In and around the garage at home, Jax Realin may be the closest of four children to an authentic handy man, or handy woman.
The two-time state wrestling champion from Kamehameha is a sports fan and a scholar-athlete and loves preparing for prom. She also likes to wield a chain saw.
“I am good with power tools. There’s a lot I like. I can work with drills, weed whackers, hammers, sleds, chain saws, screwdrivers,” she said. “My dad likes to work on stuff around our house. If something’s broken, it used to be, ‘Dad, come fix this.’ Now, it’s me. ‘Jax, change the tire.’ My mom has a video of me changing a tire when I was 4. I had bright pink pants and a Hello Kitty shirt,” she said.
Realin was the state runner-up in the 127-pound weight class as a freshman, then became a two-time state champion wrestler from Kamehameha.
In 2022, she lost to Lainey Eckart of Kamehameha-Hawaii in the 127-pound state final, 4-0. Since then, she is unbeaten against Hawaii high school competition. Realin edged longtime foe Taydem Uyemura of Pearl City 9-2 in the 2023 state championship match.
“I’ve known her since we were 5 and competing in club. The state final two years ago was the first time we wrestled since we were kids,” Realin said about Uyemura.
During the battle, Realin got a bloody nose and had her nostrils stuffed with gauze. “Darren Hernandez (of OC 16) called me ‘Rugged Realin,’” she said.
Last year, Realin blanked Crystin-Dior Treu of Lahainaluna 7-0 in the 130-pound final. Since the close loss to end her freshman season, Realin was 24-0 as a sophomore and 25-0 as a junior. She is 18-0 so far this winter, on a 67-match win streak.
“Jax is a generational athlete. It’s not just the skill set, but the mindset and commitment to practice,” Kamehameha coach Dave Chew said, referring to Realin’s year-round training with Grapplers HI.
Under Chew, Kamehameha girls were state runners-up last year. The Warriors boys won the state title.
“Jax is technical and well coached. A big difference we see at times is the amount of support they get from their families. When she got her first state championship win, it was a heavily contested match. It felt really good to see her be successful. People don’t see the injuries, the bumps and bruises. Watching her reach that pinnacle, smile and enjoy, that felt good,” he said.
Now a senior, Realin could make it a three-peat this season.
“People are surprised that she’s a two-time state champion. Her temperament is mellow and nice. The way that she dresses is totally different from her sister (Skye Realin),” Director of Campus Athletics and Human Performance Ron Hesia said.
Skye Realin was a title contender at Kamehameha and was an NAIA All-America wrestler at Central Methodist before transferring to Iowa.
“She called me last week during school just to say hi. Not even talking about anything,” Jax said. “I miss her. I miss our sister days. Go flower picking when we’re walking to the beach. Making sure we get our ju mui pops at 7-Eleven.”
Away from the wrestling room, Realin is a versatile talent in the school’s sports media club. Behind the camera shooting still photos and video, directing camera operators from the truck for the Jumbotron at Kunuiakea Stadium during games, or simply putting her personality in front of the camera. Hesia was still Kamehameha’s head wrestling coach when he saw Realin tag along as an 8-year-old, watching Skye at practice every day. He witnessed Jax transform into a multi-talented scholar-athlete with a talent behind the camera — and two gold medals.
“She’s super talented, helps run the board that we have up. A big advocate. When we did the football games, she was the person who had the headsets on,” Hesia said, referring to the big-screen live direction. ‘Go to camera one. Go to camera two.’ A lot of team photos, anything on our screen content, Jax provides that. When I don’t see her in the wrestling room, she has a camera in her hand. Her personality is different from Skye’s. who was, ‘I’m a wrestler, that’s who I am.’ But Jax out of uniform doesn’t look like she can rip you in half.”
Before Realin found a calling on the mat, life had often been about fixing things. Manford and Noe Realin sensed something wasn’t quite the same with Jax, who is four years younger than Skye.
“When I carried her, I was craving hot stuff, anything spicy,” Noe Realin recalled. “Kimchi, chili pepper water, tabasco on everything. Now Jaxie likes all her food spicy. She was the heaviest of our four children when she was born. It was pretty normal.”
There was one concern as Jax turned 2.
