One for the Books!

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.”

No "Luck" This Time

Darby Newman wrestles at 125 pounds for Bellefontaine High School. Darby was all set to wrestle her opponent from Stivers High School, when she overheard the boy, Danny, tell one of his teammates that he didn't want to wrestle her because she was a girl. Darby was surprised, because she has two female friends on Stivers, Brandi Boo, and Clarice Mueller-Johnson.

While some girls get intimidated by boys because of their strength, Darby felt very confident before the match. “My coach and I talked before my match about what I needed to do to win my match and going into the match, and I was pretty stoked because he didn't look that strong.” She also wasn't happy that he didn't want to face her. “I was ready to show him I could hold my own even though I was a girl.”

But the match didn't start out well for Darby. The boy took a shot and scored. However his lead was very short lived, as he left his head hang over and Darby flipped him. “ It surprised both of us. But it felt amazing, like no one could beat me!” Darby scored the reversal and started to get back points, but the buzzer beat her. Still, she was up 5-2 after the first period. “I knew I had a nice lead but I still needed more points to win.”

Her opponent chose to be on top to start the second period. “His first move was to try to ride me but again he left his head high, and I flipped him again. I was very excited to throw him again, but very mad when I didn't get the points since we were out of bounds.”

The second period ended with no scoring and Darby still had the three point lead. It was Darby's decision where she wanted to start the third period from, and she chose the top. “I took the top knowing I could ride him, and he wouldn't be able to score off me.” Darby's first move was to slide her legs in, but she got too high and they rolled. However it turned out to be a great move, because, “Somewhere in the middle of rolling, I found a pinning spot and stopped.” The whistle blew and the ref slapped the mat...is what should have happened. “We sat there for more than a minute and the ref didn't call the pin. Finally I let him belly out and I scored three more points. Now I was up 8-2. I put him in a half and threw it again. He tried to fight out of it but couldn't, so we just sat there waiting for the ref to call the pin.” But once again...he didn't.


“It did bother me that the ref didn't call it. It felt like he was not calling it cause I was a girl.” Darby wasn't the only one who thought it was a pin. Danny's teammate Brandi also thought he was covered, “She had him down for a good while. I was surprised the ref didn't call a pin.”

While Darby was disappointed with the refs decision, she was elated with her victory. “Winning 11-2, showed him I could fight. I was pretty stoked with a 11-2 victory.” Darby also thought she wanted it more, “The third period was pretty easy; he was pretty tired after the second.”

The ref then brought both competitors to the middle, and raised Darby's hand. “I felt like I was on top of the world when the ref raised my hand. I was truly glad because I showed a lot of people I could hold my own even after people thought I couldn't win.”

Besides the victory, Darby was also happy she could win in front of Danny's two female teammates. “ Both girls were very happy because they really didn't like that he was talking crap about another female wrestler.”

Even though their team lost, Darby was right, both Brandi and Clarice were thrilled. Brandi said, “Yes, I was rooting for Darby! As a female wrestler, It makes me happy to see another female beat a boy in a match. Especially because I know how hard it is. So it's always great to see a girl do well in this sport because a lot of people say "oh, that's a boy's sport! You can't do that!" As much as I love my teammates, it's pretty cool watching a girl beat their butt.” Clarice added, “It's so uncommon to meet another girl wrestler that every time I do there's a sense of mutual support. In such a challenging and male dominated sport I think us girls need to stick together. I was really happy for her. Even though she'd beaten one of my team mates I was still excited. I'm pretty sure Brandi and I were smiling ear to ear when Darby won.”

As you might expect, one person who wasn't smiling was Darby's opponent Danny. Darby says Danny just sulked the rest of the day, and Darby was not happy about it. “I thought it was very unsportsmanlike like and it kinda made me mad. So what if you lose? Everyone loses at least one time.”

Darby thought that was the end of it, but the next weekend they had to wrestle again. What Darby didn't know was what Danny said after the match. According to Brandi, Danny made several excuses why he lost and said, “If I wrestle her again I'm not going to lose.”

He would get his chance, but Danny was not the only one who was confident. After her semi-easy victory, Darby was bordering on being too cocky. “I laughed and felt ready to take him on again; to show him that I wasn't just lucky the first time.”

The match started and Darby let her emotions get the best of her. “I went into the match way too hot-headed. I thought I was going to beat him pretty badly, and it was going to be easy.”

It wasn't. The first period ended 4-4. “Both my coach and I were surprised that the match was so close,” Darby said. If Darby was surprised how Danny was taking it to her the first period, she was shocked at what happened during the 2nd round. “He took the bottom, got a reversal and two back points to take a 7-4 lead. I was really surprised and very mad about how the match was going.”

