Council Bluffs wrestling club founded by Olympian now spans five countries

Georgi Ivanov’s The Best Wrestler adds its 21st location in Montréal and aims for 200 locations in two years

The Best Wrestler, the youth wrestling club that Olympian Georgi Ivanov and his father, Ivan, started in McClelland in 2020, has grown to 21 locations in 12 states and five countries. Its headquarters remains in Council Bluffs at the Iowa West Field House. The club’s newest location, Kartal Wrestling Club in Montréal, is its first in Canada. Ivanov said the club serves more than 1,500 children a year and is the largest wrestling club in the world.

Ivanov, a 2008 Lewis Central graduate and two-time NCAA All-American at Boise State who wrestled for Bulgaria at the 2016 Olympics, plans for the club to be much larger soon. “Two hundred locations in two years,” he said, adding that 30 to 40 more locations are already in the works. The club’s international locations also include Lima, Peru, and Estonia, home of the Tallinn Open, which Ivanov said draws about 3,000 wrestlers from more than 40 countries. “To partner with them, I think opens the door for future opportunities,” he said.

Ivanov said the club grows by finding the right partners rather than the right places. Having been in wrestling his whole life, he said, he is “pretty much one connection away from anyone in the sport.” He looks for coaches who are proactive and driven to help as many children as possible. He said the expansion began after he realized that staying in one place would limit the families he could reach. “I’m not doing anyone favors by playing small in the world,” he said.

What sets the club apart, Ivanov said, is that it shares its methods and its success with its coaches. He and his father turned their approach to coaching into a written system that other coaches can learn and repeat. Unlike other multi-site clubs that pay coaches a set salary, he said, The Best Wrestler gives coaches the chance to grow their income as their locations grow. “In order for us to keep quality coaches, we have to make sure that they’re making a living,” he said.

Ivanov said wins and losses are not how the club measures success. “Wrestling is just a tool,” he said, describing the club’s mission as developing better people. He said measuring only championships would leave out children who are not as naturally gifted or who lack support at home. He said nearly every lesson the club now shares started at its first locations in Pottawattamie County.

Ivanov said his own path after the Olympics shaped that view. Like many top athletes, he said, he had defined himself as a wrestler and struggled to find a new identity when his competitive career ended. He said he went into debt and failed in a couple of businesses before finding his footing through books and mentors. “I know enough to know that I will always be learning and innovating and continuing to grow personally,” he said, “so then I can serve everyone else better.”