“If you put kids and games together, eventually the parents are going to get involved in changing the world,” said Kimber Saunders, Asher’s mother.
Competition and hard work are nothing new to Asher, who won top awards while a U.S. Naval Sea Cadet.
When Asher went to a grueling wrestling camp, he blew out his knee, but still calls the camp one of the most important experiences of his life.
He and his teammates carried large rocks in wrestling stance for 30 minutes at one point of the camp.
“At the end of that, I just broke the old me and made a new me,” he said.
Asher has only been wrestling for about two years, but quickly attracted the attention of some of the area’s top coaches.
He got into the sport when his friend Brandon encouraged him to try it out.
At Asher’s first tryout, he was told that he just made the famous varsity team at Calvary Chapel Santa Ana High School.
After going from nowhere to varsity, Asher said he quickly decided to tell his coaches that he wanted to move down to junior varsity, so he could learn more about the sport before representing his school in important competitions.
He knew that if he made a mistake, it would affect his entire team, he said.
Asher stayed after practice and trained every chance he had, earning awards and recognition, and always giving his all.
“Some people say it’s a natural talent, but I give all the credit to my coach,” Asher said.
While a member of the famous Churchboyz wrestling team, Asher caught the eye of Coach Arsen Aleksanyan, who has since taken him into private training.
