Wrestler back from Japan

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Three years ago, Matt Liso didn't know much about wrestling. He never even gave much thought to the sport until a friend kept bugging him to try out for the team at Dos Pueblos High School his freshman year.
Entering his senior year at Dos Pueblos this fall, Liso is now one of 14 members on the varsity team. He represented California at a national competition last summer and just got back from a trip to Japan as part of USA Wrestling Team California. It’s safe to say he learned quite a bit in those three years.

“Matt is the hardest worker,” said Anthony Califano, his coach at DPHS and the Santa Barbara Anacondas, a local wrestling club. “He doesn’t just put his time in. He does extra things after practice. He practices during the summer. He’s been able to kind of close the gap on those kids who have been wrestling a lot longer.”
So what sparked Liso’s interest in the sport?
“The intensity,” he said. “And I had a knack for it.”
After grueling two-hour practices his freshman year, Liso often stayed late to work out with a buddy, getting stronger and faster. By his sophomore year, he started wrestling at a few varsity events. Last year, he earned a spot on the varsity squad. Now he’s setting his sights on loftier goals.
“I want to place top five at state,” Liso said. “I think I can do it.”
This summer, Liso will participate in light workouts at Dos Pueblos, helping new kids on the team settle in. When August rolls around, he’ll start training hard again, hitting the mat for two hours of drills, live wrestling, sprints, sit-ups, push-ups, rope climbs, running and weight lifting.
Califano said Liso is the leader on his team now, often setting the pace for his teammates. But it’s not just Liso’s performance on the mat that catches the eyes of coaches and fans.
“I hear nothing but good things about Matt from other teachers,” Califano said. “He’s a genuinely nice kid.”
His presence off the mat also impressed coaches at a national competition in Fargo, N.D., last summer, earning him an invitation to represent the Golden State on a week-and-a-half-long trip to Japan. While there from June 24 to July 5, Liso wrestled alongside 11 others from California against two Japanese high schools and the Okayama All-Star team, his team winning all three meets.
After losing his first individual match, Liso earned his redemption by beating that same opponent later during a training session, as well as winning his two other matches.
The trip also gave him a chance to do some sightseeing and learn about Japanese culture, Liso said. When he entered the homes of his host families, he took off his shoes and pointed the toes out the door, a Japanese custom. His hosts gave him slippers to wear around the house.
“Most of them were too small.”
He only ate American food once, early in the morning.
“Nothing else was open.”
He chowed down on udon, sweet beans, rice, sashimi, and lots of seafood.
“It was all good, except for the octopus ink bladders.”
On the Fourth of July, however, Liso got a taste of home when his host family held a barbecue on the beach and shot off fireworks. By the end of his stay with one family, they had abandoned their electronic translators and were asking him tons of questions in English. Liso admits he only picked up a few words of Japanese and has already forgotten all but one, hashi, which means “chopsticks,” he said.
He is keeping in touch with a few of his teammates, and expects to see several of them during high school competition this fall. Last year, he started wrestling in the 160-pound weight classes, but cut down to 152 pounds by the end of the year.
“I almost dehydrated and kind of monitored what I was eating,” Liso said, explaining how he wanted to challenge a teammate at 152 pounds who nobody thought he could beat. “I challenged for the 152 spot and I beat the kid.”
By winning the position, he had committed himself to wrestling at that class for the rest of the season, and kept his weight down by eating small, low-sodium meals with loads of protein. Now he’s in his “happy, fat time,” he said, patting his stomach and adding that he plans to wrestle in the 160-pound classes this fall. Still, it’s hard to imagine anyone describing his tall, wiry frame as overweight.
In addition to his lean figure, Liso has a firm handshake and a quick, easy smile. When asked what it takes to be a good wrestler, Liso delivered his response almost immediately: “Someone who works hard, is dedicated, and in every match pushes himself to the limit.”
It will take that kind of work ethic for Liso to make it through a trifecta of qualifying tournaments to get to the state competition this fall. First, he’ll have to place in the top three in the local Channel League. Then he’ll need to be among the five best in the CIF section, which covers most of Southern California. Finally, he’ll have to make the top eight at a master’s competition before reaching the State Championships.
It’s quite the gauntlet to run, to say nothing of his goal to place in the top five at the championship meet. Liso said there have been a few state qualifiers at Dos Pueblos in recent years, but it’s been quite a while since a Charger earned a top finish.
Entering the Dos Pueblos record books is just the start of Liso’s vision for the future. He wants to continue wrestling in college, possible at Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska or Arizona State universities. Then he said he’d like to earn a spot on the Olympic team. He also envisions working as a teacher, coach or marine welder.
For now, he is content to hang out with his friends at the beach or the skate park, enjoying his summer freedom before he has to start hefting those 45-pound weight plates, doing squats with his wrestling partner on his back, and trying to pull his favorite move on opponents, a high double leg to half nelson. If it looks half as gnarly as it sounds, he’ll doubtlessly pick up a few more fans before his wrestling career is over.