| Caleb Uhlenhopp was born November 2003 in Laguna Niguel, Ca. and moved to Henderson NV when he was 18 months old, with his family. He is a now a 17-year-old high school Junior who attends Green Valley High School online campus due to Covid19 in Henderson, NV. He chose to study IB Physics and IB World History, for fun, as a high school Junior. Academics has always been important to us and although accelerated classes can be challenging, the important part is learning something new and enjoying the process. From the moment he came into this world he has been active. He crawled at 5 months and walked at 8. Caleb took interest in building blocks from a young age, and he is now considering colleges with Engineering programs to further his love of all things Engineering. |
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| Looking back, Caleb spent a lot of time playing at the park and making friends from a very young age. He loved to build LEGOs, climbed everything in his path and seriously thought he was a ninja and GI Joe for about 5 years. You can imagine how he kept us on our toes. At age 5 we signed him up for baseball which proved to be a fun experiment for our family. His dad, I, and his older brother all loved baseball, but it turned out Caleb did not. He would sit at the base, pick the grass, spin around, etc. It was not his thing, and we knew we had to find a sport much more engaging for him after we finished the season. |
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| Living in Vegas we stumbled upon a gym named TAPOUT that offered youth classes and is where Caleb’s wrestling journey began. At age 6, Caleb began to learn Jiu Jitsu and JUDO, and quickly took to it. We traveled to CA for tournaments and competed here in Las Vegas as well. The program at TAPOUT was incredible, and we met some amazing families that we still consider friends today. At age 7.5 TAPOUT rolled out a wrestling program with Johnny Nunez, aka Johnny Boy Wrestling. We added this class and before we knew it, we became a full-blown wrestling family, and did all things wrestling from that point on. |
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| We will never forget his first wrestling tournament when Caleb made it to the semis, and then pinned himself from pulling guard instead of bellying out. He had to learn a new style, new rules and loved every second of it. When Caleb was 9 years old, we found TEAM GV ran by head coach Jake Rollans. Caleb excelled in his training program and Traveled to AZ, CA, ID, OK, and UT for more competition. In June of 2013, at nine years old, Caleb became a first-time All-American Wrestler at the USA Nationals Tournament held in Orem Utah. |
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| Caleb has been coached by some incredible people. There was a transition from Team GV to SLAM Wrestling Club where Coach Richard Rios really influenced Caleb as a youth wrestler in middle school. He elevated his training and prepared him for high school level competition. Caleb made the Varsity wrestling team at Green Valley High School under coach Jon Ferry, as a freshman, and wrestled 138lbs. He was a state qualifier and did not make it to placing rounds, but he continued to train after season and never gave up. |
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| His Sophomore year Caleb wrestled 152lbs, and he won his first high school State Title and Team Title. He has been fortunate to wrestle under the now retired Coach Jon Ferry 7x team championship coach. Now, Caleb is a Junior in high school, and had hoped he could have the opportunity to win a 2nd state title. Our state championships are usually held in February, so this is bittersweet. Unfortunately, just about every sport has been cancelled due to Covid19. It is bittersweet to think about what could have been, but its not the end to this story. |
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| A new club by the name of Aniciete Training Club aka ATC has opened during this pandemic and brought a place for wrestlers to continue to train. Caleb believes it is the most challenging club he has ever been a part of, and he absolutely loves his coaches. They motivate him, physically train him to prepare for college-level wrestling and hold their wrestlers accountable for grades and mat performance. We are so blessed to have them in our community, and as parents during this pandemic, we are so grateful for them to have the courage to open a new facility for the community. Caleb may not have wrestled as a Junior in high school on the varsity team this year, but he has wrestled. |
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| There have been events held across the Country during this Pandemic that he has attended, They are the Super32’s in South Carolina, Freak Show in Idaho, Strike zone in Iowa and Smash Nationals in AZ. Caleb is planning to wrestle in High School Nationals and USA Nationals. The Wrestling Dream lives on and COVID19 can Never Stop a Wrestlers True Spirit. As of this weekend, Caleb beat the #4 ranked wrestler in the Nation–Cael Valencia, and he won the belt at the Arizona National Showdown in the 180lb division. |
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