![\"Wrestler](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DMT-L-WRESTLERRODRIGUEZ-01.jpg\")
Wrestler Nick Rodriguez. (Arnold Rodriguez)<\/p>\n
As he wrote on his fundraising page, he has poured his heart into the sport of wrestling: \u201cThis sport has taught me discipline, resilience and what it truly means to work hard,\u201d said Rodriguez, 22.<\/p>\n
The 2022 Cathedral Catholic High School graduate wrestled at Menlo College on an athletic\/academic scholarship for two years before returning home to San Diego. For the last two years he has wrestled at 149 pounds for Palomar College, where he finished as an All-American this past season.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez, who went to Del Mar Heights and Earl Warren Middle School, was 12 years old when he first started wrestling. He didn\u2019t so much choose the sport but was thrown into it by his dad Arnold who had wrestled in his youth and thought Nick may benefit from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up playing a lot of soccer and baseball, flag football. I played all sports before I ever stepped on a wrestling mat,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cIt was the worst thing ever and I hated it and didn\u2019t go back for like two years. My dad helped me decide to wrestle again and looking back on it, he was right and I\u2019m glad he did. I wrestled youth to high school, and high school is where I really fell in love with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a youth wrestler, he wrestled on local teams such as No Mercy at Rancho Buena Vista High School, the Maverick Mat Rats at La Costa Canyon, and Team Puma, run out of Cathedral by coach Isaac Pumarejo, his last club coach who Rodriguez still trains with today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always had an odd personality so I feel like wrestling is a really good gateway to express who I am as a person,\u201d said Rodriguez, who likes the individual aspect of the sport where what happens on the mat is a direct reflection of his efforts. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool to go on a mat to prove what I think and what I train.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he still has some college eligibility left and the opportunity to compete for the national team, at this stage Rodriguez is also giving coaching a shot, sharing what he has learned with younger wrestlers. In 2024, he joined the coaching staff at Cathedral, where his dad Arnold is the team\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n
As a coach, he said it\u2019s most important to get to know each athlete individually, really understanding their personalities to know how to reach them: \u201cYou can teach and show moves to a kid but if you can\u2019t get to know them and be there for them if they lose or have a tough practice, they\u2019re not going to want to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using his personal experiences, his goal is to make it fun and to keep kids in the sport that he loves.<\/p>\n
![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DMT-L-WRESTLERRODRIGUEZ-03.jpeg\")
Nick Rodriguez wrestled the past two years at Palomar College. (Courtesy Palomar College)<\/p>\n
For Rodriguez, being a wrestler is a lifestyle: a lot of training, a lot of practice.<\/p>\n
His mindset is one of gratitude; he appreciates his health and being able to wake up each day. If he happens to wake up \u201cfeeling gross\u201d, he will go for a run to flush out any negative thoughts.<\/p>\n
He runs and he wrestles, and he lifts and cycles at Crunch Fitness, fitting in training sessions in between his shifts at Discount Tire.<\/p>\n
Heading into the Philippines National Championships, he said he is not going too crazy with his training\u2014aiming to wrestle once a day and \u201cblowing out his lungs\u201d with a bike or run circuit to keep his blood flowing. Lung capacity is key and something he has stressed with his young wrestlers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to be tired regardless of how hard you train,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThe more you train and get used to being tired, you get more comfortable being tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is looking forward to his first time visiting the Philippines with his father and is going into the competition with a high level of confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve worked hard enough to earn a spot,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI\u2019m just really grateful for the opportunity to go out there and even do it in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Del Mar native Nick Rodriguez is chasing down his dream to wrestle on the international level. On Aug.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[310,9245,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-422674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-del-mar-times","tag-del-mar-times-sports","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}