“She had a speech delay compared to her sister. Skye was walking and talking at 2,” Noe Realin said.
Jax could manage a “Mama” now and then, but couldn’t quite put a sentence together.
“We were a little concerned,” said Manford Realin, a physical education teacher at Kipapa Elementary School. “We had a speech therapist come to the house. She was 3 when she could say a full sentence. The speech therapy helped.”
Jax Realin is still a little surprised whenever her mother retells the story.
“Speech therapy. My mom told me that I did that, and I said, ‘What? No way.’ Now I can’t shut up,” she said.
The speaking issue had an impact on her social skills at first.
“Whenever my mom told me to ask the waitress for napkins, I’d get so anxious. ‘No, I don’t want to.’ Now, it’s OK,” Jax said.
Patty Realin filled the gap when mom and dad were busy at work, picking the sisters up from school.
“My grandma, she would help me with reading out loud, make me practice speaking,” Jax said. “She told me, if I read it, I would get ice cream. She had freshly cold Capri Sun in a special fridge for me and my sister.”
Judo is the bastion and origin combat sport for many eventual champions.
The Realin family was strictly into soccer at the beginning. Her soccer teammates on a team of 6- and 7-year-olds included several future Mililani standouts, including Kyla Okamoto and Leila Leano, and future Hanalani basketball standout Ellana Klemp.
“Soccer at (Mililani) AYSO, we were just living it. I actually miss that time. We were all so happy,” Jax said.
“We were at a soccer game,” Noe Realin recalled. “And one of her teammates was in judo and her dad was a sensei. We already wanted Skye and Jax to learn how to tumble.”
After a few years in judo at Mililani Hongwanji, Skye went into wrestling and was a natural. Jax resisted.
“We said, you’re going to wrestling,” Noe Realin said. “She was wrestling fourth, fifth grade. Eventually, she moved up to the big kids’ class, sixth grade to high schoolers. That’s where we started to see things start to click. A lot of them were successful and good role models. They came hard at her and took her in. If she’s struggling, they help her.”
One of her role models, naturally, was her big sister.
“It was difficult for Jax because of her sister. Skye was always, constantly winning,” Manford Realin said. “Big shoes to fill, always trying to not let her parents down. Jax was successful in judo, but when she came over to wrestling, it wasn’t the same.”
That didn’t stop Jax, who became obsessed with wrestling. She was at Hanalani Elementary School, but would be in the Kamehameha wrestling room observing her sister’s practice every day. Taking a little spot on a side mat, she would replicate the same drills and tumbles as her big sister. Hesia was Kamehameha’s head wrestling coach at the time.
“The first time I saw Jax, I was coaching middle school and her sister was on the team. Jax was probably fourth or third grade. Her dad would bring her up and watch practice in her school uniform doing sprawl drills on the side. She was, as a kid, motivated. Unreal attention span, watching the whole time,” Hesia recalled. “I said, ‘I hope she gets on our mat.’ She comes from a good wrestling family. Dad’s a coach and teacher. Skye’s an animal and set the stage. I remember him saying, ‘She loves this.’”
Love alone didn’t make the journey easy.
“Skye was different. She could just pick it up and be good at it. Jax had to work. She started to realize, I’m not my sister. I’m going to have to do the extra. She learned from the mistakes her sister made. It was just, hey, don’t worry about it. Trust the process,” Manford Realin said.
Iron sharpened iron.
“There were times when I was frustrated a lot. Badly frustrated. After practice I would cry, mostly in front of my mom. I always compared myself to Skye,” Jax said.
In sixth grade, Jax interviewed for one of the rare quota spots at Kamehameha.
“I talked a lot during my interview. I was the first one in and the last one out. There were five kids for each grade. I stayed a good 10 minutes longer,” she said. “I remember being so confident that I was going to this school. I’m going to attend Kamehameha and that’s a fact.”
Dad wasn’t so certain.
“We asked, ‘How did it go?’ Jaxie said, ‘She asked about my wrestling. I told her I’m going to be a champ.’ I told my wife, ‘We’re not getting in.’”
The letter didn’t surprise Jax.
“That day in 2019, I got the letter of acceptance to Kamehameha. That was one of the biggest accomplishments I have done,” she said.
