Year of the Tyger
Photo Courtesy Andrew and Heidi Taam
How do you celebrate after making history? If you’re Moanalua High School senior Tyger Taam, and you just became the first high school wrestler in Hawai‘i in nearly 40 years to win four consecutive state championships — without losing a single match along the way — you enjoy some ice cream and down time with friends and family.
Then you turn right around and find another challenge.
In his case, high school judo.
“After wrestling season was done, I didn’t really have much to do,” Tyger says, adding that he had competed in judo tournaments when he was younger, and even won some national titles, but stepped away to focus on wrestling. “I was like, ‘Why don’t I just try judo again? I could possibly place, or maybe win, so I’ll just try.’”
And he did win. Earlier this month, he placed first in the state’s high school judo championship. He competed in the 178-pound weight class, which is two classes above his weight of 151 pounds. This came on the heels of his being awarded the 2025 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award for Hawai‘i.
Those who know Tyger describe him as reserved and humble. Lucas Misaki, head coach for Moanalua High’s boys wrestling team, says the young grappler can be quite fun and funny, it just takes him a little while to open up.
But beneath Tyger’s quiet demeanor is an unshakable determination. He aims to concede nothing on the wrestling mat. There, it’s dominate or be dominated — and his record speaks for itself.
“Any challenge that I come across, I believe that I can do it and nothing will stand in my way,” the 18-year-old says. “Any challenges that I come across, I will just deal with it with a positive mindset.”
This was the case in 2022, when he won his first Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association championship as a freshman. It was a banner year for Moanalua. Both its boys and girls wrestling teams also won the state championship that year.
Tyger became the one to beat and he knew it.
“After my freshman year, whenever I wrestled at a regular tournament I would always have eyes on me,” he says. “Whenever I got scored on, the whole crowd would erupt even though I ended up winning the match.”
Says Misaki, “There’s a lot of external pressure because when you’re on the mat you’re basically in a fishbowl and everyone in the stands can see every move you make.”
Tyger found a way to tune out the noise.
“I didn’t let that bother me,” he says. “I made it my goal to win three more state titles and I made it my goal to never give up or lose a match. I wanted to be an inspiration to the OIA (because) the past four timers were from private schools.”
The OIA, or O‘ahu Interscholastic Association, represents 30 public high schools that compete in junior varsity and varsity sports. Its counterpart is the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, which represents 19 private schools, one charter school and one co-op school in intermediate, junior varsity and varsity sports.
The last person to win four consecutive state championships with an undefeated record was Patrick Higa in 1986. He wrestled for ‘Iolani School.
With four state championships under his belt (five if you count judo), it may seem like Tyger just never loses.
But he’d been pitting himself against some of the nation’s best long before high school, so he’d racked up his fair share of losses.
It all really started when he was 8 or 9 years old and began wrestling under Kamuela Woode, coach of the Golden Backs Wrestling Club.
“I was taking my son, Tyger and a couple other boys around the nation, challenging the best kids (on the mainland),” says Woode. “We knew we were going to lose, but we were OK with it. All I wanted was growth for the boys.”
Tyger competed in the Super 32 Challenge in North Carolina, the Doc Buchanan Wrestling Tournament in California, the Tulsa Nationals in Oklahoma and Reno Tournament of Champions in Nevada, among others.
“When I was a kid competing in local tournaments, I used to do pretty good,” Tyger says. “Then I started competing at another level, and that’s where I learned I’ve got room to improve.”
His father, Andrew Taam, adds, “Tyger has had as much downs as ups, trials and tribulations … but one thing he’s shown over the years is he perseveres.
“(Wrestling) is an easy sport to quit compared to other striking sports or ball sports because when things don’t go right (your opponent) can pretty much impose their will on you,” he continues. “But he never quit.”
Woode remembers one match in particular as the turning point. Tyger was competing in Reno.
“Tyger was third in his bracket and he lost his first match,” Woode says. “He got beat pretty bad. Then he faced ’em again for third place and he beat ’em.
“I knew it from then. He was in the 12 and under (bracket) and it was a hard tournament, really hard. And 12 and under … separates you from the pack, like who moves forward from middle school to high school and who doesn’t.
“He was bust up, could barely walk,” Woode continues. “But he fought to the end and he was so happy (he placed third). After I saw that, I was like, ‘Man, the sky’s the limit for this kid.’”
For his part, Tyger says Woode played a big part in his success.
“He always believed in me,” he says. “Every day, he would text me ‘4X state champ.’ It just kind of lodged in my brain that that’s what I’m going to do. And he always knew that I could push myself, even when I didn’t want to.”
The former Marine has high expectations for his wrestlers, and although he didn’t wrestle in high school, he respects the sport.
“I was doing martial arts in the Marines and I figured out the wrestler was the best guy,” Woode says. “I figured it out because I got dominated. And that was it. I was like, ‘OK these wrestlers are different. They’re OK with grinding and they don’t quit — they just keep coming.’”
So when he left the Marines, he got his son, Analu Woode, who was still quite young at the time, into the sport.
Andrew saw the progress Analu was making (he is now a nationally ranked wrestler and also won the state wrestling championship this year, as a freshman from Nānākuli High and Intermediate School) and asked Woode to coach Tyger.
Going to the mainland may have given Tyger an edge, but the cost of traveling added up. Andrew and his wife, Heidi, are small-business owners. They sell martial arts apparel and equipment through Hawaiian Fightgear. Heidi remembers a conversation with their accountant.
“He said, ‘If you guys want to retire, you have to cut out your travel,’” she recalls.
But rather than give up, Heidi applied to become a flight attendant. She was 50 years old at the time, but American Airlines accepted her. It was a big help because American flew to many of the cities that hosted wrestling tournaments.
It wasn’t the first time the Taams readjusted to support their children.
When Tyger and his older brother, Boltyn (who won the state wrestling championship in 2018), were still very young, Andrew had a day job managing a local surf shop. He remembers his sons running to him after sports practice, exclaiming about how much fun they’d had.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t even get to watch it!’” he recalls. “I was like, ‘I gotta try to change my career, do something on my own so I can be there for my kids.’”
Once he left his day job for good, he really went all in.
“I came home one day and the kids were at judo practice or wrestling practice and I (told Heidi), ‘You know what? I’m going to mat up this house.’
“Now, 85% of the wives out there, if their husbands said they were going to put (wrestling) mats all over the house, they would say, ‘Hell no.’”
Not Heidi.
She recalls, “I said, ‘Do it!’”
For Tyger and his supporters, it all paid off. They’ll always remember the moment he became a four-time champion.
“It was amazing. The atmosphere was blazing,” he says of the day he won his fourth title. “The crowd was cheering. I finally did it. It was a rush of emotions, like all the hard work I put in, all the dieting, all the days that I had to cut weight, every day that I had to go to practice or double practice. It was just a rush of emotions.
“It’s not easy to be a four-time undefeated state champ,” he adds. “But if you put in the work and you’re dedicated and consistent, it definitely can be done again.”
Next up for the soon-to-be high school graduate is Menlo College in Atherton, California. The tight-knit campus is known for its business curriculum (Tyger is interested in pursuing a business degree) — and its wrestling program.
“I’m going to go there and train to become a Division II national champ,” he says. “That’s my goal and I believe I can do it.”
