Wrestlers will often face off against certain wrestlers more than once. They build a certain rivalry with each other. Some rivalries are friendly, some are intense, some are even. However some are one-sided. One such rivalry pitted Morgan Belanger vs. a boy named James. If Morgan Belanger were a hockey player, fans would be littering the ice with their hats. It was a rivalry, that Morgan says helped make her senior season so much fun. The story of Morgan Belanger, vs. James.
Morgan Belanger, was a senior. But more than that, she was entrusted as the captain of her wrestling team. She knew, being a captain has a lot of responsibilities, but being a captain that's also a girl? She can't screw this up. Did she really deserve to be captain?
She was nervous before her first match. Nothing new there, Morgan is always nervous. But this was different, “First, I didn't want to let my team down, especially on the first match of my captaincy! Second, it's a little problem I have in having total confidence in myself.” But while she was nervous, she was also confident. She saw her opponent, a boy named James. “ He was my height, and my weight. He was also my build, lanky with not a lot of muscle. I figured I could take this guy,” she said.
As it turned out, Morgan had no reason to be nervous. She explains, “I stepped on the mat, shook his hand, and decided I'd give him the lead. I'm not an aggressive person by any means, I'm more the defensive type. Well, he instantly went to tie up with me, but did it horribly. Both his hands were on my biceps, mine on his. I could feel his balance going everywhere.”
While Morgan often will have the skill advantage, she often gives up some strength to her opponent. But not this time. Morgan says, “His strength was no match for mine. In an instant as I processed this, he suddenly ducked to shoot in on my legs. Luckily, he was slow and sloppy. I countered by shooting my legs behind me and laying all my weight on him. Then I spun around him, and immediately secured my legs. By legging in (intertwining my left leg with his while I'm on top) I felt instant comfort/ease. I had been practicing riding legs all practices because that was the only part of my body I could depend on. My leg strength and ability to stay hooked was my only real advantage against bigger guys.”
But James wasn't a bigger guy. And he wasn't very hard competition. Morgan now switched from wrestler, to captain. “I realized I needed to end this match quick, as I wanted to save my strength for the other match I would have after (it was a double meet, meaning she went against two teams). I dug my left elbow into his right side, lifted his right arm above my head and placed it in the crook of my neck. I then slowly worked my way down, and when he was more or less on his back, I locked my hands around his head, and squeezed like I never have before, while stretching his leg, still locked with mine, down. After about 30 seconds, the ref slapped the mat and I was brought to the center to shake hands and get my arm raised. I felt great!”
The match ended at 1:39 of the first period. Morgan says, “This was one of my favorite matches because it was the first match I won as a varsity captain, so I felt as if I proved to the team (and myself) that I could do this.” She adds, “It was definitely one of my easiest matches, but also most gratifying. I love riding legs, and this was the quickest match where I won while using them. It really helped to develop my wrestling style throughout the season.”
The next match was not as easy for Morgan, but she did beat her opponent 10-1. All in all a great day for her.
She would go on to face James two more times that season. “I felt a lot more confident. I knew that I've beat him before, so there's no reason why i shouldn't beat him again.”
Morgan had reason for her confidence, as she pinned James all three times she faced him. She says of beating the same opponent three times, “I felt awesome. I can say I'm very proud of them. I really didn't use to have a lot of confidence in myself as a wrestler, until i wrestled James. He was the one wrestler I could count on in my varsity days to build my strength back up, and help me realize that I was just as good a wrestler as the others out there.”
And even though she was already the captain, it made her feel more part of the team than she already was. “Iwas super excited about that (beating someone three times to zero). I'm not the strongest wrestler out there, and most of my other teammates had somebody they beat a lot, so I was able to be included in their conversations,” she said.
Her victories also gave her a missing ingredient in her wrestling game. A strut or swagger that she doesn't have in her everyday life, but wanted on the wrestling mats, “James will always be the person who took the best and worst of me at the same time I guess. He portrayed me to be greater then him, to my team, and thus created me in a greater light. Like I was the greater wrestler, always, when compared against him,” she said. Morgan adds she's not normally aggressive, but the thought of James brings that and other feelings out in her.
Morgan says, “If he and I were in the same sentence together about wrestling, its automatically assumed I was the better one because he has never beaten me. And he also stirred that deep, intense feeling in me of my need to completely demolish him on the mat, so to speak. Seeing him always made me get the urge to be cocky and someone I'm not (off the mat).”
Her rivalry and 3-0 record against James, helped her earn the nickname that her team gave her. “Captain Morgan.”
