COACHES
Head Coach, Justin Yodice
Licenses: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), NYS Professional Coaching License, CPR/AED, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Coach Yodice is the Head Wrestling Coach of Ironside Wrestling and hosts the Commack Claw Club. Coach Yodice has over 10 years of experience coaching for the Commack School District. Throughout the years, Coach Yodice has mentored numerous National, State, County, and League Champions that have gone on to compete in the NCAA (DI, DII & DIII) or JUCO. Many athletes also attended IVY League Schools. Beyond the mat, these young men went on to have extremely successful careers as well.
As a wrestler, Coach Yodice brings over 15+ years of experience. In his youth, he was a local wrestler for Commack and wrestled year-round with Kings Park’s “Journey Wrestling” club under the tutelage of Jack Magnani & Clark Crespi. As a high school wrestler, Coach Yodice was known for his physical, pin-to-win, style. As a senior, Yodice recorded a 70% pin-finish rating. Some notable achievements in cadet and junior competitions include multiple All-State Freestyle/Greco-Roman Honors & an All-Region in Greco-Roman Honor. After High School Coach Yodice continued competing in wrestling in the Open Division at tournaments, notably earning All-Region Honors in Greco-Roman.
In early 2015, Coach Yodice started his MMA career and competed in the Aggressive Combat Sports promotion. Following his first fight, Coach Yodice began developing his boxing/kickboxing skills and started training at the prestigious Bellmore Kickboxing MMA academy, coached by Keith Trimble. In 2017, Coach Yodice competed in the Triton Fights promotion, later renamed Flex Fights. Utilizing his strong wrestling background and well diversified disciplines, Coach Yodice brings a unique style of coaching. Whether your child is a beginner/advanced or younger/older, Coach Yodice’s philosophies are tailored to their individualized needs.
Off the Mat: Justin Yodice is an American Human Rights Advocate and Co-Founder of the Nonprofit Organization, Atlantic Counter Trafficking (ACT). ACT is dedicated to ending Human Trafficking by providing actionable intelligence on trafficking networks to Law Enforcement. Justin is also a volunteer EMT for his community’s ambulance corp, where he has been serving for over 7 years. In 2017, Justin attended the Zicklin School of Business pursuing a degree in Finance.
Asst. Coach, JP Puca
Coach Puca has been involved with wrestling for over 16 years. He has competed at the collegiate level and has coached for the past 6 years. While in college, he was a starter for SUNY Cortland and he achieved All-Region and Scholar All-American honors. In high school, Coach Puca was an All-State and 3x All-County wrestler for Huntington. He finished his high school career with the 3rd most wins (169) in his school’s history. For the past 6 years, Coach Puca has been giving back to the wrestling community by coaching youth programs such as the Blue Wave Wrestling Club and a youth wrestling program at Cortland. He has hosted clinics, volunteer practices, and private lessons as well.
Combining passion & knowledge
Coach Puca is an elementary physical education teacher with NASM certifications in personal training, nutrition, and corrective exercise specialization. Coach Puca is well versed in health and wellness knowledge. Through experience and rigorous study he has obtained the knowledge of what it takes to physically prepare for athletic competition. Coach Puca is currently working towards his Masters of Arts in Health Education and Promotion.
DEDICATION
Coach Yodice dedicates Ironside Wrestling to his late friend, Nick Weber. Ironside strives to embody everything Nick stood for; Strength, Courage, Commitment, Love, Compassion, Generosity and much much more.