EAST BRADY — Cooper Miller, Myles and Blake McCully are youngsters involved in many sports.

Wrestling was not among them — until now.

Their fathers — Jamie Miller and Greg McCully — have formed the Devil Dogs Wrestling Club in East Brady. They use the gym in the old East Brady High School (now a community center) each Monday night to work with youths ages 6-13.

The club has only existed for three weeks and its membership has already reached approximately 25 kids.

“That's primarily been through word of mouth,” Miller said. “We're in the process of getting another room in the school that would be available to us every night.”

That transition is expected to happen soon.

“Once it does, we'll get flyers out to the elementary schools (in the Karns City district) and really get the word out there,” McCully said.

Karns City High School does not offer a wrestling program. Miller's son, Cooper — who also plays hockey, football, baseball and soccer — is 7. McCully's sons are 10 and 12 years old and play soccer.

Both parents are hopeful that Karns City will have a high school wrestling program before their boys graduate.

“That's the ultimate goal,” McCully admitted. “But even if this never makes it that far, we're hoping other interested parents take over this youth program when we're done and it continues to grow.

“We want our kids exposed to wrestling. It's the best sport in terms of teaching a kid self-discipline, how to deal with failure and rely on himself. Kids come off the mat crying after losing a wrestling match and that's OK. The experience is invaluable.”

Miller said he was told by Karns City High School that a sport must be established at the youth level within the district for three years before a proposal to add it to the high school athletic program can be taken to the school board.

“The district would have to determine whether it has the space and budget to form a wrestling team,” Miller said. “And, of course, the student interest has to be there.”

The Devil Dogs Wrestling Club — named after the Karns City Blue Devil and East Brady Bulldog youth football teams — had 15 youths, including one girl, come to the initial session earlier this month. Five more have joined since and another five are expected at the next session.

“Greg and I wanted to form this club to expose as many kids in the area to wrestling as we can,” Miller said. “We've had to find a facility, get the mats, set up insurance, a bank account, all of that.”

McCully, 41, was a 100-win high school wrestler in Indiana County. He got one of the mats from Rob Waller's wrestling club in Latrobe and found two others on Facebook.

“We got pretty good deals on all three, but paid for them out of our own pockets,” McCully said. “This venture is important to us.”

Eventually, they hope to attend a Karns City school board meeting and make a presentation about the sport and the positive addition it can be.

But that's down the road.

“This is only step one,” Miller said. “Wrestling is individual, it's all about accountability and personal growth and discipline.

“I want that for my son and I know others want the same.”