Gatorade Gamechangers: Matias Calvo (FD Friars wrestling)

From the wrestling mat to the rugby field, one local athlete is showing just how much his hard work on and off the field is paying off. A 4.0 GPA student and a wrestling standout Matias Calvo for the second time in one year has taken home the gold.

His eyes on the prize, the 17-year-old Calvo is a wrestler with heart. He's got the medal to prove it.

"Our team at Father Duenas won the championship for boys all-island tournament and I placed gold in the 195-pound weight division," he explained. "All I remember is trying to get into the zone before my match and I kind of have a clear mind when I'm wrestling," he said. "I don't really think about it too much. I just go out there and try and perform my best."

It's a performance that this FD Friar carried on from his junior year.

"This is my second season that I've got gold," he said. "So it just felt good to get it my senior year because this is my last ride so I just wanted to make my mom and dad proud and my whole family and my coaches."

Matias is also following in the footsteps of his family.

"Lenny and Nainoa, my two older brothers, they wrestled at Father Duenas, they both got gold at least their senior year," he said. "They really instilled wrestling into our family. Because nobody in our family wrestled up until us. My dad was a rugby player. My mom's a paddler so it was kind of new and they just sort of got into the sport and loved it and I just got into it too, and it's become a big part of our lives."

The young athlete is one who has already learned a valuable life lesson from the sport.

"Perseverance and diligence because there is a lot of preparation that goes into it and a lot of moments where you are not going to get the result you want, but you just have to come back the next day, work harder and just add to your accomplishments," he said.

And his hard work isn't going to stop at the end of his senior year. Matias has been accepted to start college at Dartmouth next Fall where he'll play rugby.

"You have to really put in the work in the offseason of training and you'll see the fruits of your labor," he said.