By Bianco Monteiro
Ryan Mulcahy is a 30 year old high school Bio and AP Environmental teacher. Students who have had Mulcahy as a teacher know he is very calm and lenient. But behind all the calm is a big storm – Mulcahy is a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter. Who would have thought that this reserved man would be a fighter?
“It all started in college” explains Mulcahy. The college he chose did not allow him to participate in sports, which made him let go of his favorite sport football. Mulcahy states, “I had a big gap in my free time,” and therefore he joined a wrestling club at an MAA gym. With this new found hobby, he was able to obtain a membership, simply giving it a try, not realizing that in time, he would fall in love with the sport. Mulcahy explains that he got really involved in submission grappling. This type of wrestling is “choking and joint manipulation” which makes your opponent quit or tap out early. Although Mulcahy is not at the moment practicing submission grappling, but he did state that “it will be ongoing for the rest of [his] life”.
His love for wrestling brought him to an entire new level–coaching. He began coaching when he first started teaching at OA 6 years ago, because he believed that he “had grappling for quite a while”. Mulcahy’s idea was to help out “a few days” but that turned into a week, and then before he knew it “[he] became the main technique teacher, and [started running] practice”. Now coaching Varsity, “the team has won the league title every year”. To win, the team must have a great coach and Mulcahy definitely delivers every year. He recalls that “the kids that wrestle are the kids [he] is closest with in the school,” something unique and rare thing to find. Most individuals get a job to make money although they may hate the job but not Mulcahy. He loves teaching and the fact that it even has bonuses such as coaching a sport he loves dearly makes the job even more worthwhile.
Along with coaching wrestling he also coaches Freshman football. Mulcahy explains that this came naturally because “[he] always knew [he] would coach football because it was a massive part of [his] life.” How is he so sure? He comes a family of football- captains and coaches, his father, brother, and 7 uncles. Why freshman though? “Freshman football is very separate, you are your own separate team. His goals were “to coach [his] own team, [so he could then] address areas of [his] own coaching” that needed improvement. Although many people tend to shy away from Freshman, Mulcahy is not afraid to take on a challenge.
Mulcahy recently got married and explains that “it is pretty much the same” because they for four years and [they] lived together for a while”. Their only child is a dog named “Mr. Nipper”.
Mulcahy feels teaching “is very important” – it is his motivation and he “never gets bored”. He has had “such a positive experience” in the educational world and wants to share his practice with other kids who would love to go into teaching. Mulcahy states, “As a kid, you are experiencing class, but it does not show you all the work you have to do. Anytime you can get into teaching, observe, and focus on what the teacher is doing, the rolls are totally different, the student does not see what is actually going on”.
Fighter, Teacher, Coach, Husband, Role Model that is Ryan Mulcahy.