WHEN IT comes to wrestling, Isaiah Ventura (12) may not be the best, but that doesn’t matter. It’s his willingness to strive toward perfection that keeps him going. “When wrestling, the best thing is the sense of achievement when you win knowing you put in the hard work in to win,” said Ventura.

The reason for his joining wrestling was because his friend asked him to join to stay in shape, and he has been in it ever since his sophomore year. “He doesn’t hate anybody, and all he wants to do is have fun and make jokes, which is fun to be around,” Millen Madsen (12) said. This year will be his first year on varsity, and he is very excited to see what happens. In December, his record stood at 7-5.

Ventura plays other sports during the off-season like football and track and field to stay in shape. “He is one of the fastest and most talented athletes I’ve ever seen and had the pleasure to play. He is one of the funniest guys to be around,” Angel Malepeai (12) said.

His fastest pin time was recorded at 30 seconds during his junior season. He and his team expect to make playoffs and go to state this season.

“He has the potential to go far in sports if he changes his mindset, because he has this mindset were he knows that there are people out there that are more talented, which hinders his performance on the matt,” Madsen said.

Solid self-esteem and confidence are crucial because wrestling requires mental strength, too.

“My cousin is my biggest role model because he is so kind, respectful and polite and he earns everybody’s respect right when they meet him,” Ventura said. His biggest regret in his wrestling career is not starting sooner because he realized how fun it is much too late.

“Nobody realizes this, but it is hard to be a student athlete. The athlete part is easy—show up to practices and meets and perform, but the student part is where it hits you especially when you don’t have enough time after practices or when you have to leave during a class to go to a meet. It gets even harder if you also have a job,” Ventura said.

“I am a self-motivated person and player because I am not going to get anything done if I wait until everybody tells me too, I have to believe in myself to be able to succeed,” he said.

“He is a genuine guy he is really nice and always helps out his friends whenever they have problems, and he always makes you smile,” Carlos Serrato (12) said.

In his free time, he enjoys sleeping to get fully rested and playing Xbox with his friends to take the edge off of his day.

One of the meets that he is most looking forward to this season is the Hunter match because it will be his last time going against Granger’s rival Hunter in his high school career.