After the 2nd period ended, Darby did not think she had a comeback in her. “I was thinking I'm going to lose this. After all this work I was about to give up.”

But a great part about wrestling is the coaching. Darby needed love, but she needed the tough variety. And she thought back to an old coach, whose voice popped into her head and said, “"Newman, work your hardest no matter the fight!"

Right then she got head back in the match. “I started thinking about all the ways I could win the match. I also wasn't about to let my opponent get redemption from last week.”

Unlike last week, Darby realized she couldn't just ride out the period. She needed the points so she chose the bottom. Danny rode her and put her in a full-nelson. The move is illegal and cost her opponent a point. There was one minute left and Darby was still down two. Darby got free to gain another point, but she was still one point behind.

There was 30 seconds left, and Darby screamed to herself, “I need a take down now!” While some wrestlers might panic, Darby was in full control. “We had practiced this scenario in the gym. I had done this before in practice, now it was time to do it for real.” And boom! She shot, and put him on his back to take an 8-7 lead with only 10 seconds left.

Darby thought to herself, “Did I just really win this match?” The refs whistle blew and it was official. Yes she did. Darby won 8-7.

As the wrestlers got up, Danny said something to Darby. The ref heard it and took away a team point from his school. Brandi said that got many of her teammates upset. But Brandi wasn't too upset, because she was proud of Darby. “Danny was furious, but I honestly laughed about it when Darby won a second time against him. I think it was a humbling experience for him. The second time really proved that there was no way she won the first one by an accident or any other stupid excuse Danny used. She won fair and square, twice. I think that was a BIG ego bruiser to him.“

While it was a big ego bruiser to Danny, it was a big ego BOOSTER to Darby. “I felt like I had accomplished something great. Even though it was only one match it was great coming back and doing it twice. The feeling of beating this kid again was amazing. The crowd was cheering and everyone was watching. They knew I didn't get lucky, I showed them I wasn't a female wrestler, I was just a wrestler.”

As for Danny's multiple excuses and comment that he wouldn't lose to her again? “I believe any excuse is just a way to blame someone else for your mistakes. Yes it makes my victory so much sweeter! I will see him again next year and hope to wrestle him again!”

The Start of a Victorious Career

It was Megan Moroney's first varsity tournament, and there was one word that described her feelings. Intimidated. Megan had been wrestling for two years, so making it to varsity was a big deal. However she lost her first match and was moved to the consolation bracket. The nerves got worse when she realized that if she lost the next match, she was out. And she didn't want to start her varsity career like that. Megan says, “It was extremely important to me to win my next match. At that point in time it was the most important match in the world. There was a massive amount of people watching considering I was on the closest mat to the them. It was more than just winning any match, I wanted to prove something. I got it set in my mind girls are just as good as boys and i was going to win.”

She kept looking around to see who her opponent was, and then she spotted him, an older taller boy. Megan is a 9th grader and 5'1. Her opponent was a 5'5 junior. She was concerned, but then thought she had better get some confidence. “I got it into my mind I was going to win. I wanted it more.”

Before the match the traditional handshake took place, and Megan wanted to turn the intimidation tables. “I like to intimidate my opponent, so I grabbed his hand hard. His facial expression was priceless. His face went from an, “I'm gonna pin her look, to she's gonna pin me.”

After the ref blew the whistle the wrestlers circled and locked up, “When we first tied up I was still very nervous because if I lost that match I would have been out. But my nerves stopped when he shot because for some reason they go away when the match truly begins and I get focused on my moves.”

The boy shot and went for a double leg, but Megan was too quick. “ I sprawled too fast and ripped a hard cross face until I circled behind and got my takedown. I was persistent with my cross face and when i circled and got my takedown I relaxed and knew it was me who was going to dictate this match.”

Megan got her two points but just as she was going for the pin, the buzzer went off. The rounds were only 1 minute and 30 seconds due to it being the consolation round, and Megan felt she was jipped of her first period pin. “I did want a first period pin for two main reasons. One, wrestling all three periods gets very tiring and you're at your best when you have energy to do the moves. Secondly, it would make me appear as a very good wrestler which I'm striving to be.”

But she was still up 2-0 and now had to focus on the 2nd round. Her opponent chose the down position and Megan broke him down with a chop arm. Megan says, “He got really cocky and tried to explode up. He tried to explode up and while I was still tight wasting him. He he thrashed his arms and I think he was trying to elbow me so he would get his escape. I just said to myself just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that is going to work for him. He was most likely stereotyping me, thinking I would be weak. He was very wrong.”

