This year, the IHSAA officially made wrestling a different sport for girls and boys. The LHS girls wrestling team is about 20 girls with the dedication and potential to compete against other Indiana high schools. Last Saturday, they had their second meet against Alexandria High School.
Now that girls wrestling is completely different from boys wrestling, girls felt less intimidated and more enthusiastic about trying out for the team.
“This year, I decided to join mostly because it’s just for girls,” freshman Alexa Lopez said. “I wasn’t scared to wrestle guys because now you can wrestle with girls only.”
Family members play a key role in what student-athletes do. If students have a role model who supports them, they might be encouraged to do better.
“My dream in wrestling is to make it to state,” freshman Jireh Zagal said. “I have my state-qualifying sister. She pushes me to do better and trains me. I hope I make it to state and place higher than her.”
Joining wrestling takes more than just wanting to try something new. It takes a lot of determination to stay.
“One of the hardest things in wrestling is when you get hurt, you have bruises everywhere, and your body is aching,” freshman Aubriana DeWeese said. “You have to get up and keep going still.”
Aside from family, peers play an important role in teens’ decisions. One such decision is when trying out for a sport.
“I joined wrestling because I went to my boyfriend’s meets last year,” Lopez said. “I went
to all of them, and being there watching them wrestle, it kind of made me interested in it”
Wrestling is a competitive contact sport. However, the team members look out for more people than just themselves.
“Since I’m more experienced, my role is to motivate my team to keep going,” Zagal said. “Wrestling is a constant mental battle. You have to be positive, pick yourself up, and keep going.”
Besides looking for fair competition, some girls feel like they haven’t seen much change after girls wrestling became a high school sport in Indiana.
“The only difference is just the way we do our weights,” freshman Julianna Rincones-Vazquez said. “Overall, when you go in there, you’ll see all of us making the effort and trying to make improvements of ourselves.”
Other girls are looking forward to wrestling with girls only. They feel it’s more appropriate for their efforts.
“I’m excited to be able to have a fair opportunity at wrestling only wrestling girls,” Zagal said. “I started by only wrestling with boys, and although it made me better, sometimes I felt like it wasn’t fair.”
