Andrey Brener grew up in Russia and began wrestling in the 5th grade (1985) which was considered a late start for young athletes. Most kids started in the 1st grade, so he struggled his first 2 years, trying to catch up with the more experienced wrestlers.
In Russia the high schools did not have wrestling teams. All the wrestling was conducted by clubs. Each city had 10 to 15 clubs. The coaching was what made club wrestling so important. The coaches were considered to be the very best. So if you wanted to wrestle competitively you found a team in your city.
Andrey lived in Kherson, Ukraine, which was a city in the former USSR. He was accepted to a special school called, “Olympic Reserve”. This was a school dedicated to athletes in training including a top notch wrestling program. Athletes would train 2 or 3 times per day while studying in between workouts.
Andrey was a 2 x Ukrainian National Champion in 1991 and 1992. He placed 4th in the USSR Nationals in 1992.
He attended Junior college in Kherson and then went into the Russian Navy for 3 years. After the Navy he decided to move out of Russia due to a lot of civil unrest. In 1995, relatives who lived in the United States, offered Andrey a home, so to America he went.
He then attended Western Maryland College, in the town of Westminster where he became an All American.
Then on to coaching, in Division I, at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina and is presently the coach at Bullis H.S. in Potomac, Maryland.
He indtroduced A B Band Training System to Americans which has been used in European wrestling rooms for decades. Andrey has modified and improved the traditional system tremendously.