Megan countered the older boys move by applying more pressure and throwing in a half. “He buckled under the slightest bit of pressure, but couldn't flatten himself out. I drove the hardest i could and got him to his back. I probably should have broke him down first but my momentum and adrenaline was to strong to stop myself.”

Megan now was in full control and she was seconds away from victory. Megan says, “I was thinking to myself I can't let him roll through. If I had I would never forgive myself.”

She wouldn't have to, as the ref blew his whistle, and slapped the mat, signifying Megan's victory.
“When you pin someone that sound is almost like being told you've won a million dollars. But it gives you more than that. It brings you great dignity, especially if your a girl.”

One of the great aspects of baseball and hockey is, when you win you can go nuts. But in wrestling there is a code, and excessive celebration is heavily frowned upon. That was not lost on Megan. “When I got up I was a good sport in helping my opponent up. If there's anything I hate it's being a bad sport so i always try not to be. It reflects bad on the team. Even though its very individual wrestling is still a team effort. I was stopping myself from jumping up and down and screaming because if I did I'm sure he would have started balling.”

The wrestlers moved to the center of the ring and then the ref flew Megan's hand in the air. “When the ref raised my hand it made the whole experience worth it. I know everyone was watching since I'm a girl, so it felt amazing for them to see that a girl beat a boy. My opponent's face was red and it was the pre-crying red too. He tried to get off the mat as soon as possible and didn't look me straight in the eyes. I laughed a little inside. He should have focused more on wrestling than trying to focus on not losing to a girl.”

But unfortunately for her opponent, Megan was able to see what happened next. “He hid behind his team. As I was putting my warm ups back on I did notice him crying and it gave me even more of a feeling of accomplishment. Sort of a take that and girls can wrestle and will continue to so get used to it.”

While some critics may fault Megan for enjoying her opponent crying, Megan feels no guilt. “It gave me a feeling of accomplishment because I put a boy in his place and it stood for so much more than wrestling. It stood for the fact that women can't let them do what they do and we need to fight back and stand up for ourselves. Also, personally I just found it funny.”

Megan said this victory propelled her to a solid season. “This match got me used to being around a big crowd with more with one wrestling mat. I was more comfortable after that tournament and it also showed my I could win at them.”

Megan went on to win six more varsity matches after this one, and qualified for the WPIAL tournament, which is a county tournament. Next year, she has even bigger aspirations. “I not only want to qualify for the WPIAL's, I want to place. And regionals also.”

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.”

Kari Krushes

When Junior Kari Sickles arrived at the Call Out Tournament (COT) at, Ft. Lauderdale High School she wasn't happy, "I was kind of frustrated. It's hard to get a match at call-out tournaments when you're a girl." The COT is where you ask an opponent if he will wrestle you. Its not an important school tournament, and even the periods are shorter than normal.

In order for Kari to get a match, her coach was going to have to do some hard work, “"My coach ended up having to talk to the other school's coaches in order to get me a match.” Her first match was against a boy from University High. Kari says the boys parents were very happy that their son would face her, "They were sitting between my mom and another rival team. When the coach told them who he was wrestling, they said 'Oh, an easy win to begin the season.' " However their son didn't seem to happy to be facing Kari, “He looked pretty nervous to be wrestling me haha.”

It turns out, he had reason to as Kari cruised, "Almost immediately after the whistle blew I snapped him down and got 2 points. I kept trying to pin him, but he was really squirmy and I couldn't quite get it, hahaha. He ended up getting one point for an escape in the second period because when he stood up he elbowed me in the nose and I let go out of pain. It wasn't too hard to take him back down though, so I kinda dominated him the entire match." Kari ended up winning the match, 11-1. “I felt pretty good afterwords because I'd wrestled well and won.”

Kari then wrestled another boy and lost by one point. “I just made a stupid mistake and underestimated him, and that's what happens."

While Kari was successful in getting the first two boys to say yes, the third boy proved to be more tricky. The boy she wanted to face didn't seem to want to face her. But luckily for Kari, his teammates started riding him. Kari says, “They said the usual taunts, things like "Are you really that scared of a girl? Is she really that much better than you? How much of a chicken can you be?"

But it was the boy's response that upset Kari. "One of my teammates was warming up for a match right next to them. My teammate told me the boy tried to act tough and say, “Of course I'm not afraid, she's just a girl, winning will be easy.” Kari did not fully believe her teammate.

“When he told me I thought he was exaggerating, but when I walked by them to get to the mat they were still talking about it. Also, we were on the mat right next to them - so I could see them talking and laughing and looking at me.

Kari was not pleased, “I was pretty mad - he was actually one of the first boys to really talk crap about me.” It wasn't just going to be a match now, now it was personal. “Winning became really important to me. I didn't want to lose to someone like that.”

