a pretty solid group now, and we’ve been having some success at the state level tournaments. My daughter, Aubrey, actually won the state tournament.”

Aubrey Kokinda recently placed first at the Pennsylvania Junior State Wrestling Tournament in Pittsburgh. She won the girls 12-and-under, 66-pound class, earning a 6-4 decision win in the championship bout.

“It’s really rewarding. You have to do lots of work,” said Aubrey, who is in sixth grade. “It’s made me stronger.”

Aubrey made it to the state finals four years ago and lost 4-3, but bounced back the following year to win the title. She fell in the finals two years ago 3-2, but reclaimed her title this season.

“It’s the best feeling in the world to see your kid come off the mat, knowing that all that work that they just put in all year long was worth it,” said Zach Kokinda. “I think the thing that makes it so much more rewarding is knowing what they’ve done, to get to that point.”

In addition to Aubrey, the club had several other qualifiers and medalists. Brylan Zerbe (8U) was a 75-pound state champion, while Brezlynn Hertzog (6U Girls, 41 pounds) and Bryson Bistline (8U, 65 pounds) each placed sixth, and Rylan Reitz (12U, 95 pounds) was eighth. Case Symons (6U, 45 pounds), Keegan Sullivan (8U, 55 pounds), Blake Brassington (8U, 75 pounds), George Skripko (8U, 110 pounds), Wes Melocheck (10U, 70 pounds), Thiere Kershetsky (10U, 95 pounds) and Cole Kokinda (12U, 70 pounds) were also state qualifiers.

“They’re the ones putting the work in,” said Zach Kokinda. “I’m setting a foundation, and laying out their schedules for what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. But they’re the ones putting the work in.”

The club operates all year round and has wrestlers that range in age from six-through-13 years old. Sessions are currently two days a week, (Monday and Wednesday from 5:30-7:30 p.m.) with a focus on a lot of conditioning, technique, and live practice. Kokinda, who still takes his kids to other clubs, such as Mat Assassins, said his room maxes out around 25 kids.

As far as competition, he estimates his kids wrestle over 100 matches in a school year, typically going to two tournaments a weekend, competing at events such as the Tyrant Duals in Lancaster and NHSCAs in Virginia this month, as well as other big national duals.

Kokinda praised the dedication of the wrestlers and their families for making the club so successful.

“It’s definitely a team effort,” said Zach. “Starting with the parents and the siblings, and then the rest of the teammates with the club who help each other get ready.”

Kokinda - a Panther Valley graduate who played football, baseball and basketball in high school after wrestling for two just years in elementary school - has dedicated himself to continually learning more about the sport.

“I definitely fell in love with wrestling,” he said. “I’ve tried to do everything I could to get up to speed with the sport and learn and understand as much as I could about it.”

He knows the importance and impact the club can have on the area, and hopes this is just beginning.

“I’m just excited to hopefully get more kids involved from our area,” Kokinda said. “I’d like this thing to stay around.

“The goal is to eventually be able to build a bigger building if things keep going the way they are. I hope it just keeps growing, and it keeps getting our area kids better,”

Thanks to the effort and dedication of Zach Kokinda, they’re off to a great start.