With the wrestling season fast approaching, senior Hosea Valenzuela,who has wrestled three years at the high school level, will wrestle this year. He has been attending Open Mat twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays for the last month, mentally and physically preparing his body for the season.

Hosea got into wrestling watching his brother Johnny wrestle. Johnny is a year older and a graduate from CKHS. “I’ve always had mad love for fast, intense sports,” said Hosea. Johnny always picked on Hosea for not wrestling, but when he recalls those moments, he looks at them as the “spark to get involved with the sport.”

Hosea feels that his parents have affected him in the way he views the sport and his opponents,because they would always tell him “if you want it, then don’t be afraid to chase it, and if you’re feeling like you got nothing, find that courage deep down inside you to keep moving forward.”

As a senior and as a veteran wrestler, Hosea has taken on roles as leader and teacher to the younger, less experienced wrestlers. In these roles he must show them new techniques and stances and make sure they’re practiced correctly.

“You have to accept the responsibility of being looked up to, and I know whatever I do effects these kids on the wrestling team. I do like to have fun sometimes, but when it’s time for practice, it’s all about wrestling. Even during the off season I want to leave a good impression for them to come back, and go hard next season. ”

Hosea is a leader on and off the mat, and during conditioning, he will lead the team in stretches alongside the other captains and be a role model in the class room.