But while Kari was confident based on her 11-1 route in her first match, she didn't really know how this match would go, “"I wasn't 100% sure I could crush him, because I hadn't really seen him wrestle, and didn't really know anything about him. All I initially thought of was winning."

Kari stepped on the mat and another thought came to her, “I'm not gonna lie, I wanted him to be embarrassed.” They shook hands and Kari gave him a firm hand shake, “I wanted him to be a bit intimidated.” Kari was met with a wet noodle, “That's when I thought 'I can definitely crush this kid.' "

While many times the girl is at a strength disadvantage, this time she felt her gender gave her an edge, "I think he was intimidated before we even shook hands. He was psyching himself out over the probability that he could lose to a girl haha."


The match started and Kari felt his disrespect grew. “The only time I've ever seen a wrestler just stand there at the start, it's been out of disrespect. And that's what he did. When the whistle blew, he kinda stood up a bit - like he was expecting me to just stand there and not know what to do while he took me down.”

That isn't what happened. “Well, I've never been very good at taking shots, so I lunged at him and attacked his head, trying to snap him down while showing him that I knew exactly what I was doing. Her opponent put a lot of effort into trying to get her down. But he was unsuccessful, "He wasn't really in a good position to get the take down, it was really easy for me to flatten him out.” But Kari still had work to do to get the two points, “It wasn't so easy getting his arms off and spinning behind. I put all of my effort into spinning behind him, but my team does a lot of conditioning and I didn't exhaust myself. After I sprawled, I had to get all the way behind him to get the two points."

It was extremely early in the match, and it was only 2-0, but Kari could feel her opponent had nothing left. “Once I had him down I knew I had him. He gave up on trying to base up after about 10 seconds. His coach was yelling at him but I just kept tilting him for back points.

"I was pretty excited that I'd gotten the 2 points, and when he kinda gave up it made me feel pretty confident that I would be winning the match - especially since he gave up so early in the match."

Then her opponent's coach started getting frustrated, "At that point, his coach started getting really mad at him. No coach wants to see their wrestler give up a minute into the match."
The first period ended and it was a romp, 10-0. While Kari was unsuccessful in getting the pin, she wasn't upset. “Where I live I actually never got too much disrespect from guys, so usually I'm not going into a match with the goal to embarrass someone lol, I just want to win.”
But this was a different case, Kari had been disrespected, and now she was going to return the favor, “At the end of the first, I was just thinking of a way to embarrass him - as mean as that may sound haha - so being in the lead by 10 points was fine by me, even if didn't have the pin."

Kari was not worried about her opponent making a comeback, “"When we stood back up he took his time and kept looking at the ground instead of at his coach or me. He did try harder for a take down in the second period, but it went a lot like the first period and he gave up a bit quicker. I knew he couldn't beat me at that point because he was mentally broken."
It was now 12-0, and it was getting dire for her opponent, “I was trying to turn him over, but since it was a call out tournament the 2nd period was shortened to a minute and I didn't really have a lot of time left. I got another near-fall for 2 points, and then with 10 seconds left I turned him again." Kari was having the time of her life, "I was enjoying myself, and I was enjoying beating him so badly hahaha. I was in my own world."

But there were still 10 seconds left in the 2nd period, and the score was 14-0. One more point for Kari, and it would be a tech fall. "When I turned him over, I knew that I would be getting the win because he wasn't really even trying to bridge off his back at that point. Unfortunately, I had lost track of the time towards the end so I didn't realize that there was almost none left. When the ref slapped the mat at the same time as the end of period buzzer, I just thought 'man, now I have to go into the third period because that probably didn't count.' But it turned out that it didn't matter, because I got enough points from the near-fall to give me a technical fall. The ref wanted to give me the pin, but wasn't really sure if he could give it to me, so he asked my opponents coach what he thought. The coach looked at the score and then looked at me and said 'I don't care, ask her what she wants.' " "So I chose the tech because that would be a more embarrassing way to lose, in my opinion.”

Kari had accomplished her goal, "I was smiling, because I was pretty happy with the outcome of the match. He just kinda stood there though - I'm sure he was embarrassed, because he'd talked crap and then lost 16 - 0."
It was time for the winners arm to be raised, and Kari couldn't wait. "It felt as good as it did the first time I ever got my hand raised. I don't really remember if I said anything to him, but I don't think I did, he just walked off to go sit with his teammates."

They would see each other again, but this time, her opponent had nothing to say, "I didn't see him again until counties, and when I walked by him his teammates said 'Hey, isn't that the girl that destroyed you?' and whenever he saw me after that he would turn and walk away from me. I guess his teammates made fun of him for losing."

