The trip to Fargo for the 2024 USA Wrestling Junior and 16U National Championships provided a start and ending for Kevin Carey.
The Nixa High School assistant wrestling coach attended the tournament not only as a referee for the first time but he was also as a coach/dad for the last time.
Carey had been a referee off and on for the past 20 years, but this was the first time he had officiated at Fargo.
“You know, I learned a ton, not just as an official, and obviously being on both sides of the whistle as a coach and an official,” Carey said. “In the past, I’ve always kind of taken a different perspective as an official, but this being at Fargo, which is obviously the largest wrestling tournament … it gives you a little different perspective of the intensity that when you’re on the other side of that whistle.”
Carey said the experience as a referee will only help him as a coach.
He said this was his first big international style tournament in terms of Greco-Roman and freestyle and it was a ‘learn as you go’ type of deal that started with the girls’ tournament and then the boys’ junior and Cadet freestyle division.
Late in his week-plus stay in Fargo, he then turned into Coach Carey for Greco-Roman and was in the corner for his son, Brennan, a Nixa graduate that is headed to Northern Michigan to wrestle.
Carey said it was a little different this time juggling both duties. In the past as a coach, he would often spend 10 to 12 hours in the arena but only always working that entire time.
“I’ll be honest with you, by the end of the days officiating, I was worn smooth,” Carey said. “It is honestly harder than coaching because you don’t have the downtime. You’re just constantly going for 10-11, hours. But it was really fun, and it was refreshing to like, I said, see the other side of that whistle.”
Carey got into officiating as a way to give back to the sport and has been on the mat when he can when he isn’t coaching wrestling or football.
“I enjoy wrestling; I always have and the more times I can be around it, be on the mat, you know, the better because I’m always learning,” Carey said. “My plan is to go back to Fargo next year as an official. I’m gonna work a lot more … many more international tournaments between now and then; just to continue to improve. With that being the largest wrestling tournament in the world, I’m pretty adamant in my belief that we should have the best officials there. Obviously being an experienced official, I want to improve my craft, so that I give those kids my best and those coaches my best when I’m out there as an official.”
Carey has coached high school or college sports for the past 27 years and most of the ones at the high school level involved coaching wrestling as well.
He’s coached at two spots in Georgia out of college before moving to Tuttle, Oklahoma, where he did football and wrestling. He’s also coached both football and wrestling at Carl Junction and Nixa.
His college stops in football included Ottawa University, Hasting College, Cisco Junior College, Missouri Southern State University (twice), East Central University and Nicholls State University.
Carey was the head football coach at Frontenac, Oklahoma and was the head wrestling coach at Carl Junction during his tenure.
Now, he’s an assistant wrestling coach at Nixa under Dustin Martin and plans on helping with the junior high school and high school program.
“I love it here,” Carey said. “It’s a great place to work and a great school district.”
One of his biggest moments as a coach was when his son Brennan won the 215-pound title in Class 4 in 2023.
That turned out to be the last time he coached Brenanan at Nixa. This past year, Carey trained Combat Wrestling Club in Blue River, Wisconsin while doing online school.
The trip to Fargo provided what was the final chance to be in the corner with Brennan.
“He’s moving on to bigger and better things, but it was good for one last time on the mat together,” Carey said. “But I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes at Northern Michigan.”
