Jabari Irons wins 90 kg title at Barbados Open in beach wrestling

Author: Zach Oliveri
Published: Updated:

Jabari Irons can’t stay off the mat. Even when he’s not competing, he’s teaching wretling to kids through his Iron’s Elite Wrestling Club. The sport became a passion for him after a dirt bike crash as a teenager sidelined him from football.

“I could have contact again but not that much contact,” Irons explained. “So we were in the neighborhood doing MMA with my friends and they pretty much said well I’m going to beat you all cause I’m on the wrestling team.”

And the sport became Irons’ outlet, as he saw the parallels between the sport and his own life.

“If I can overcome on the mat, then I can overcome it in life. Because life is a wrestling match,” Irons said.

Wrestling got him through not one, but two times in his life when he was homeless. Once in high school and again in college.

“When I stepped on the mat, it was like all of my problems disappeared,” Irons recalled.

“And once practice is over, real life starts to creep in,” Irons said. “I just remember sitting against the mats and just crying cause like reality is setting back in. It’s like where am I going to go?”

The answer? Back on the mat.

In November, Irons went to the Barbados Open with Team USA and won the 90 kg title in Beach Wrestling.

Proof the power of positive thinking works!

“I feel like I’m not exceptional or I’m not extraordinary, I feel like each and everyone of us has the power to do the same,” Irons explained. “It’s just about your mindset. Are you open to the same? Are you open to reaching your full potential?”

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.