Kari to this day doesn't understand the big deal about why it was such a big deal to lose to her, "It just seemed kind of stupid to me, honestly, because counties was a month later and he was still embarrassed about losing." She also thinks if they meet again, the goal will be different, “I've proven my point the first time , so if we ever wrestle each other again my goal won't be to embarrass him, just win."

Asked if she ever sees him again what would she want him to think, Kari says, "I guess I'd want him (and his team) to know that, just because I'm a girl, it doesn't mean I'm going to be a bad wrestler. Being a girl has nothing to do with my ability as a wrestler."

Does she think he knows that now? “I think he does.”

Molly Helsel Win Match, and Respect

While this is a book about girls who wrestle in high school, there is a match that has to be told, about a woman going against a man, in a grappling tournament. If you type Molly Helsel in Youtube, you will surely find the match. It lasts 3:19 and it shows that heart, brains, and determination sometimes can slay brawn.

Molly Helsel was just looking for a sword. Had the organizers of the NAGA Hawaii grappling tournament just awarded a samurai sword to the winners of the Woman's division, perhaps this story would never have happened.

Molly had entered the tournament the previous two years. But she was left unsatisfied as she only participated in one match. Molly won the second year and while she was happy with her victory, she was upset that the winner of each Mens division was awarded a samurai sword. Molly paid the same price the men paid, and felt the women winners should be awarded a sword. “After watching all the men get on the podium and the champions received their sword I was excited because I thought I would receive one too. When I found out there was none it did make me upset because I felt like the powers that be viewed a woman's accomplishments as less than a mans.”

Not one to just complain to her friends, Molly wrote a letter to the tournament directors. Molly did not get the response she was expecting, “They told me they weren't going to award the woman's winner a sword. So they said if I wanted that prize, I could enter the mens division and try to win one.”

However it wasn't going to be that easy. The tournament director also told Molly that she couldn't enter the novice division, but had to enter the beginners division. So not only was Molly now forced to grapple a man, she had to grappled experienced men. Molly was satisfied with the decision. “I thought it was more than fair and I was just grateful for the opportunity to compete in the mens division. Not for one second would I have expected any special treatment whatsoever. My experience level fell into the bracket I was placed in and it was not the organizers fault that the smallest weight division was 15 pounds heavier than my walking weight. I did this for the challenge, not for an easy win so I thought the organizers were fair, especially because they didn't have to let me enter the mens.”

However there was one more obstacle Molly was going to have to face, an obstacle many girls in high school wrestling face. She could grapple the guys, as long as no man had a problem with grappling a woman.

Many girls have to do nothing but walk to the center of the mat and get their arms raised when they are scheduled to wrestle a boy. That's because many boys would rather forfeit to the girl, rather than risk losing to her in a real match. Luckily for Molly, she had friends in the beginners division, and no one said they had an issue with grappling with her, “there were a few of them that I had trained with before that had seemed supportive.”

But before Molly could grapple the guys, she had to go against the one other girl in the woman's division. This proved no problem, as she quickly disposed of her opposition, and won the title. Molly was excited that she won the match because the girl was ranked higher than her and much heavier. But she still had her mind somewhere else. “My eye was really on the men's division, that's what I had really been training for because I did not expect any women to enter that year.”

Now it was time to go against the boys. Perhaps the two words that best described Molly's feelings heading into the match would be, “Uh-oh.” To put it bluntly, Molly was up against it.

Not only was Molly going against a man, but she was giving away at least 15 pounds. “the lowest weight class they had in that division was 145. I weighed about 130 pounds at the time.” And though this was the beginners division, Molly had heard her opponent was not new to grappling. “I knew he would be stronger than me. I had also heard beforehand that he had some wrestling experience so I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to take him down.”

There is a saying in sports that many times isn't accurately used. A team full of underdogs will say “Nobody thought we can do it.” But in reality, many times the underdog team will have faith that they can win. So technically, its inaccurate because the players thought they could win.

But for this match, not even Molly thought she could do it. “When I first stepped on the mat and in mentally preparing myself for the match beforehand, I really did not expect to win. I just wanted to test myself and make a point to the organizers.”

While most wrestlers will try to psyche themselves up before a match, Molly's opponent seemed to be cursing his misfortune, of having to grapple a girl. “ I could tell the guy was not exactly excited about going against me, but I didn’t really care because he had an opportunity to speak up if he had any objections.”

While her opponent seemed less than enthused, Molly didn't have many pre-match jitters, “I wasn’t too nervous because I didn’t really have very high expectations from myself.”

