Early judo instruction boosts Heller brothers
When the Pitt wrestling team goes on a road trip, there’s one bag that stands out among the others.
Sitting among a field of wrestling bags and black suitcases is a rather large pink one. The Heller brothers, Holden and Reece, share the bag.
Holden, 23, swears that it’s because their mother, Nancy, accidentally took the second suitcase the pair used previously after dropping them off at Pitt. It’s a giant suitcase so it works for two people, but Holdenwas a bit embarrassed because of the color.
Before the first road trip of the season, he asked teammate Cole Matthews to bring extra backpacks for the Hellers, so they wouldn’t have to bring the suitcase.
“Everybody was talking about how we were packing extra light,” Holden said. “I was like, ‘Screw it. I’m bringing the suitcase next time.’ So, we package everything into the suitcase, and it works perfectly. It gets the job done. At this point, everybody loves it.”
It’s not abnormal for the brothers to share things. Holden and Reece have practically been inseparable their entire lives. They shared a bedroom and bunk beds while their older siblings, Sage and Willow, had their own rooms.
They’d swap books — the Percy Jackson series being a favorite — and have lightsaber battles in the basement.
They’d even host mock Olympiccompetitions where they’d wear different colored singlets to represent various countries. Their friends would get involved. There was a fake podium. It was a whole production, and not a one time thing either.
“They’re best friends,” Nancy said. “They’re like twins. They’re like Frick and Frack.”
Pitt wrestling
The brothers often get mistaken for twins despite being almost two years apart in age. Holden said the biggest difference is that he can grow facial hair and Reece can’t.
Their love for wrestling started early, their love for combat sports even earlier.
“I had spent most of my life since I was a kid doing martial arts,” Mark Heller, their father, said. “I already planned in the back of my mind how I wanted to bring them up in developing their martial arts skills.”
Mark and Nancy decided judo would be the best place to start. It’s a derivative of Jiujitsu and involves using holds and leverage to unbalance the opponent.
Reece, 21, said they couldn’t get enough of it. When they got older, transitioning to wrestling was just the natural progression.
They would come home from practice and wrestle each other in the basement for hours. Sage would also join in. Nancy said the basement was “ruined” because of the amount of holes they put in the wall, including one body-sized and shaped hole.
Judo has influenced their “funky” style of wrestling even to this day.
“(Reece is) doing funky hip throws,” Holden said. “Catching guys on their back. A guy will be on his legs, (Reece) will throw them straight to their back in a defeated position and turn it into his win. It’s just kind of like a bag of tricks that you’re able to throw out at any time to surprise your opponent.”
It really helped Reece during his quarterfinal match during the Midlands Championship in December. His opponents weren’t expecting many of his moves, and he ended up winning the championship in his weight class.
“When you start doing something that young, like Judo, with the throwing, the hips and the foot sweeps and stuff like that, it just kind of gets ingrained into you,” Reece said.
They were also influenced by Max and Ben Askren, who were professional wrestlers who now have a camp in Hartland, Wis. Ben Askren is known for his atypical style of wrestling that relies heavily on scrambling techniques. The Hellers all flocked to the style and were able to draw the attention of Hofstra head coach Dennis Papadatos.
Sage, 25, went first, followed by Holden and Reece eventually joining the squad, as well. After Sage graduated in 2022, Holden and Reece decided to enter the transfer portal.
“We just wanted to change things up,” Reece said. “We wanted to go to a program that had super high quality coaching, somewhere we could improve.”
They visited a few schools but knew quickly that they wanted to come to Pitt and join coach Keith Gavin’s squad.
They have helped Pitt to a season-best No. 15 in the NWCA Coaches Poll. The Panthers claimed their first ACC dual title since 2014 and now aim for a first postseason team championship since joining the conference.
The Hellers will be two of 10 wrestlers representing Pitt on Sunday at the ACC tournament. Holden is the No. 1 seed in the 165-pound weight class and Reece is the No. 5 at 184.
“They didn’t know anyone before coming here,” Mark said. “They didn’t know how they’d be received. You just never know when you make a big move from one college to another to wrestle. They told me that it was the best move they’ve ever made.”