Norwin coach spends summer racking up air miles, helping wrestlers to new heights

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, August 9, 2025 | 11:01 AM

When he finally walked in the door to his house in late July, Kyle Martin realized he’d only been home for 10 days since the end of May.

Norwin’s wrestling coach took a rock band-like road trip to coach and train youth wrestlers. It is what he does. What he enjoys. What he knows best.

“It’s been a wild summer,” he said.

After guiding the PA 16U team to a Greco Roman National Duals for the first time in over a decade in Salt Lake City, Martin went to Milwaukee for the Junior National Duals, along with one of his Norwin wrestlers, Luca Butera.

The Pennsylvania team won the Freestyle National Duals Championship for the first time, defeating Ohio for the title.

Martin packed his suitcase and headed for the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for the Pan Am and World Team Camp.

After that event, he came home for a week then went back to Colorado for acclimation camp and then headed to Peru for the U20 Pan Am Championships.

“Arizona State University coach Lee Pritts and I had a pretty incredible trip to get to Lima,” Martin said. “Instead of two flights and eight hours of travel, it took us five flights, an overnight stay in El Salvador and 30 hours to finally make it to Peru. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a foreign country with anyone but coach Pritts — he’s the man.”

Team USA won the U20 Freestyle Pan American Championships with eight champions and two third-place finishers.

After Lima, it was on to Fargo, N.D., where Martin and Team PA won the 16U and Junior National Championship for the first time.

Norwin’s Octavia Walker and Karsyn Champion represented the Knights on the 16U team. Josephine Dollman, on pace to return from an injury she sustained in February, represented the Knights at the junior age division.

Walker finished 1-2 while Champion won six matches and just missed the cut to become an All-American.

“I am so proud of their development over the last few months,” Martin said. “They are not just outstanding wrestlers; they are phenomenal people.”

Martin, the 16U director and head coach for Pennsylvania, an honor bestowed on him in 2018, has won a national title in Fargo every year since.

Appointed the mat director in 2023, Martin helped the 16U team to a seventh straight freestyle title and third consecutive national title.

Coleton Klipa, Nathan Klingensmith, Dom Butera and Noah Curren were on the 16U team, with Butera representing the Knights on the junior team.

“I cannot emphasize this enough,” Martin said. “There is no tougher high school tournament in the country. All of these guys may have come up short on earning All-American status, but they battled. Klipa overcame some back issues leading up to the event and wrestled tough. For Klingensmith, Curren and Dom Butera, I was extremely proud with their efforts in their first Fargo experience. Luca found himself in a really tough weight but fought hard. Again, incredibly proud of them getting out of their comfort zones and challenging themselves at this event.

“I am really excited to see how these guys will translate their work this summer into a successful winter season.”

The topper for Martin came as a bit of a surprise. He was named the USA Wrestling 16U/Junior Development Coach of the Year, an honor he did not accept lightly.

“I definitely do not coach for my own accolades or for any credit,” he said. “I coach because I love being around athletes trying to be great. I just want to play a microscopic role in their development as human beings. The world is sorely in need of great people; no other sport can better develop the types of leaders that can tackle all the crazy, nasty, tough things that life throws at you. My focus is and will always be on the athletes.

“This award is definitely one of the most meaningful accomplishments of my coaching career, and while I do not feel deserving of it, I am so appreciative of it.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin