Wrestler from Shungnak featured by NBC’s Soldier Spotlight series

For a wrestler from Shungnak, Spencer Woods, being a soldier and an athlete go hand in hand.

Woods is a wrestler in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, which allows athletes to perform at the international level while also serving in the military. This year, Woods missed the Olympic opportunity but shared his story of falling in love with the sport with NBC Universal’s Soldier Spotlight series that premiered this month.

“It’s spectacular. I’ve been receiving a lot of love and support from friends and family who I haven’t talked to in a long time,” Woods said about his NBC feature. “I owe a lot to the army, I owe a lot to army WCAP, and I feel very privileged to be able to be a part of something like that NBC promotional video.”

Wrestling has been a part of Woods’ life since he was in second grade. Initially excited to try out the sport that he saw on TV, Woods said he came to his first practice in Shungnak only to find out there was no ring, no ladder or cool costumes — just an old yellow mat out in the middle of the gym. Woods said he wanted to quit after the first day but decided to give the activity his full effort. By the end of the season, his perception drastically changed: He saw that he was able to solidify his moves and move forward as a wrestler.

“It was my first year of wrestling, you know, it wasn’t anything spectacular, but in my mind, I was able to see myself from not knowing anything about the sport to be like, ‘OK, in order to win, I have to do this,’” he said. “I was sold. I was like, ‘All right, this is who I am. This is what I want to be.”

A sense of belonging and an ability to make new like-minded friends in various Alaska villages was another aspect of wrestling that enticed Woods.

“It’s just like a cool sense of adventure but you all have that same wrestling passion,” he said.

Woods wrestled for Shungnak and Kotzebue, winning two state championships and a team state championship. He then went to the University of Maryland, and his collegiate career took him across the country and to Austria, Panama, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Denmark.

Wrestling across Alaska is in a way similar to wrestling on an international scale for Woods, he said. Many of his teammates grew up wrestling, with their dads driving them long distances to different towns to compete. But in rural Alaska, you need to hop on a little bush plane and fly for tens or hundreds of miles for the tournaments.

“The only thing that has changed for me is the competition’s a little harder and the planes are a little bigger,” he said.

Growing up, Woods mostly practiced collegiate wrestling, but at the University of Maryland, he also tried Greco-Roman wrestling, or the Olympic style.

“I kind of had a little bit more enjoyment out of that and that’s where the Olympic dream started,” he said.

After Woods transferred to Northern Michigan University, he received the attention of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program where members train as soldiers but also as athletes, competing throughout the year and aiming for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This year, five soldiers from the program were selected for Team USA.

Woods said being an athlete in the program comes with increased maturity and responsibility.

“I have to make sure everything in my life is squared away, so it doesn’t affect wrestling, and that includes my army career, my personal life,” he said. “There’s a culture of mature soldiers and everyone’s a leader.”

In December, Woods won his third U.S. Open, which allowed him to participate in the Olympic qualifier in Mexico. Then, he lost 3-1 to Payton Jacobson of Wisconsin in the 87kg division.

“No one likes to lose, really, but, you know, I’m a professional. I did everything in my training. ... It’s just the competitor that I lost to, you know, he’s just a better wrestler that day. It is an important day but it doesn’t define who I am as an athlete,” Woods said. “Wrestling is a grueling and unforgiving sport. It’s very challenging. And, you know, if you just won all the time, it wouldn’t be fun.”

Woods said he plans to continue to strive for the Olympic Games in 2028, but the sport also means more to him than winning medals.

“Coming out of Shungnak, Alaska, there’s a great deal of adversity. .. It’s just something that I sacrificed a lot and made a choice to try to become the best champion I can be,” he said. “It can be applied to whatever aspiration you have, and my dream is, I want to be a positive role model, someone that kids can look up to, that other soldiers can look up to and be like, ‘It could be possible as crazy as everything may seem. No dream is too big.’”