The match started and Molly realized she had to be aggressive, “I immediately tried to pull guard. He passed to side control, but I recovered guard again.” However her opponent was just too strong for her. He put Molly in a Ezekiel choke.

A choke in grappling is normally the death nail. This match could have been over before it started, but Molly's opponent's technique didn't match his strength. “He didn't have the choke in the right place. It was across my jaw and was very painful, but not choking.”

However it appeared Molly wasn't very much competition either. The whole match Molly was on her back, and while she wasn't ready to tap, she knew she was in trouble. “He was very strong and I just couldn’t improve my position.”

Many girl wrestlers will say strength doesn't matter, its all about technique. But that's simply not true. Strength does matter, and Molly was finding out the hard way. If you look at the video, Molly was in pain. But though she wasn't as strong as her opponent, what she lacked in muscles, she made up in heart. “I was frustrated because I knew he wasn't trying to improve his position and that he really didn't know the finer details of the submission he was trying to put on. I knew he wasn't taking me seriously and if I could just be patient, let him wear himself out with his bull(expletive) submission maneuver I could find a way to win.”

Molly felt she was being disrespected. She felt the man wasn't taking her serious, and that made her more competitive. “Going into the division I didn't really think I would actually win, but there was a small part of me that did believe it was possible. So I just wanted to have fun and test myself out. But his attitude during the match not taking me seriously did make me angry though. What particularly got me mad was that he didn't have the choke, and he knew he didn't have it. So he grinded his forearm into my jaw instead. That mad me mad! You can ask any of my training partners - I have a switch. it's very hard to push but when it is FTW!”

Unfortunately, talent can usurp heart, and after approximately 2 minutes into the match, Molly's opponent was finally about to get the choke that would undoubtedly lead to a submission. Molly needed to act fast, and at the 2:16 mark of the video, Molly finally started creating some space between her neck and his arms, “I stretched my legs out to relieve the pressure. That allowed me to create just enough space to start slipping out the back.”

But her opponent never lost control. He readjusted and seemed to be back where they started...however that wasn't exactly true. Molly's opponent didn't realize the girl had some wiggle in her, “ I’m not sure if he just didn’t know what I was doing or probably just wasn’t thinking I was a threat as there was a short time left in the match.”

Slowly but surely, Molly was escaping, and when she finally escaped his hold, she had a surprise for him, “It took me awhile to work my way out, but as soon as I had position on him, I slapped on the choke!”

But time was running out and Molly knew this was it. “I knew this was my last chance to win - there was no way I would win on points by that time - and just had to put everything I had into it. I didn't have it locked in perfectly, but no matter how tired I was, I just stretched the (expletive) out of him and hoped he would tap or go out.”

So would her opponent tap?? Much like her opponent, Molly's technique was not flawless. He did not have to tap. It turned into who wanted it more. Molly spent approximately 2:30 seconds on her back, and she didn't come close to tapping. “I am an extremely stubborn person. As a child it used to get me in lots of trouble, but as a fighter it helps me preserver. In competition in my mind - even if I am being dominated - I always think in my head "I'm fine, I've been here before, he / she can't hurt me, I can still win this. I never give up until the bell has rung. Some people fight not to lose, me - I fight to win, always.”

But while her opponent couldn't put her away, the clock could. “Knowing I was almost out of time I just used every ounce of my body in putting pressure on the choke.” And at the 3:09 mark, her opponent tapped!! Molly had won! Molly was euphoric.

She immediately let go of the choke and raised her arm with the widest smile a person can have. She jumped in the air and started celebrating like a champion. “When he tapped I think I was more shocked than the crowd was. I was so ecstatic that I actually won I just jumped up and celebrated.”

Her opponent, seemed crushed. He stayed on one knee as Molly came over to him and performed the most awkward hug in the history of hugs. She slapped his back twice and then jumped up again and did another yelp.

In sports there is no bigger contrast than the winner and loser, and certainly this was the case here. Molly was jumping for joy, while her opponent looked like he was distraught.

“While I was receiving congratulations, he immediately walked off the mat, packed his bag and left the gym – even though he still had more matches left.”

Molly may have had some sympathy for her opponent, but that quickly vanished when she found out who she beat. “While I was waiting for my second match, many people came up to me and said how happy they were that it was him that had been defeated. Apparently he had been making his way through all the local gyms, and was just a jerk and a know-it-all in training. They said it was karma.”

Molly went on to lose her next match, but that didn't matter to her. She performed well and lost on points and once again, refused to tap.

But in the end, only one match mattered. Molly says, “I will never forget how I felt that day. I just had a constant adrenaline buzz for hours afterward and could not remove the smile from my face. I wore my medal from that match for weeks after.”

