FamiLee Life

Wrestling is Wrestling

I was a high school wrestler back in the day in Connecticut. I started wrestling largely because it was one of the sports that my older brothers had competed in. And, being the youngest of three boys, I usually just followed in their foot steps. Prior to high school, I only knew wrestling as the kind you saw on tv when the likes of Andre the Giant and Jimmy Superfly Snooka ruled the ring. Hulk Hogan came a bit later. I recall not realizing how physically grueling it was as a sport. You wrestle only for 6 minutes max/match, unless you win/lose by a pin, but it is the most taxing 6 minutes ever. Lucky for me, I was pretty good at it and it really helped me focus my energies, give me confidence, and teach me a lot about discipline, motivation, leadership, goal setting, and the like. I am quite thankful for the sport.

At the time when I was in school, back in the mid-1980s, I remember hearing stories of one or two girls who were wrestling co-ed but I never competed against them. I actually don't recall ever even seeing a match between a boy and girl. The idea of young men and women wrestling was just started to enter the radar.

The NYTimes has a regional article on high school girls wrestling and they feature a young woman from Connecticut who wrestles for Montville High School. I remember competing against this team in tournaments. They have always been a good team and it still seems to be the case today. Jessica wrestles at 102 lbs. but often gets bumped up to 112 lbs to find competition and she is good (with a 23-12 record). Those were the weights that I had wrestled in high school (yes, I was a small, skinny kid!). It really says something about the sport, particularly the ways in which it has come to by and large accept this changing demographic. It also really says something about young women like Jessica too. The story has a great video clip that accompanies it. Check it out here.