photo credit: Malak Chahboub
There is a buzz in the air of the gym as the timer goes off. Right before the buzzer, the referee makes the call that the girl from the other team has successfully been pinned. The home stands cheer as the school has won yet another match.
The girls and boys wrestling teams’ seasons are both ongoing throughout the winter at the high school. Both of the teams started their seasons in December. The boys wrestling team competed at Watkins Memorial Invitational, on Jan. 27, with Ben Tong at 126, and Gavin Gaylor at 215, finishing 3rd place. The girls wrestling team beat Marysville 51-28 on Jan. 4 in front of the entire school for a pep rally. The pep rally was a first for the girls team.
“It was so exciting,” Nicola said. “I was a little nervous. … Shawn Andrews [the Marysville coach] was huge with this. He’s one of the best coaches in the state, a future hall of famer. He was gung-ho to bring his girls over here. We’re going to go there next year. I know the Marysville girls are always game, and I thought our girls wrestled awesome. People were excited about it. It was a fun dual,” Head Girls Wrestling Coach said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
As the season progressed, both teams have experienced a lot of growth and highs in their seasons. On Jan. 21, the girls team, which is ranked 23rd nationally, traveled to Canon-McMilan, ranked 13th nationally, and came out with the upset winning 51-27.
“I had a talk with Coach Nicola, and he told me just how special this opportunity was for us not just as a team or program, but as a sport. How he’d been asking for an event [the in-school match] like this for years and years and how permission was finally granted this year,” girls wrestling Captain junior Lydia Heinrich said.
The mental preparation that went into wrestling in front of everyone was just as important to the girls as the actual wrestling itself. For each match, the individual girls scored a certain amount of points related to their offensive and defensive moves executed, and those points are then put towards the team’s points.
“Wrestling in front of the entire school was definitely nerve wracking. I found myself at times dreading it and thinking, what if I lose in front of the entire school? However, the crowd wasn’t as off putting as I expected, and my favorite part was having my friends there to watch me and cheer for me,” Heinrich said.
Wrestling is as much of a mental sport as it is a physical sport. The girls wrestling teams practice consists of a lot of conditioning in order to help the girls prepare for their matches.
“My biggest challenge I’ve faced is pushing through the tough practices, the losses and the self doubt. All the mental stuff really. But in the end, it’s so worth it,” Heinrich said.
Success in the sport demands hard work and dedication.This comes with many challenges, both mental and physical.