It was a great day for Molly, as there was more good news, “Oh and another thing... they did have samurai swords for the female division that year... I still have mine :)”

But the sword she still has is no match for the memory and youtube clip of Molly's triumph. She calls it the proudest moment of her life. While Molly believes her opponent had a slight physical advantage, she knows mentally, it wasn't even close. “I think that was the difference between us that day. I do believe there was also a technical difference. Men become so dependent on their strength, women are forced to work smarter and not necessarily harder. We are patient and more flexible generally and I think my patience and great training partners that refuse to take it easy on me won that match for me that day.”

Molly says, she wanted to prove a point. “I believe I was stronger mentally than my opponent. I wanted it more. I was very very hungry and wanted to prove a point, that a women of basically equal strength / technique / weight (give or take some) CAN beat a man. I wanted to prove it to the guy, the organizers, my peers and training partners in Hawaii, but mostly myself.”

Editors note: The video can be found here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRPD7bOoSpc

Brianna Gedeon- Dedication at its Finest

In a country that is infested with political correctness, its nice to talk to a girl like Brianna Gedeon . Many kids get medals for participating to show that its not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game. And while there is honor in defeat if you truly give your all, Brianna set out to show, if you give your all, you should start winning.

Brianna started her wrestling career very late. She was curious about the sport, considered it for awhile but finally in her junior year of high school, she decided to go out for the team at Division 1 school Charles F. Brush in northeast Ohio. “Our high school isn't very good at many sports to be quite honest, but one thing we do have is a solid wrestling team. Its by far one of the toughest wrestling areas in the nation.”

So despite being a girl, and being late to the sport, Brianna decided to give it a go. “My first day of practice I was a 98 pound scrawny little girl, not knowing what to expect.” 2 ½ hours later, she found out. “By the end of practice I was puking in the trash can all bruised and bloodied up. This was the most intense 2 ½ hours imaginable.” Many thought, maybe the scrawny little girl should find another sport. And that's exactly why she didn't. “I came back because everyone expected me to quit. I am no quitter, I was not about to prove people right.”

So she came back. But the practices didn't get easier. “Over time the entire football team that joined quit and our team lost about half its members.” Which is exactly what the coach at Brush High School wanted. Brianna says, “Coach weeded out the ones that couldn't cut it, that didn't have what it takes to be a wrestler.” While many boys were dropping like flies, Brianna stayed. “To everone's surprise, I was still there, coming back everyday.”

But despite the dedication, she was Brianna was still scrawny, and still new. The losses were piling up faster than the sweat. “Despite sticking out practices I was still honestly a completely terrible wrestler. That season I didn't win a single match on JV. I went 0-11. I was the only person on the team to get defeated every time I wrestled.”

It was a very difficult season. “I wanted to quit but I couldn't let myself quit without knowing what it felt like to win once. I used to go to the bathroom after losing all these matches and I'd cry because I felt like such a failure. But that gave me motivation to work even harder.”

Though she didn't win a match, her teammates had her back. “My team has always been very supportive of me. They always have tried to help me get better because they saw how hard I work. Even when I would lose they would always be there to help me, and show me what I did wrong.”

It was a nice consolation prize for Brianna. But still she hated losing. And so did her coach. “At the end of the season the coach pulled me aside and had a talk with me. He told me that he admired how I didn't quit, but honestly if I don't get beat out for varsity next year by some freshman, he doubted I would win more then 5 matches if that. In his words I would just be filling a spot.”

And that wouldn't be any spot. It would be the spot of Brian Hauser. Who is Hauser? “Hauser is our stud 103 pounder who placed placed second in both Ohio Division I states and senior nationals.”

Coach's words resonated with her. In other words, it is whether you win or lose. And Brianna was going for a win. “That conversation stuck with me. Something in me changed that day. I decided to push myself and prove everyone wrong. I was sick of being a loser. I made a promise to myself that no one would outwork me. No longer would I just go through practices but I'd push myself the entire time.”
That summer while some girls went to the beach and tanned, Brianna trained. “I got much bigger from all the serious lifting I was doing, and for 5 days a week 2 hours a day I was practicing.”

She went to weekly tournaments and something happened. Brianna actually won a few matches. Finally, Brianna had won! “It was the greatest feeling finally getting my hand raised. It was the first time that I felt like my hard work was paying off. Once I knew what it felt like to get my hand raised I started working even harder because I wanted to keep on winning.”

So she continued to work. “People knew I was working hard, but I don't think they realized just how much of an effort I was putting in.” After all that work, finally the wrestling season started. Gone was the 98 pound scrawny little girl. “I got much bigger and was much stronger than last season. I was still nothing compared to my stronger male competitors, but I was a lot stronger than I used to be.”

