A Champion: Dr. Mark McLaughlin is building a future for Trenton youth wrestling

As co-founder of Trenton Youth Wrestling (TYW), Dr. Mark McLaughlin, a Princeton-based neurosurgeon, is making significant impacts beyond the operating room. He’s been a wrestling coach for more than two decades and has helped to create a platform that transforms lives by offering wrestling, mentoring and educational opportunities to Trenton children.

Wrestling as a tool for transformation

For McLaughlin, wrestling has always been more than a sport. When he was young, the discipline, responsibility and focus of the sport shaped his character.

“I learned that when I step out on the mat, I’m responsible for everything that happens in that event,” McLaughlin reflects. “That was a very powerful lesson for me to learn as a kid.”​

McLaughlin wrestled in high school and in college. He went on to medical school and became a neurosurgeon. And then when the married father of four had his own kids, he wanted to share the wisdom of the sport. He began coaching in Princeton. And that is where he met a family of young wrestlers from Trenton.

“I met Mark when I was seven or eight years old,” recalls Ray Bethea, “they didn’t have wrestling in Trenton, so my parents used to drive us to Princeton and Mark was the wrestling coach there.”

Wrestling opened doors previously unimaginable. Bethea says he and his six brothers grew up wrestling under McLaughlin’s guidance. As a coach, Bethea says he helped him level up.

“Mark brings a lot of energy, excitement and passion to the wrestling room, creating an environment where you want to match that energy,” says Bethea.​

His journey from Trenton to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a spot on the wrestling team and an Ivy League education, is a testament to the power of the sport.

“Wrestling really challenges me to be the best version of myself,” Bethea says​.

Today, Bethea serves as the director of operations for Trenton Youth Wrestling, giving back to the program that played a role in his success.

“I get to be a role model and serve my community in this way,” he says proudly​.

Empowering the next generation

With the help of the Bethea family, McLaughlin hopes to provide young people in Trenton an opportunity to engage in physical activity while learning essential life skills.

“There are 800 kids in third through eighth grade that don’t have an opportunity for a winter sport in Trenton,” McLaughlin notes. “They don’t have a place to vent their emotions or feel the camaraderie of a team.”​

His vision was to fill that gap with wrestling, creating a safe space for children to grow, both physically and emotionally.

One of the program’s rising stars is Princess Storm Woody, 17, a high school junior who initially didn’t think wrestling was for her.

“Honestly, I thought it was like WWE,” she laughs, but quickly learned that the sport was challenging and rewarding​.

With the encouragement of Ray and Mark, Princess joined the girls’ program and was part of its growth. She soon began to love the sport, finding purpose and community through her participation. Now, she competes at the high school level and aspires to wrestle in college and, possibly, in the Olympics.

“Wrestling has taken me to a lot of places,” says Woody. “I’ve traveled to Germany and Denmark to compete, and it’s opened up a whole new world for me.”

Her dreams extend beyond the mat. Woody says she hopes to follow in McLaughlin’s footsteps and become a surgeon.

And McLaughlin has full confidence in her abilities: “She’s got the talent and intelligence to earn a scholarship and be a huge success.”

Woody is not the only one. McLaughlin says girls wrestling has exploded in popularity over the past decade. He says now, nearly a quarter of the Trenton Youth Wrestling athletes are girls.

“Girls wrestling is the best thing that’s happened to wrestling in the last 10 years,” he says, “we’ve opened up our sport to a whole new population of people who are benefiting from it.”

Wrestling as a force for good

Trenton, with its predominantly low-income population and a graduation rate of just over 70%, is a city where youth need a safe place to burn off positive energy, explore new opportunities and find positive role models. McLaughlin sees wrestling as a way to provide that support.

“Wrestling can be the difference maker,” he asserts, recognizing the program gives kids a chance to find mentors, build confidence and develop crucial life skills​, as well as physical activity.

McLaughlin believes the sport can help young people channel their emotions.

“Anger, [for example], is part of life,” he says, “But you have to channel it in ways that’s going to be productive for you and the sport of wrestling really, really focuses on that.”

McLaughlin’s dedication to this cause is unwavering. He has been working to raise $4 million to build a state-of-the-art wrestling and learning center in downtown Trenton, near the Cure Insurance Arena.

“Our goal is to create a space where kids can come after school, get a workout, have a warm meal, and talk to a mentor,” he said. “It’s about giving them a safe place to hang out.”​

The power of community

For McLaughlin, the concept of service runs deep and it stems from his upbringing.

“I’m a servant,” McLaughlin said simply. “That’s really my main function in this world and I learned that early on when I was a kid.”​

McLaughlin’s passion for service was inspired by his grandfather, Francis Pizzi, a surgeon who practices in South Orange, New Jersey. He says he got his love of sports from his father, John, who instilled in him a love for physical fitness and perseverance. But McLaughlin notes that it was his wrestling coach, John Ceruto, who taught him to channel his emotions constructively and relentlessly pursue his goals​. McLaughlin is passing those lessons on to the next generation, helping them navigate life’s challenges with strength, resilience and purpose.

“Mark is unrelenting in his commitment to these students,” says Laurence Saul, businessman and avid WHYY listener who nominated McLaughlin for the Good Souls Project. “He’s never been in it for personal gain– he’s always been in it for the community.”

Saul has known McLaughlin for decades. He says they wrestled together in middle school.

“If there were more Marks in the world, it would be a much better place,” says Saul.

As Trenton Youth Wrestling grows, its impact on the community will become even more profound. With Bethea’s help, McLaughlin believes the opportunities provided by TYW will change lives.

“We’re going to impact more lives with this wrestling and learning center than I will ever have in my career as a doctor,” says McLaughlin.

If you know someone who has performed an act of kindness, whether it be big or small and you think they serve as an example of compassion, generosity and service, nominate them here: whyy.org/goodsoulsform.