What Jax Realin possessed after years of losing wrestling matches, struggling to fill her sister’s shoes, was her own superpower.
“Showing that confidence, look at where she is now,” Manford Realin said. “It took a lot of stuff that she sacrificed that nobody sees. Nobody sees her waking up at 4 in the morning, going to UFC (gym) for training. Taking the bus to Kamehameha. School practice, then club practice, then going back to UFC. Nobody sees that.”
All the while Jax Realin has maintained at 3.6 grade-point average.
“She’s so well rounded,” Hesia said. “She can do it all. She can wrestle with fluid technique and be a technician, but she can also be a brawler if she wants to. She’s a tone-setter for the team. She can match any energy that her opponent brings. She can up the energy. That’s what makes her tough to wrestle. If she wants to be the hammer, that’s a tough situation for her opponents.”
As of Jan. 17, the NCAA approved women’s wrestling as its 91st championship sport. More opportunities will be available. Realin hasn’t decided on a college yet, but hopes to become a sports psychologist. Her family is the base of her growth and grit. She enjoys her relationship with her sister more than ever.
“Now, we jokingly compare each other,” Jax said. “I’m a state champ. Skye would go, Are you a national Pan Am All-American? When I was little, I didn’t have the best wrestling ability like she had, so I pushed myself to be the same as her or better.”
JAX REALIN
Kamehameha wrestling, judo • Senior
Top 3 movies/shows
1. “Sixteen Candles”
2. “Kissing Booth”
3. “Friday”
“I can watch (‘Sixteen Candles’) over and over again and not get tired.
Top 3 foods/drinks
1. Poi and poke (Foodland or Tokyo Central)
2. Beef stew (Helena’s)
3. Curry (Goma Tei)
Top 3 homemade food
1. Mom’s spaghetti with butter and a hot dog bun
2. Dad’s pastele stew
3. Mom’s gandule rice
“I can make all three.”
Favorite athlete/team: Suni Lee, gymnast
“She won her first Olympic gold medal when she was 18. I think gymnastics is a body-excruciating sport. It’s tough on the body. I have cousins and friends who’s in gymnastics, and we argue which is harder. I can’t even do flips. I’m so amazed when I see them.”
Funniest teammate: Rylie Nishida
“She knows she’s funny. I told her she’s funny, and she said, ‘Thank you so much.’ She’s very quirky and introverted, but to the people that she knows, I’m her cousin. She does these one-liners all the time in practice. We could be doing the hardest thing, and she breaks me up with a joke. She’s the 125 (pound) state champ. We’re on the same club team.”
Smartest teammate: Anela Hokoana
“She’s a grade below me. She’s been in AP and honors classes, all kinds of classes that only now I’m in. She’s really smart. She’s also my cousin.”
GPA: 3.6
“If I didn’t have sports, I think I’d go crazy.”
Favorite teacher: Keoni Kaaiawaawa
“This is from junior year. My sports media kumu. I do find a joy from it, but I want to become a sports psychologist. Media, I can do it for fun.”
Favorite class: Ceramics
Favorite motto/scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not onto your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path.
“I’ve grown to know this like the back of my hand. Elementary school at Hanalani, it was mandatory to memorize the weekly Bible verse. No matter how many weeks went by I still remembered this.”
New life skill: Learning to be OK with setbacks — wins, losses and things in life.
Bucket list: “Travel to Aotearoa and France. Own a fluffy cow. I have an obsession with miniature cows. Highland fluffy cow.”
If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?
“Don’t be bothered by the wins and losses now. Keep working hard, because it’s all worth it in the end.”
Shoutouts
Thank you to God for giving me this life and always being with me through the ups and the downs. Giving me the opportunity to wrestle and thrive in what I am good at.
To my parents, thank you for being my rock in my life and the two people who I know will always push me to be the best person in wrestling/school/and just me as a person. Thank you for always pushing me to chase my goals and making anything possible.
To my siblings Joleen, Skye and Ezra, thank you being my role models in my life and always having my back whenever I need anything. Always being the ones I can look to for a laugh or being the people that I can always talk to.
Lastly, thank you to all my family members, coaches, and friends for always supporting me and being the village that builds me to be who I am, and making me proud of where I come from.
