San Jose State Wrestling club members have plans to turn the team into a powerhouse that competes at a national level.
Kinesiology senior Shayan Payamipour was part of the club from its early development stages in 2016.
He quickly took over the role of president because the first president was unsure how to fit the role.
“At first the president didn’t have any wrestling experience,” Payamipour said. “He was unsure of what he was doing.”
Payamipour took on the role and began to look for people to join the club and become board members.
“We’re just finding leaders for it and people pretty much take on this project and to start wrestling at San Jose State,”
Payamipour said.
The club ran as just an activity club for the past two years, but for the upcoming season, board members have made changes to the operations of the club.
“So this is the first year [and] for the first time in two years that we’re actually going to look and compete again,” mechanical engineering junior Robert Terhell said.
The club is now registered to compete at a national level with other colleges and universities.
“In terms of the logistics behind preparing for the season, we register with NCWA,” Terhell said. “That’s something that hasn’t been done in the past couple of years.”
NCWA stands for National Collegiate Wrestling Association, a non-profit organization in which 162 colleges compete at national level and international level, depending on location.
The club has been practicing for competition the entire semester.
“We have practices twice a week, as well as weight training twice a week and they’re all offset. So basically four days a week we are meeting up,” Terhell said.
Members of the club hope that their dedication will lead the club to becoming a team that competes at a national level.
“I want to say what our vision for the wrestling club would be is to make it into a club that is sought after that people know of coming into San Jose State,” Terhell said. “A club that is renowned in a way and known in the San Jose State community as well as outside because we have clubs sport teams here that are
very good.”
Terhell said recently the club has been more recreational for practice. But, he wishes to show the talent of SJSU students.
He believes that there is a lot of talent on campus that could make the club an official team.
Some current members said that they are eager to wrestle, but it was not easy for them to find the club.
“I feel like as soon as I came to San Jose State that was like the first thing I was trying to look for-like a wrestling team,” kinesiology freshman Jose Garcia said. “There wasn’t like a lot of a lot of things or information for me and I couldn’t really find it.”
There is a demand from students who would like to compete in wrestling, but the club’s current size makes outreach
difficult.
“I feel like I wouldn’t be like the person I am today if it wasn’t for me getting involved with this sport,” Garcia said.
Members see the wrestling team as an outlet for physical and mental health.
“It’s been like sort of an outlet for, I guess, letting out aggression,” Terhell said. “I was more kind of, I had a little bit of anger issues and now I don’t at all and I think that’s solely due to wrestling.”
