7 mats on the ground, teams standing all around the room, coaches yelling, spectators cheering, and hundreds of feet waiting to win a match. In a sport commonly dominated by men, women are beginning to be noticed. For a long time, women had barely any traction in the wrestling circuit up until a few years ago.
Now more than ever women are seeing action, especially in the school setting. The high school this year has its first girl captain, Alexa Hampton, and a separate women’s faction in the wrestling league. Previously girls would wrestle boys during meets, or they would wrestle any girls available (there were not many). However, the biological factor of how females and males are different was often a battled discussion point on the fairness of the matches.
Janay Bearden, a wrestler at WBHS explained the sport as, “It’s a mental, technical, strength sport, which on some days can make it really fun but on others it can be difficult.” She goes on to say “It’s really tiring, and you’ll come home and undress and see all these bruises on your body and it’s the type of sport that really numbs you. When you’re on the mat it’s important that you think nothing and rely on instinct and really just being present.”
With this new territory, there are also new and old issues that come to the surface. Especially because this is such a male-dominated sport. History shows women being portrayed as weak. It shows them not being strong, and even though today women are constantly fighting those stereotypes, in areas such as wrestling, it does not just go away.
Bearden stated, “ It’s really hard when people don’t understand, or put themselves in your shoes, and when they think you’re weak. It’s also hard when they don’t put their faith in you just because you’re a girl, and just because you might not be as strong as the guys, even if you’ve put in just as much work.”
Wrestling also gives girls opportunities, last year Isabel Sanchez got a full ride to Rochester College, because of her wrestling abilities. With this new leaf of women’s wrestling, colleges are trying to scout and make girl teams, which can also benefit these young athletes.
Bearden went on to say, “It empowers me because it makes me feel strong when you look around the world. Not a lot of females partake in physical combat sports and it makes me feel unique.” She then went on and talked about how in the real world she feels that because of wrestling she can defend herself if needed.
Wrestling empowers, enables and encourages, and though this new chapter in womens wrestling comes with a new territory to be navigated, these girls are determined to have a great season. So go out and support these girls (and boys) during one of their meets!
