Her match was one of the last ones of the night and she was standing with her teammates. Samantha Rebentisch had her warm up gear on, and was jogging in place, getting ready for her match. Her teammates, at Jonathan Law High School in Connecticut would occasionally come over to say a few words, but pretty much, they left her alone to concentrate.
Across the gym, the Brookfield wrestling team were all huddled around one wrestler. It was Samantha's opponent. Samantha noticed. “They were looking at me and just laughing.” But this isn't anything new for Samantha, “ I wasn't thinking much of it when they were laughing at me I've had boys laugh at me before matches all the time even parents would make rude comments and laugh at me but I would shake it off.” But what she couldn't shake off was the importance of this match. “ “I was freaking out because it was one of the last matches of the day and Brookfield was the team that won their side of the bracket, while we won ours. This was it, we were going for first.”
Samantha is 15, a sophomore and wrestles in the 103 pound class. Her opponent for the night was a little smaller, at around 98 pounds. But Samantha wasn't about to judge a book by its cover, “It gave me a little confidence, but I've wrestled guys his size before and sometimes they were my hardest matches.”
The wrestlers stepped onto the middle of the match and Samantha's nerves were jumping. “I was so excited and nervous because the gym was packed and everyone was watching us, because I am a girl.”
What made her even more nervous, was who was watching. “My parents, teammates parents were all cheering me on and my team was lined up against the wall cheering.”
Finally the match started as both wrestlers started to circle. Immediately, the Brookfield wrestler made a mistake. “He took a lousy shot and I defended it by sprawling on his back. I put in underhooks and tried to turn him.” Though the match was in its infancy, Samantha was getting pumped. “I could hear my team cheering, and I knew I had to win this.”
The match was only in its infancy, yet already Samantha was going for the kill, while her opponent tried to avoid the inevitable. “I got to his back and he kinda just scrunched up in a ball. I laced one of my arms through his leg, and one around his shoulder and rolled him into a cradle. My team got louder, my coach got louder, and the whole gym was cheering and standing up.”
Things couldn't be going better for Samantha, “In my mind I was going crazy. All I could think was that I was actually going to win this match! I was doing so well. When I caught my leg around his and stretched him out to where he couldn't move I felt over the moon! I was so happy.” The early domination surprised her opponent, “You could tell that he was caught off guard and he was shocked,” Samantha said.
But to his credit, her opponent didn't give up. “He started to kick from under me, so I took my free leg and hooked it with his free leg and straightened him out so he couldn't move.” The end was near, and Samantha knew it. “I was thinking that I was actually going to win this.”
“I heard the ref slam his hand on the mat and blow his whistle, and the whole gym was going crazy! My team was jumping up and down, all the parents in the stands were jumping. I let him go and rolled onto my back. I jumped up and sprinted to the middle of the mat. We shook hands and the ref raised my hand...I was so happy. The guys that I always joke around with hugged me and threw me in the air. I think they were more happy than I was!”
It was also the first time a girl had ever pinned a boy at her school. “I felt amazing, there had been one other girl on varsity a couple years back but she never won a varsity match, so it was one for the books!”
It was a different reaction from her opponent. “The kid walked back over to his team and hid behind them. I could see him crying. I didn't feel bad at all, it made me feel accomplished and I knew I showed there team that you shouldn't take girl wrestlers lightly. We ended up beating their team, and winning the whole meet.”
A season later, Samantha hopes she changed his opinion on girl wrestlers. “I hope I did, I hope that if he ever has to wrestle another girl again he will take it seriously and not like a joke. If I saw him this season I would probably just ask him straight out how he feels about it now and what did he go through from his team.”
