After a dominant NCAA wrestling career, Aaron Brooks earned gold in the U23 World Championships in 2023. Another gold in the US National Championships set him up for a US Olympic trials, which he aced to earn the opportunity to represent the Stars and Stripes in Paris. However, Brooks’s family played a massive role in his success, as a love for combat sports runs in the family.
The Penn State Wrestler is one of five children. He has four siblings Isaiah, and step-siblings Jared, Jaden, and Kaiya Brooks. While not much is now about his step-siblings, the national champion wrestler’s elder sibling Isaiah shares his brother’s love for combat sports. However, unlike his four-time collegiate champion brother, Isaiah didn’t choose wrestling as a career.
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Instead, Aaron Brooks’s brother chose mixed martial arts. Isaiah Brooks choose to follow his brother to pursue a career in combat sports. On January 21, 2024, the 23-year-old wrestling phenom’s sibling started his MMA career with a victory. Brooks made his MMA debut at an unnamed regional event, winning the bout via T-KO in the second round.
Although Isaiah Brooks chose a career in MMA, he started his combat sports journey along with Aaron Brooks in freestyle wrestling. In fact, the Brooks brothers showed promise and shined in tournaments together, before Isaiah chose to train in MMA. Thankfully, modern MMA involves a lot of wrestling so Aaron will always have Isaiah to turn for some friendly sibling competition.
One of only 7 men to sweep the 4 NCAA collegiate national titles, Aaron Brooks never shies away from expressing his love for his family. The 23-year-old Olympian’s siblings also revel in his achievements. “I love my brother,” Isaiah Brooks said in 2016 while discussing his brother’s success after both siblings won titles at the 29th annual Hub Cup. However, none of this would be possible without the support of their parents.
Aaron Brooks received unwavering support despite the circumstances
John Brooks and Ranelle Boyd are Aaron Brook’s biological parents. However, the Brooks household fractured as the wrestling prodigy grew up. John Brooks and Ranelle Boyd separated, presumably during the 23-year-old’s formative years. They later remarried and his father married Adrienne Brooks. However, despite their separation, his parents continued to support Aaron’s wrestling.
John Brooks continues to work as a paraprofessional at South Hagerstown High School. Aaron Brook’s father once revealed that he never pushed his son to pursue wrestling. However, the moment Aaron Brooks showed his immense promise and desire to pursue the sport, he was there to support his son’s Olympic dreams. That dream will soon become a reality when the 23-year-old who beat Tokyo 2020 champion David Taylor twice, flies to Paris to represent the USA on the grandest stage.
