To welcome new girls to the wrestling team, Souderton female athletes have worked to encourage new athletes to give wrestling a try.
The team hopes to grow the sport this year.
According to wrestling coach Tristan Boyd, girls wrestling is among one of the fastest-growing sports in America.
According to PA-Wrestling.com, Souderton Area High School is the 15th school in Pennsylvania to have an official girls wrestling program.
Boyd said this shows that our school is “forward-thinking” and “open-minded.”
“I’m glad 100% of the people who want to participate [in wrestling] can participate now,” Boyd said.
Girls do not need to have prior experience to join the team.
According to freshman Mackenzie Walter, everyone in the team is really helpful with teaching concepts to people who have zero experience in wrestling. “[The coaches] are there to help teach you if you don’t understand,” Walter said.
The team highly encourages girls to come and give wrestling a try.
“Even though you might [think] ‘Wrestling is so weird. That’s not my thing,’ come try it. It’s not what you expect,” Husti-Luca said.
According to senior Trinity Monaghan, the right mindset when starting out is, “I’m going to go out and I’m going to try it,” as opposed to thinking that a person can’t join the wrestling team if they don’t have prior experience.
Monaghan received two second-place state titles in her freshman and sophomore year and placed first in the 2021 State Finals in the 222lb weight class during her junior year.
Sophomore Gisele Ramiez said that the team’s bond is like a “family.”
“It’s a really close-knitted sport,” Ramiez said, “We’re all supporting each other. We all have each other’s back no matter what.”
Due to the increase in girls wrestling teams at schools, Souderton’s girls wrestling team does not have to compete against boys. “The nice thing now is there’s enough girls starting to participate where girls are having the opportunity to compete against other girls,” Boyd said.
However, the girls wrestling team still currently practices with the boys team because of the benefits it provides.
Practicing with the boys team allows everyone to practice with a partner among their weight class.
According to Ramiez, there isn’t really a reason for the teams to practice separately.
“With the boys, you’re practicing with more people [and] different people,” Ramiez said, “So you can learn better because you’re not doing the same thing over and over.”
Boyd believes that there’s also no difference between boys and girls when it comes to wrestling.
“Ultimately, the goal is to learn how to win and lose with dignity,” Boyd said.
Any girls interested in joining the girls wrestling team can come to open mat practices on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Boyd said that students of any gender are welcome to join.