Ramstein’s Kydan Echard pulls Wiesbaden’s Wyatt Massey during a 165-pound pool-play match at the DODEA European wrestling championships on Feb. 7, 2025, in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Last summer, Kydan Echard was lifting in preparation for football when he read the news of the 2023-24 DODEA European Athlete of the Year.
Seeing it lit a fire under him. The Ramstein senior turned to his friends in the weight room and declared his intention.
“I said, ‘I think I have a shot at that. I want to try doing that,’” Echard recalled. “I knew … it would take a lot of effort.”
The payoff from that effort was validation of Echard’s prediction. The native of Monona, Iowa, was named the 2024-25 boys Athlete of the Year.
In the fall, Echard led the Royals to their first football title since 2018 and followed that up in the winter by winning a second consecutive individual wrestling title and helping Ramstein to its third straight team title.
He needed a third sport in the spring to have a shot, he said. The son of Bret and Ashley Echard took inspiration from his football pregame ritual where he’d run a mile before kickoff, deciding to give long-distance track events a go.
While he wasn’t as successful as he was in his main sports, Echard qualified for Euros in the 3,200-meter race and ran on the Royals’ fifth-place sprint medley team.
“Long distance is definitely the hardest sport out of the three that I did,” Echard said. “It’s the most physically demanding one, and I just wanted to do that to challenge myself.”
Echard’s mentality on the track didn’t surprise his football coach.
Carter Hollenbeck described the 5-foot-10 Royal senior as dedicated when he commits. He also said Echard takes nutrition seriously, recalling how the running back and linebacker urged his teammates to eat fruit at the base dining hall before an away game at Lakenheath.
“He’s one of those kids that yes, he’s athletic, yes, he’s academically strong, but it’s the character part,” Hollenbeck said. “When you bring all that stuff together, he’s the whole package, the whole deal.”
Ramstein running back Kydan Echard stiff-arms Stuttgart senior Zach Poe during the Division I DODEA European championship game on Nov. 1, 2024, at Ramstein High School in Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Echard was the whole package on the football field, where he became the workhorse of an anticipated running-back-by-committee situation before fall camp.
Over six games, Echard totaled 1,065 yards and 13 touchdowns on 119 carries. Some top performances included a 252-yard day in the opener at Stuttgart and his 306-yard, four-touchdown output against crosstown rival Kaiserslautern in Week 2.
But he saved his best for last. Echard earned offensive and defensive MVP honors in the 40-20 title game victory over the Panthers on Nov. 1 after rushing for 218 yards and two scores and adding an interception on defense.
He also would have been in the running for special teams MVP if that had been an option, by virtue of returning a punt 24 yards to pay dirt.
“He brought the hammer every play,” Hollenbeck said. “I don’t know if there will be another opportunity to have a kid like that play for us.”
Ramstein running back Kydan Echard goes airborne after being tripped up by Stuttgart defender Sammy Johnson during the Division I DODEA European championship game on Nov. 1, 2024, at Ramstein High School in Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
The football season hadn’t ended yet before Echard started to prepare for his favorite sport: wrestling.
Echard played football at 175 pounds, but he dropped enough to grapple in the 165-pound weight class.
He also expected to have an extra-large target on his back because of his exploits at 150 pounds his junior wrestling season and his senior football success, as many athletes transfer from the gridiron to the mats.
“He put in the work,” wrestling coach Thomas Wright said. “Football season wasn’t even over, and he was already preparing for the next season, mentally, physically, trying to get to ... his ideal weight that he wanted to compete at.”
Echard dominated, going 21-0 and pinning every opponent he faced. He earned the title of pin champion at the European championships on Feb. 7-8 in Wiesbaden, Germany, after producing seven in an average of 60.5 seconds.
Wiesbaden Warrior Wyatt Massey cannot get out of Kydan Echard's grip in the 165-pound final at the DODEA-Europe wrestling championships Feb. 8, 2025, in Wiesbaden, Germany, that the Ramstein grappler went on to win. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Echard said he was motivated by his three losses in 2023-24 and wanted to make sure his record was unblemished this winter.
“To have all of that come together just really meant everything to me, just being able to experience that with my team, especially getting the three-peat in wrestling,” Echard said.
Then came the hard part of his quest: track and field. Echard got a reality check during tryouts, when he crossed the line in 12 minutes, 2 seconds — almost 2 minutes behind the team’s top runners.
But he didn’t give up. By the last regular season meet at Kaiserslautern on May 10, Echard broke the 11-minute mark with a 10:54.38, good enough to qualify for Euros.
On the same track 13 days later, Echard placed 13th in a time of 10:57.83.
“It’s just 10 or 11 minutes of pure pain,” Echard said of the 2-mile race. “I was extremely impressed by myself that I was able to qualify.”
Knowing he can run distances consistently that quickly bodes well for Echard’s future. He reports for basic training this week at the Air Force Academy, where he plans to study general mathematics or physics.
His dad also went to the service academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“It’s just a proud-father moment, and I’m glad that I was able to experience it with him,” Echard said.
He said he hopes to make the wrestling team’s practice squad. If that doesn’t work out, he may join the parachuting club, which he said will help him in his pursuit of a career in special operations.
No matter the direction Echard takes at school and in the military, his football coach expects great things from him.
“I truly believe he’s going to make an impact in our world,” Hollenbeck said.
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