Big Island native Pablo Ubasa chased his dream, even if it was 4,000 miles away.
The 1987 Hilo High graduate has made a name for himself on the mainland, founding and running Ubasa Wrestling Academy, which now has two locations in Iowa City and Des Moines, Iowa. Ubasa founded the club in the late 1990s, offering training sessions to wrestlers as young as 4 years old to all the way up to Olympic level. The academy was one of the first of its kind when founded, and the very first private wrestling club in the state of Iowa.
Today, he primarily coaches the high school level. In his nearly three decades of running Ubasa Wrestling Academy, Ubasa has trained 320 high school state-place winners, 97 state champions, five four-time state champions and 97 FARGO National All Americans.
“I really love doing it,” Ubasa told West Hawaii Today. “For me, it’s not a job. A lot of people ask me why I never got into college coaching. I tell them that this is what I’ve always wanted to do, and it comes easy for me.”
Ubasa has had no shortage of praise from current and former students. Joshua Swafford, brother of one of Ubasa’s former students Justin Swafford — who was one of Ubasa’s first students — still remembers the club’s influence on his sibling decades later.
“Justin always credited Pablo with a great deal of success he had,” Joshua Swafford added. “He is a guy who has the technical components of wrestling down to a science and prioritizes mental preparation in the game as well.”
“Some of the kids that I grew up coaching, I’m coaching against now,” Ubasa said. “Lots of battles that you would have never believed when we first started.”
But Ubasa’s journey with wrestling didn’t start in the Midwest. Growing up in Hilo town, Ubasa originally had dreams of playing professional sports, just not in wrestling.
“At first, I really wanted to be a basketball player, but I quickly realized I didn’t have the height,” Ubasa said. “When you’re young, you dream up on all kinds of stuff.
“I made junior varsity my freshman year (at Hilo High), but was cut my sophomore year. I had other friends who were doing wrestling, but I decided not to try it out until my junior year. Thank God I did, because I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing now if I decided not to. It saved my life.”
Ubasa soon became a state qualifier in 1987 at 100 pounds. He also played football for the Vikings, where he was an All-BIIF Second Team selection as a safety. Towards the end of high school during offseason, Ubasa and a friend went to a wrestling camp at the University of Iowa, and he instantly fell in love with the program.
“I told myself, ‘You know what? I’m gonna apply here,’” Ubasa recalled. “And soon afterwards, I got in.”
Ubasa wrestled for the Hawkeyes while attending school, coached by the legendary Dan Gable — who is a three-time Olympic gold medalist. While Ubasa was generally behind phenoms such as Chad Zaputil and Tom and Terry Brands in his weight class, he still had several impressive wins at various meets and tournaments — even becoming a U.S. Open All-American.
“It was a culture shock at first,” Ubasa recalled when first arriving in the Midwest to attend school. “But Coach Gable and the rest of the staff made it feel like home.”
Following graduation, Ubasa started teaching wrestling at a local wrestling club that was run by former Iowa wrestlers. Once one of the club’s leaders left, Ubasa took the reins, and over the years turned it into the Ubasa Wrestling Academy that Iowans know today.
“I started off with about five kids, and the rest is history,” Ubasa said. “When I was younger, I thought I would become a cop or teacher or something. I still can’t believe I’m doing this.”
While Ubasa continues to build his wrestling legacy across the Pacific waters, he never forgets about his Hawai‘i roots. He encourages any Big Island student-athlete to chase their dreams, no matter how big they are.
“The Big Island taught me all about loyalty and hard work. Just believe in yourself and don’t listen to others. And always believe that you can do better than you think you can.”
“He is a game-changer in the Iowa wrestling community,” Swafford said. “Big props to him for that, for he could have spent all that time surfing and what-not in Hawai‘i!”