Her first test would be what is called the previews. The previews don't count in the standings, and aren't official matches, but a lot of people would be watching, “Its a way for our coaches to get an idea of how their team would do this season. A lot of people were watching. We had several area teams come to our Brush preview and the stands were packed with students, teachers, parents and coaches.”

So while the matches had no significance in the standings, they couldn't be more important to Brianna. “Although the matches didn't really count for anything, they meant a lot to me. Every coach who helped me in the off season was there watching and everyone who remembered me losing was there watching. I was finally able to show everyone how hard I had been working.”

It was time for Brianna to step on the match. And though she had the jitters, there was a different feeling to her first match. “It was the weirdest feeling because it felt natural to me.”

The match started and the boy shot on her right off the whistle. Instinctively, Brianna hit a hard sprawl, smashing him with her hips and got “two easy points.”

After a season of losing, Brianna knew that things were going to be drastically different this season. “At that point I started getting confident, and I knew I was going to win it. I turned him to his back several times throughout the match and I saw him just giving up after a while.” Brianna couldn't buy a win last season, and in her first match at previews, she was dominating. “He was just frustrated. Every shot he tried to shoot I scored off of. I did not shoot once the entire match.”

Brianna was having the time of her life. “I just had such an adrenaline rush the entire match. I could hear everyone cheering me on in the stands and all my teammates were watching me for the first time win a match.”

And when she finally got her arm raised in front of everyone, Brianna felt amazing. “It just felt good to for once be the superior wrestler and have everyone know it. Not only was it a great feeling that I won, but I surprised so many people. I proved everyone wrong.”

Brianna now had to prepare for her 2nd match that day. And she wasn't satisfied with just winning once. “I felt confident going into the second match. It just gave me an opportunity to surprise people even more, I don't think they expected me to win again.”

But anyone that doubted Brianna now were going to be proved wrong. Again. “My second match was just like my first. He shot on me once again I sprawled and scored 2. I kept turning him the rest of the match to get back points. It was much like the first match, I worked my same stuff on top and it was working.” And once again, she knew the match was over while it was still going on. “Yep, I knew I had it. He couldn't score on me in neutral position and he couldn't escape when I was on top and I could tell he was giving up.” Brianna ended up winning the match 9-0. “ Winning the second match felt even better because I was 2-0!”

But her day wasn't over yet. Even though she had a combined 20 points to her opponent's 0, her toughest competitor was waiting for her. He was a varsity 112 pounder. Brianna was giving away 9 pounds. This was not going to be as easy as the first two matches.

“This match I got a little nervous. I wasn't as confident. He was way bigger, but I was determined to go 3-0 that day.”

But she wasn't the only one nervous. Her opponent didn't want to face her. “He was super nervous to wrestle me. His teammates told me he didn't want to wrestle a girl, and he tried to get out of the match. Even though I was slightly intimidated by his size, I knew I had a shot at winning. I was determined to go undefeated.”

But Brianna wouldn't let him get out of it. “Yea, I wanted to get my third match! I already beat their 103, I wanted to challenge myself and wrestle their varsity 112.”


The match was intense. Her opponent had noticed Brianna scored on her opponent's shots, so he stalled the entire match. He also kept backing up so she couldn't get a shot in. At the end of two periods, the score was 0-0. Brianna was getting frustrated, but confident. “I knew I could beat him. But I didn't think I could beat him on my feet because he was stalling so bad and the ref would not call him for it. But I was pretty confident I could get the escape.”

Brianna was right, she got the escape, the she knew it was over. “There was only like 30 seconds left, he is not shooting, I'm going to win this.” The ref awarded her another point for an illegal hold, and when the match was over, it was Brianna's whose arm was going to be raised!

“I was very happy. I felt extremely accomplished because there was only a select few of us on the team who went undefeated that day. And I was the only one who didn't give up a single point. It was such a turn around from losing every match last season. It felt even better saying I beat a varsity 112.”

After three matches, none of the boys could muster a point on her. “Haha, I was so proud of that! Everyone was so suprised and a lot of people came up to me to tell me how great I did. It was a great way to start off the season, and thats when I knew I would be getting some wins this season.”

Brianna gave what she thought was her all her junior season. But it wasn't. She gave a lot, but not her all. When she gave a lot, she never won a match. When she gave her all, she found out she can not only hang with the competition, but beat them. And sometimes easily. Brianna went on to have 15 varsity wins. From 0 to 15.

And while none of her preview wins count as any of the 15, they counted for her. “For the first time I felt like I could call myself a wrestler.”