Before you sign your kid up for MMA, karate, or jiu jitsu, know this: only one combat sport comes with a school team, a state championship, and college scholarship money. It’s wrestling — and the area’s most credentialed wrestling coaches are in Somerset, ten minutes from anywhere in Fall River.
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No contract. No sales pitch. $100/month unlimited if your kid loves it.
If you want your kid to learn judo, find a judo club. Jiu jitsu? Find a BJJ club. But if you want your kid to learn how to wrestle — to take someone down, control them, and never be the one on their back — you don’t go to an MMA gym that teaches a little bit of everything. You go to a wrestling club.
Wrestling is a specific skillset, built over thousands of hours of drilling under people who lived it. At Shamrock, every coach on the mat is a champion in this exact sport. Not a striking coach who “also covers takedowns.” Wrestlers, teaching wrestling, the way it’s taught in the rooms that produce state champions.
That’s the whole pitch. Specialists beat generalists — on the mat and in coaching.
There is no NCAA karate. No NCAA jiu jitsu. No NCAA MMA. No NAIA versions of them either. A black belt is an accomplishment — but no college will pay your child’s tuition for it.
Wrestling is different. It’s a scholarship sport across three collegiate systems, at hundreds of colleges — for a sport your kid can start this week.
And it’s not just for boys. Women’s wrestling is the fastest-growing high school sport in America and is now an official NCAA championship sport. There have never been more college opportunities for girls in wrestling than right now.
Our founder lived this. Andrew Fallon signed a full NCAA Division I athletic scholarship out of high school and finished with an MBA — paid for by wrestling. That’s not a story we read somewhere. That’s the guy running practice.
Walk into any high school gym in Massachusetts and look up. There are banners for wrestling. There are none for karate, BJJ, or MMA — because schools don’t sponsor them.
Wrestling is a varsity sport. Your child can wrestle for their school, compete in MIAA sectionals and state championships, letter in it, captain the team, and put their name on a banner that hangs in that gym for the rest of their life.
A membership at a private gym ends when you stop paying. A state title never comes off the wall.
Club wrestling at Shamrock is what feeds that: the kids who train year-round at a club are the ones winning sectionals, states, and New Englands when the school season starts.
Spend one Saturday at a youth wrestling tournament and you’ll see it: kids from different towns sitting together in the stands between matches, families cheering for each other’s wrestlers, older kids coaching up younger ones.
Wrestling gives your kid a team in middle school, a team in high school, and a room full of people who hold them accountable in between. The friendships built drilling side by side at ten years old are the same ones standing next to them at graduation.
Every martial arts school promises confidence, discipline, and focus — it’s the same script on every website. Wrestling doesn’t promise those things. It requires them. They’re not printed on a t-shirt; they’re what’s left over after a few hundred practices.
Come watch. Let them try it. Worst case, you’ve lost an hour. Best case, you just found the sport that carries them through high school — and pays for college.
| What your kid gets | Wrestling | MMA / BJJ / Karate |
|---|---|---|
| School varsity sport (MIAA sanctioned) | ✔ Yes | ✘ No |
| State championships & banners | ✔ Yes | ✘ No |
| NCAA D-I & D-II scholarship money | ✔ Yes | ✘ No |
| NAIA scholarship money | ✔ Yes | ✘ No |
| Punches, kicks, or submissions | None | Depends on the gym |
| A team your kid competes for | ✔ School + club | Individual gym |
| Monthly cost | $100 unlimited | Often $130–$200+ |
“If you want to learn jiu jitsu, go to a BJJ club. If you want to learn judo, go to a judo club. If you want to learn how to wrestle — go to a wrestling club.”
No other wrestling club in the Fall River area puts credentials like these on the mat at every practice: multiple high school state championships, a New England Championship, a Senior All-American, and a full-scholarship NCAA Division I career.
Started wrestling at six, driving from Fall River to Rhode Island because no local club existed. He built Shamrock so your kid doesn’t have to make that drive. Read his Durfee-to-D-I story →
Swansea native. As a coach he’s mentored sectional and state champions and multiple New England qualifiers — the exact path your kid would follow.
The coach your K–5 kid learns stance, discipline, and composure from — on the mat and off it.
An 8th grader from Fall River wrestled varsity for Durfee — then left high school with a full NCAA Division I scholarship: tuition, room, board, all of it. We have the signed grant document. It’s the clearest proof of where this sport can take a Fall River kid.
Read the Durfee Story →120 Slades Ferry Ave, Somerset, MA — minutes from Fall River and Swansea.
501(c)(3) nonprofit · USA Wrestling member club · Full program & pricing details →
Takes 30 seconds. Tell us your kid’s grade so we point you to the right session.
Usually within a few hours — day, time, and everything you need to know.
Shorts, a t-shirt, and a water bottle. We handle the rest. Parents welcome to watch.
We got it. Watch your phone — we’ll text you everything you need for your kid’s first free practice.
Can’t wait? Text us right now at 508-784-7505.
Rather just talk? Call or text 508-784-7505. Texts always get answered — and if we miss your call, leave a message and we’ll call you back.
Wrestling has no punches, no kicks, and no submissions. It’s a controlled grappling sport with certified coaches, padded mats, and strict supervision — and at the youth level, technique and position are taught long before live competition.
Our youth program starts at kindergarten. Grades K–5 practice Tuesday and Thursday from 6:00–7:00 PM; grades 6–12 train 7:00–8:30 PM. Saturday private lessons are available by appointment.
No. Most kids who walk in have never wrestled. Every state champion started with a first practice.
Yes. Girls’ wrestling is the fastest-growing high school sport in the country, and women’s wrestling is now an official NCAA championship sport — the college opportunities for girls have never been bigger.
Wrestling is a scholastic and Olympic sport built around takedowns and control — no striking, no submissions. It’s the only martial art sponsored by public schools, with MIAA state championships and NCAA/NAIA college scholarships.
120 Slades Ferry Ave in Somerset — about 10 minutes from anywhere in Fall River and 5 from Swansea. First practice is free: call or text 508-784-7505.
Tuesday or Thursday. Bring shorts, a t-shirt, and a water bottle. We’ll handle the rest.
Some images on this page are AI-generated illustrations, marked “AI Generated.” All program, coaching, pricing, and scholarship information is real and current.
