Spencer Woods says he fell in love with wrestling when he was in second grade at Shungnak School. Growing up in rural Alaska, he had a choice between basketball or wrestling.
“I like the individuality of the sport, like, everything I do will either help me or hurt me,” Woods said. “If I train harder in practice, I win more matches. And that clicked in my brain pretty early.”
Woods started out with wrestling freestyle as a kid, but the 25-year-old now competes in the Greco-Roman style.
Woods grew up in Shungnak — a community of around 250 people — and later moved to the more populated but still remote city of Kotzebue. He said that shaped him as an athlete.
“In the lower 48, there's a common saying, ‘it takes a village,’” Woods said. “But no other athlete had to grow up the way I grew up. They don't know what it's like to be out at 40-below and chase caribou.”
After earning his bachelor's degree in biology, Woods joined the Army. He’s spent the last several years stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Woods is part of the World Class Athlete Program, which allows soldier-athletes to train and compete in high-level competitions like the Olympics and Paralympics while enlisted. Woods said the discipline of the Army and the program helped him focus.
“I just made a decision a long time ago that I was going to be the best wrestler that I can be, and so I said ‘yes’ to that,” Woods said. “So, I'm saying ‘no’ to all these different things.”
Woods said he has an intense training schedule, practicing at least four hours a day and six days a week. He’s already competed in two world championships and believes he has a good chance of making the U.S. Olympic team.
Woods said being able to compete at an international level has been his dream since he was in high school. He credits a lot of his success to support from the region and his parents.
Woods said although his training schedule is intense at the moment, he wants to return to the Northwest Arctic and encourage kids to keep going, even when times are tough.
“Every time I'm back home, I talk to the kids in Shungnak,” Woods said. “My story seems a little unbelievable to some, but if you're stubborn enough, you can do it.”
Woods will be at the wrestling Olympic Trials in Maryland later this week, where he will find out for certain if he will be going to the summer games in Paris.
