Monday, December 20, 2010

Sara Slays the Giant


Sara Ruggiero was having a bad day. Heck, lets be honest, a very rough season. It was the 2006/07 season, and Sara was a junior wrestling in the 135 pound weight class. Very few girls at that weight can be truly successful wrestling boys, and if they are, they need to make wrestling their life. And Sara didn't do that. “I have always been a well rounded person so I never I guess fully "dove" into just one outlet,: Sarah says. “I wrestled, played soccer, and softball. I was big into choir and singing, but spent alot of my focus on academics which was probably my greatest passion.”

But while wrestling may not have been her greatest passion, she took it quite seriously. Her father was a Hall of Fame wrestling coach from New York, and one of her best friends was Toni Copleland. Toni is a name you learn quickly when talking about women's wrestling. She was a superstar in the making, and almost every girl that came in contact with her has talked glowingly of her. Unfortunately, she died tragically in a swimming accident. Sara says she thought about “throwing in the towel” and quitting wrestling after Toni died, but decided that would be dishonoring Toni's memory. So she stuck with it.

But it was days like these that made wrestling so hard. Sara was wrestling at the Onondoga dual meet. She says, “I liked the dual meet style because all my teammates and coaches got to be at my match.” But Sara wishes her teammates and coaches skipped her first match. “The boy was cranking on my arm so badly, that the ref actually had to stop the match twice because it looked like my arm was about to pop off of it's socket.” Even though her opponent had a point taken away from him, he was still able to beat Sara on points. She says, “It was pretty discouraging for me, yet sadly typical.”

Anna Cummings was a wrestler from Onondoga. Anna would later become a very accomplished wrestler, winning more than 100 varsity matches at her school. But on this day, she too was having a rough go. It made for a very depressing afternoon. Sara says, “It was a rough day all around. I remember in the waiting period before my second match talking to Anna and my sister about how discouraging that first match was and how this season had been going so rough. I felt like I just sucked at wrestling & I was just fighting a losing battle.”

It went from bad, skipped worse and went to unthinkable. Sara was now facing a boy from Cazenovia High School. Sara is 5'1. Her opponent was approximately 6'2-6'3 inches tall and very muscular. Sara says, “I could tell he was one of those kids who really weighs about 160 and had sucked down to 135. I figured with that height difference I was screwed, he would just sprawl on me and that would be the end of it.”

Sara knew she needed a miracle, so she decided to use a football term and, “throw a hail mary.” Sara admits it wasn't a smart move, “In wrestling, I would have to say it's the worst thing you can do, but I just kept thinking "oh what the hell, I'm going to set it up and throw a lateral drop & probably end up flopped right onto my own back, but at least it would be over quick.”

It gets worse. “As soon as I got out there I figured oh great here we go. He was one of those head slappers, cocky, smiling. That smile that says "she's just a girl, this is entertaining, let me see what I can do to embarrass her."

Unfortunately, her read was exactly right. “He took me down and let me up really quickly. I could tell he was trying to tech fall me-- humiliating.”

As she got up, she had dread in her head, "I assumed I didn't stand a chance. I got a lump in my throat and felt like I was going to cry. I really was not in the mood to be embarrassed."

So Sara took matters into her own hands, “I figured that if I was probably going to lose anyways, I might as well do something risky even though I didn't think it would work. The lateral drop was the coolest move, but pretty risky to try in a match. I didn't feel like I had much to lose, so if I landed on my own back & ended up pinning myself, it would at least be better than being teched.”

Sara tied up with him and then did something she doesn't normally do. Not listen to her coach. Her coach was telling her not to tie up but she wasn't listening. “ I pushed really hard into him and he pushed hard back-- the fatal mistake on his part. I was surprised he fell for it actually. I thought it was obvious I was setting that move up, but I was waiting for that exact moment-- a good hard push into me. I used his momentum and tripped him with my left foot and brought him down to his back.”

As it was happening, Sara finally was gaining the confidence she would need to win this match. “I remember thinking as I was tripping him, "Oh my god. I am actually doing it. This isn't practice and he isn't letting me." That was the turning point because I really saw myself maybe, possibly beating this kid who was at least a whole foot taller than me. I was in shock and I felt adrenaline coursing through me. I HAD to win this!”

But the match wasn't close to being won. Her opponent was a giant compared to Sara, and he did not want to lose to a girl. “He was fighting like hell and I was so nervous because I couldn't hold him tight enough with the hooks when my coach yelled to headlock him. I was afraid that he would be able to bridge out easily since he was so much taller than me, but I just squeezed as tightly as I could. It felt like the longest 15-20 seconds of my life. I was just waiting for the ref to slap the mat and I was running so high on adrenaline that I felt like I was going to pop his head off if I had to.”

While Sara was fighting for her life, she feels her opponent still didn't realize what was happening. “I think he was in shock and he still thought that he was going to beat me.” And Sara didn't necessarily disagree, “Even with him flat on his back I didn't feel like I had him because anything can happen in a match. I have come off my back plenty of times and I had come close to pinning guys before and they had gotten away.”

But she also knew her cocky opponent was desperate. He couldn't lose to this 5'1 girl. “I knew that's why he was fighting so hard. He was terrified of what everyone would think. He was probably panicking realizing that a short little girl was pinning him down to the ground and there wasn't much he could do about it.”

And then SLAP! The ref slaps the mat, and the match is over. Sara pinned him. “At first I felt shock. I was like, "I won? But then it was , I won!! haha. I sprung up so quick to my feet and offered my opponent a hand, he accepted. I looked at our little section and smiled.”

Many times after a girl beats a boy the boy cries, but this time, it was Sara. “My eyes were welled up with tears of joy and I was shaking. I am not sure what came over me, but I threw up a number 1 with my hand to the crowd. I ran to the center and the ref raised my arm after I shook my opponent's hand. I never felt so proud of myself.”

Her opponent who tried to humiliate Sara had the opposite reaction. “He just sat there with his head down and he kept his head down. I was surprised he accepted me helping him up. He was mopey and sulked off to his team's bench as quickly as possible and his team shielded around him. I was so caught up in my own victory, but I remember looking over and seeing that he was crying. I was surprised he didn't leave, but he just sulked after his brief cry on his bench.”

While Sara is typicially a great sport, she didn't mind the boys reaction. “I am a compassionate person and my gut reaction was that I felt bad for making someone cry, but then I was kind of satisfied. I felt like I had taught him some humility. Maybe he would go on being an arrogant person, but for at least that whole day he would be thinking about how he was cocky and then ended up pinned by a girl. I knew it didn't change the way guys would think of girl wrestlers, but I had a good feeling I may have changed one guy's opinion and that felt bigger than me. It felt like more than a match. It felt societal.”

Sara also says the immense size and weight difference made her feel proud, “It just goes to show that it's not always about the size of the dog in the fight, but about the size of the fight in the dog. It was mind boggling to me to know that I beat someone so much bigger than me.”

Though Sara is no longer wrestling, that match is never far from her mind, “It does still mean alot years later. When I think about my wrestling career, I always think of that match. It has given me confidence in myself that I know effects me in what I am doing today.”

And she feels somewhere in heaven, her friend Toni was watching the match. “I do. I felt a hint of sadness because I would have loved to tell her about that match, but I felt her presence I suppose you could say in my win. Sometimes I wonder if she was wishing me well and that could have had something to do with it. She would have been proud and happy for me I think.”