Picture this: You walk into a gym, five mats laid out before you, each accompanied by a table, a monitor, and a ref. The coaches stand on opposing sides of each mat as their athletes enter the space. Then the handshakes: one with the ref, one with their opponent. The whistle is blown and the match begins.
This is the beauty of wrestling: competition in close quarters.
Hand fighting begins, a lighter appetizer to the eventual takedowns. After the two minutes for each period is up, a decision is made. Of a set of three, this is only the first period.
A coin is flipped -- red or green -- and the color it lands on determines which competitor gets to choose their starting position first: top, bottom, or neutral. The opposing wrestler automatically gets to choose their starting position in the next period. Their decision is all based on strategy and reading their opponent from the introductory match. A wrestler wins the entire match if she pins her opponent or, by the end of the three periods, has accumulated the most points.
But you do not need to understand the ‘in’s and ‘out’s of wrestling to appreciate its legitimacy and power as a sport. And this season marks a landmark in terms of legitimacy: this is girls wrestling’s first officially sanctioned season in Colorado.
“The stakes are a little higher,” said Savannah Smith, a senior Eagelcrest wrestler who has been part of the team for the past five years. “You're sort of seen as I guess a real sport now in the state of Colorado, so it's getting a lot more attention in terms of the population in our sport has gone up and I've seen a lot more competitiveness just because there's more at stake.”
One key player in the sanctioning of girls wrestling in Colorado? Eaglecrest’s very own Sparky Adair. “He's been a driving force to changing the rules and regulations around women's wrestling to be more women's specific versus the boys,” said junior Blythe Cayko. Maybe more contentious, the season has also been more exciting because of the increased competitiveness. Though their first sanctioned season, Eaglecrest girls wrestlers are still managing to kick some you-know-what.
“Oh my gosh, [this season is] amazing,” said girls coach Melissa Myers enthusiastically. “We won the whole tournament in Lamar. In Lamar, we took 14 girls and we had 12 on the podium, which is crazy.” Besides the Lamar tournament, the team also got to be part of a national competition earlier in the season in Reno, Nevada -- and it was a success for the team.
“[Blythe Cayko] took first place there and was also Most Outstanding Female Wrestler and was an All-American because of that,” said Myers. “And then we had Kaiya Winbush, who was from CT, who placed fourth at that tournament as well. And then the rest of our girls did so well with their points that we placed fifth.” Unfortunately, when they held their own Eaglecrest Invitational, they placed second, but only by one measly point.
More recently, they saw success as regionals last Saturday, February 12th. The girls team placed second overall out of 22 teams, with seven of their wrestlers guaranteed to go to the state competition and 9 of 10 girls placing on the podium. The success of their season, however, is based on more than just their impressive numbers. Being a cross-district team can be something of a hidden strength.
“I think it's helped to build a more unique culture on our team because we have girls from so many different schools that we kind of have to support each other,” said Cayko. “Because some of our girls, they have no one else supporting them. We have one girl from Smoky and she doesn't practice with the boys at Smoky because they aren't as welcoming to having her in the room,” explained Cayko. But this is not the only case of ostracization between girls and boys wrestling that Cayko had an example of. She details a similar situation at Grandview.
“Their A.D. is very anti-forming a women's team and same with their head coach,” said Cayko. “In fact, one of my good friends who's a Grandview wrestler, she's only allowed to drill with the JV boys. And even then sometimes they'll kick her out of the room during their drilling period to go sit in a PE class that she's not even a part of because he doesn't want her drilling with them.”
Though she does not give details, Coach Myers relays a similar reason for the cross-district team. “We have like 15 girls in our program. We've got Grandview, Smoky Hill, and Cherokee Trail as part of our team, and the reason we have them is because they either don't have enough girls there or it's not supported yet,” explained Myers. This is the origin story of Eaglecrest girls wrestling as it is today.
“If it's not for us, where else would these girls go? They'd either have to be the only girl in their room and not be able to grow as an athlete,” said Cayko. “It's one of those things where some of us only have each other so we have to build each other up.” And because of this close-knit, supportive atmosphere, it can be disconcerting, according to Cayko, to watch the sport grow and change.
“In a weird way, I'm almost sad to see that Grandview is looking to form their own girls team and I was a little sad to see Overland form their own team just because it's like the end of an era,” said Cayko. “But at the same time, it's good to see the sport grow.” Undoubtedly, the sport is growing. And as it grows, so too will the Eaglecrest team. But as Myers explains, wrestling is perhaps not as straightforward as it seems.
Myers notes that there are essentially three different competitions going on for an individual during a match: making weight and performing optimally, using skill and strategy best, and utilizing mental toughness. The final, mental piece can often be the toughest to master.
“I always talk to them about ‘Did you beat them before you got on the mat?’ If you beat somebody before they even got on the mat, you don't even have to try,” said Myers. “You have to be mentally strong before you get on there. When your body hurts and you feel like you can't move anymore, what keeps you going to win the match?” Cayko, a strong wrestler and leader on the team, explains how the team helps support the mental aspect of competition.
“Wrestling is miserable. It's grueling, it takes a toll on your body, it is expected that you're going to get injured, it's expected that you're going to have some type of chronic injury later in life,” said Cayko. “But when you're with a group of girls, you'll start dancing in the middle of drill because the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song just came on.” Whether it’s cheesy jokes or throwback playlists, the team has a way of always finding the fun.
“We're all homies with each other. We hang out at tournaments not because we have to, but because we want to. We like to do stuff outside of wrestling with each other,” said Cayko. “And I want that to continue because I guess that's my biggest fear that as the sport grows: losing that tight-knitedness that we've formed already.” Their closeness is obvious from even a short time with them. And as a coach, Myers notes the importance of fun for the team.
“Aside from me helping them be the best version of themselves is just to have them improving, consistently improving and having fun,” said Myers. “I always say if they're not having fun, there's no point in doing this.” Having a space to feel comfortable having fun and being authentic -- but at the same time a space where they can challenge one another and focus is crucial to a healthy team.
“It makes going to practice just a little bit more worth it,” said Cayko.
An Uphill Battle
Being a newly sanctioned sport, a female sport that has an incredibly male-dominated history, and as an arguably lesser-followed sport in general, girls wrestling has encountered a plethora of obstacles from the start. Which only makes its success that much more exciting and impressive. But of course, the past few years presented unique challenges.