Hollywood daydreamer, Honolulu native, and Division 1 wrestler are three ways to describe Joshua Terao. The junior, who goes by Josh, divides his time between working toward his degree in Biology and training in his 125lb weight class. If you’re in need of some words of encouragement before a wrestling match or around campus, Terao is your guy. Her Campus American University sat down with the wrestler to find out more about his athletic career, life here at AU and more.
Her Campus American University: When did you start wrestling? What inspired you to keep it up in college?
Josh Terao: I started wrestling in the sixth grade. What inspired me to wrestle in college would probably be my brother and just coaches in general trying to recruit me in high school – that really sparked my interest. I started off in judo and did a lot of grappling, like those martial arts kind of things. And then I stepped into wrestling and it worked well with what I learned when I was five years old, so it was really easy to pick up. It was great because there were weight classes, and I’m not the biggest guy so I can’t play football or basketball, so I fit into wresting really easily, which is nice.
HCAU: That’s great! It turned out to be the perfect fit. Can you tell me a little about how being an athlete has helped you in your personal and everyday life? Is there a sense of camaraderie that you really admire?
JT: Yeah, I mean once you join a collegiate team, it’s just like, those are your brothers instantly. You train together, you see each other twice, three times a day maybe, all throughout the week. What I’ve learned in my past three years here is just that I really bonded well with all my teammates, including other athletes on different teams as well. So the athletic community is very strong here, as well as within the teams. It’s really easy to fit in, like my freshmen year I instantly had 22 friends on campus, so I could always talk to seniors, other freshmen, other sophomores, and other juniors.
HCAU: What’s it like balancing life as a student and a Division 1 athlete?
JT: It’s a little challenging, practices kind of split up your time a lot. But, it’s just knowing how to manage your time, basically, that’s what it comes down to. Just knowing when to study, when to go to sleep, when to focus on practice, when to do this, do that. It’s just time management skills; it really matures you for the real world, I guess.
HCAU: Too true – real world preparation is a skill we’re all working on. Tell us, what’s one major highlight from your wrestling career here at AU? Can you explain why it was so meaningful?
JT: Well my major highlight would probably be competing at our conference tournament, which was really big. That was my true freshmen year, so two years ago. It was just awesome, competing for your school against all these other Division 1 programs; it was a great experience.
HCAU: Is there anything you do, like good-luck ritual, before every match?
JT: Not really a good luck ritual, but I’d say what I used to do a lot was watch the Rocky movies. I’m really inspired by the underdog mentality. But now I just try to feel the environment. I don’t really try to listen to too much music, I just try to feel the atmosphere, get myself pumped up that way, instead of just like honing in and staying in a corner of the room. I like to feel the atmosphere. It just focuses me, I feel like just staying in a corner and being by myself doesn’t really prepare me for the actual match, whereas if I expose myself to the environment, I feel ready, I’m feeling comfortable, loose, relaxed. I try to joke around with my teammates before matches, just to lighten the mood. It’s just like a wrestling match – it’s not the end of the world if I don’t pull out the victory and stuff. But I mean, I’m going to be hard, but I’m trying not to put too much emphasis on the wrestling where I’m tense and I’m not loose or relaxed.
HCAU: That’s a great way to approach it. So, beyond athletics, can you tell us a little bit about how else you’re involved on campus?
JT: I’m really involved with my Biology department, like with other Biology students and stuff like that. I’ve kind of been lacking in the club department because I haven’t been on campus too much this year. I’ve been living off campus, so that’s kind of been lacking. But, I’m trying to branch out to other people in this school, like non-athletes..
HCAU: Can you explain a little about a wrestler or athlete whose career you admire and why?
JT: I really admire one of the graduates here at AU, his name is Josh Glenn – he has a banner in Bender, he’s like the first national champion for wrestling. He’s just an incredible guy. He’s a hard worker, he embodies everything that I want to be as a wrestler and a student athlete here. He got a very good GPA and now he’s serving in the armed forces, which I think is amazing. He’s just a personable guy, he’s down to earth, he comes to talk to us at the end of the season to get us ready for conferences and nationals. So a really good guy, someone I really admire.
HCAU: What are you most excited about for this upcoming wrestling season?
JT: I’m just really excited to go out and wrestle. I’ve been training a lot this past summer. I’ve been here probably like three months in the summer, and just training and pre-season. I’m excited to go out there and compete. We have a really big competition during winter break. It’s called the Midlands Tournament – it’s like where all the schools around the nation come and compete, all the D1 schools. I’m really excited for that, conferences and nationals.
HCAU: Awesome! Now, if you could give your freshmen self some advice, what would it be?
JT: Just have fun, enjoy your time here – it goes by quick. Make as many friends as you can and just focus on having fun, training hard, and learning stuff!
HCAU: And last but certainly not least, if you could be anywhere or be absolutely anything in this world right now, what would it be?
JT: I would love to be a movie star. A movie star in Hollywood would be awesome. I think that would be really cool. I love California; I think California is awesome so, I’d love to be a movie star.
HCAU: We love it! What kind of move star would you be?
JT: Definitely a drama. I want to win an Oscar! That’s the kind of movie star I want to be.
All photos provided by Josh Terao