Girl’s wrestling was officially sanctioned by the MHSAA in 2021, and since it’s been one of the rapidly growing sports in Northern Michigan. Right now, girls compete alongside and against boys and other girls during head-to-head, or duel meets. However, with the increasing number of wrestlers, that may soon change and has already begun to as this is the first year the MHSAA offered girls’ individual districts in addition to regionals and states.
Jamie Smith has been a trailblazer for girls wrestling, she was the first female coach in the state and has advanced the game through serving on numerous councils and committees and spoke on how she’s seen the sport grow.
“You know, 15 years ago, I was the only coach in the state of Michigan that was a female. And there was girls who said to me, like, I never thought about being a coach until I saw it.
Right. So you don’t think about being a female wrestler until you see a female wrestler, and then when you see someone, you’re like, Wait a minute, I could do that.
So it was a sport that really motivated me and lifted me and gave me a lot of confidence in regards to it being an athlete. And I really credit wrestling to a lot of the success that I’ve had in my personal and professional life.
So we saw it within a year multiply, and that’s been pretty true across the state. A lot of people watch their girls numbers double and quadruple as we gave them female only opportunities” (Smith).
TC West held the first ever Traverse City duel meet including Manton and Kingsley and it was a great success, more Northern Michigan coaches are excited about being a part of future meets.
So, what is it about wrestling that is appealing and causing the sport to grow?
“Well, it teaches you all sorts of stuff. Like, great thing. It’s a it’s a good self-defense. It keeps in shape for other sports. It’s great for self-discipline and just putting yourself out of your out of your comfort zone and pushing your limits” (Adam Beers, TCW head coach).
“I like the mentality and build for other sports. I think anything’s easy now. I think it’s just a different mindset. We have so much discipline” (Emanuela Alaimo, Glen Lake Senior).
I like the life skills. It’s taught me a story a lot about determination and grit and what’s the word. We’re like discipline. It’s taught me discipline” (Annika Youncker, TCW Junior).
The sport still has a way to go, but they’re proud of the progress that’s been made so far.
“It’s a male dominated sport, but I think there are plenty of women out there that prove that wrong, that it can be a women’s sport” (Alaimo).
“Yeah, when I wrestled it was a very long time ago, I hate to say how long ago, but there was only 112 girls in the entire nation that were wrestling. And I will also tell you that back when I wrestled, I literally wore a bonnet that tight underneath my chin.
We had to have shirts underneath our shirts. And we have actually removed all of those barriers. Our girls aren’t female, single. It’s just a headgear, just like the boys. So, I think that the more that we do that, it allows that sport to just kind of stand-alone. And for those girls to really identify as wrestlers rather than female wrestlers, that’s fun” (Smith).