After every victory on the mat, ASU wrestler Josiah Kline points both index fingers to the sky.
His reasoning? “I believe that anything and everything I do, all the glory goes to God,” he said.
Kline's faith has been a vital component to his overall growth as both an athlete and a young man, and he has carried it with him throughout his wrestling career. Up to this point, Kline said he is always seeking “spiritual growth” in his endeavors.
Originally from Missouri, he moved to Tucson for his senior year of high school at Ironwood Ridge, where his father, Joe Kline, is now the wrestling coach. A former wrestler himself, Joe saw his son's competitive fire early on and even tried to introduce him to karate before wrestling.
By the time he was 7-years-old, Kline made up his mind and chose to stick with wrestling because he found it as a way to cope with his Tourette syndrome.
“It just helped get all the energy out of me, to help control it,” Kline said. “It was my out.”
Now a sophomore at ASU, Kline has become a significant contributor to a talented group under Coach Zeke Jones.
Kline, a transfer from Pennsylvania’s Lock Haven University, will face off against his former team Friday. However, he has endured a bumpy journey to Tempe.
After graduating high school in 2016, Lock Haven offered Kline a delayed scholarship through a grayshirt, a process that postpones a student-athlete’s enrollment into a school.
During the 2016-17 academic year, Kline trained and wrestled in open tournaments with the Mat-Town USA Wrestling Club, an organization in Pennsylvania dedicated to help young wrestlers hone their skills.
Both Kline and his father thought this decision was the most practical and beneficial move for him in all aspects of his life.
“He was a very young senior,” Joe Kline said. “He graduated when he was 17. That gave him a chance to mature. We felt like it was a good time for him to use that time to get used to classes, a schedule and training.”
Kline then joined Lock Haven for the 2017-18 academic year and in his lone season with the Bald Eagles, he amassed an 11-8 record.
However, as the season progressed, Kline said he began to learn that his experience may not ultimately amount to what he and his family had envisioned. After just a year long stint at the school, Kline took his talents back to Arizona.
“I missed my family,” he said. “Not everything was going as well. There were some things that weren’t connecting with me and the coaches as well as I was wanting them to.”
The decision to transfer to ASU was not an easy one for Kline. He recognized the emergence of ASU as an elite wrestling program and felt that he could quickly establish himself as a solid option on the team — but there were no guarantees.
“It was a big step of faith,” Joe Kline said. “We communicated with the coaches. He pretty much came as a walk-on. He walked away from a scholarship at Lock Haven to get back close to home.”
While facing former teams can add an extra layer of motivation for some athletes, Kline said that he does not fall into that category. Instead, he views Friday’s dual meet as any other match.
But Joe Kline thinks otherwise, adding that “he’ll probably play it down but he really wants to beat Lock Haven."
Kline lived with an uncle during his brief tenure at Lock Haven and other members of his family still reside in the area.
Additionally, Kline will have quite the cheering section when he performs on his old stomping grounds, Joe Kline said, as family members ranging from grandparents to cousins will be in attendance Friday.
Kline has put together an 18-8 record so far this season for the Sun Devils, and his stellar outings lately have prompted Jones to keep him in the lineup. Last week, Jones praised Kline's efforts this season and emphasized his love for the sport.
“He’s really started to emerge as a top guy at 133 pounds,” Jones said. “He’s a great human being. He’s a great kid that loves to work hard and he’s getting better pretty fast, and he’s still got quite a bit of a career left so I think he can be a dark horse late in the season. He keeps improving.”
With two years of eligibility left, Kline is seeking to leave a lasting legacy within the program, both on and off the mat.
“I just want to be a positive role model and do the best I can and hope that the best I can give eventually could be a national title,” he said. “If you’re not going for the win, why are you competing?”
Reach the reporter at kmgianco@asu.edu and follow @Kaleb_Mart on Twitter.
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