Veteran wrestler pursues dream of world championship

At 3 in the morning, Randy Cadiz could be any number of places. Knocking down the last couple of hours of a graveyard security guard shift. Doing "suicide" sprints at a local gym or maybe driving several hours to meet a workout partner for a wrestling match. At 41 years old, the Hawaii transplant, who has called Las Vegas home since 2004, is doing anything but slowing down.

Cadiz has a goal in mind, to represent his country at the Veterans World Wrestling Championships in October of next year in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Cadiz is getting back to the mat, a place he has been a few times in his life, but wishes to revisit before he hits an age where he might be forced to take up golf for physical activity.

"I want my last hurrah. I want one more shot," he said.

Cadiz's passion for wrestling began when a friend introduced him to the sport in middle school. He lost some time when he attended a private school without a wrestling team. Cadiz later transferred to a nearby public school that did have a program, getting a year of competition under his belt before graduating.

In the early '90s, he attended San Jose State University, which once had one of the nation's top 20 wrestling programs. But during his time there, the sport was relegated to club status as a result of Title IX. The 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination at schools receiving federal aid led to subsidies for women's sports at the expense of other programs such as wrestling.

Cadiz has hung around the sport through the years, studying it and coaching in his spare time. Today, he volunteers with the Shadow Ridge High School team. In 2006, when he turned 35, he entered his first year of eligibility for the veterans' division, and jumped at the chance to compete when the U.S. National Veterans Championship took place in Las Vegas. He was a runner-up that year and placed fourth in 2007. A serious groin injury kept him from placing in 2008 and sidelined him entirely in 2009. His weight class (97 kilograms, or 214 pounds) has seen a huge drop in participation, too. In 2010, only two wrestlers entered the event, and in 2011 and 2012, only one.

"I told myself I would never be a paper tiger," he said. "I'm not going to walk around with a medal given to me because I was the only guy that showed up."

Cadiz's hopes are rising again, because the U.S. Nationals are scheduled for Las Vegas in April. The Las Vegas event has traditionally drawn more competitors, he noted, and the healthy and motivated Cadiz sees the event as an opportunity to prove himself again in his weight class while keeping his eyes on Sarajevo.

TRAINING

The sport's slide affects Cadiz's ability to train properly. Wrestlers, like athletes in any sport, improve by replicating the competitive environment. His biggest challenge is finding practice partners. In the United States, most who wrestled in high school or college are eyeing mixed martial arts. At one point, Cadiz traveled four hours to a California junior college once a week to train with another wrestler.

"You have to grab as many wrestling opportunities as you can," he said, trying to stay upbeat. "It's not easy. I've put ads on Craigslist, joined MMA gyms. It's tough to find people."

In 2008, Brandon Browning, now 23, who wrestled at Basic High School, met Cadiz at an MMA gym. They have been training once to twice a week together since. Cadiz said he had to train Browning on freestyle wrestling techniques. But, in return, Cadiz gets a good workout with someone who is about 25 pounds heavier despite being less skilled.

"He really coached me up a lot. When I got out of high school I was an average wrestler. I had kind of a lazy style. But he really evolved my wrestling," Browning said.

Jim Lucas, 60, knows Cadiz's plight better than anyone. Lucas grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and wrestled for San Jose State in the 1970s. He barely missed the cut for the Olympic team in 1976. Twenty years later, he got the itch to pursue wrestling again. He wrestled at the veterans level for 11 years, went to 10 world championships, won one and earned a bronze medal in another. He, too, battled to find suitable training partners.

"There were times when I would basically have to shadow wrestle because no one would show up," he said.

Thomas Cass, a state champion wrestler during his years at Silverado High School and former captain of the Duke Blue Devils wrestling team, also trains with Cadiz occasionally. At 33, Cass is eyeing a veterans career down the road after having trained in mixed martial arts as well. In the meantime, he coaches other wrestlers and holds down a sales job to make ends meet. Cass said he thinks Cadiz has what it takes to succeed at the world championships if he can get sponsors and stays positive about training obstacles.

"He started a little later in life but he's absolutely a student of the game," Cass said. "He's always watching film, reading books and what he lacks in experience he makes up for in raw passion."

THE WIDER WORLD

While Cadiz struggles to train in the United States, the rest of the world has a different take on wrestling. Cass, who wrestled with the U.S. World Team, which travels to Asia and Europe, said he recalls competing with committed wrestlers whose countries paid their way to events and for training.

"It's a different climate in Europe, especially in Russia, where I spent most of my time wrestling. There they pick you out at a really young age and you go to an institution. ... The country pays for you unless you get cut," he said.

Lucas recalled seeing similar people at the veterans level, too.

"You've got to be dedicated to it and you have to come to grips with the fact that if you do this you will pay the price by going all out and you will still pay your own way to competitions. And you're going to compete against guys from Russia, Iran, Bulgaria where their country pays their way," Lucas said.

Lucas gives the Las Vegas wrestler tips on how to seek sponsorships. Cadiz has sent out mailers to businesses he frequents, tapped those he knows in wrestling circles for help, and tried numerous other routes for sponsorship. There has been a slow flow of funds coming in, he said, but he's still far off from his target of roughly $5,000 needed to get to Sarajevo next year. Mark Churella, a former University of Nevada, Las Vegas wrestling coach, contributed to Cadiz's cause.

"I figured if a guy is willing to subject his body to that at that age, he's entitled to a little something," Churella said.

In veterans wrestling, which is open to 35- to 55-year-olds, Cadiz is still considered young. This buys him a little time to train and raise money for future competitions. He is establishing a Web fundraising page through www.indiegogo.com/projects/237572. Contributions also can be mailed to Veterans Wrestling Support, Randy Cadiz, P.O. Box 81762, Las Vegas, NV, 89180.