Sophomore Madison Boatright is in her first season of Girls Wrestling at CHS. Coming from a family of wrestlers, Boatright wanted to know what continued to draw people to the sport. While this is her first year participating in the sport itself, she did preseason work and club workouts at the end of last year, in addition to working as a manager. Wrestling managers fulfill the roles of recording videos of the matches, preparing the uniforms for the wrestlers, and keeping track of the scores. During her time as a manager, Boatright worked with both girls and boys wrestling and became close friends with the wrestlers, further prompting her to try out the sport for herself.
Before wrestling, Boatright worked as a manager, “Almost everybody on my dad’s side of the family [wrestled], all of the men wrestled. So that’s my dad, my grandpa, my uncles, and my aunts managed just like I did, so I just went with the trend. …My dad looked at me when I stepped in there for the first time and said that I wasn’t going to like being a manager because I’m too hands on and like to be involved, and I liked to be more in the action,” Boatright said.
Although a full team for girl’s wrestling would include 14 participants, the sport is only in its second year at CHS. As of now, the Girls Wrestling team has six girls, doubling the number of athletes since last season. The wrestling team is run by Coach Andrew Trevino, who also coaches the boys team, with the season beginning in October and concluding in January. The Girls Wrestling team meets for practice six days a week- Monday through Saturday- with the inclusion of morning practices on both Mondays and Wednesdays. While Coach Trevino is the only coach who works at CHS, there are several assistant coaches that also help: Brock Peele, Chris Richardson, Nick Winland, and Brian Bolin.
Boatright grew increasingly curious about what led her family to wrestling, “I wanted to join wrestling because I started out my freshman year as a manager and my whole family has wrestled, so I figured that I wanted to be in the environment to figure out why my whole family has always been in it. When I started managing, I felt out of place. I felt more in-place and belonging with the actual wrestlers than I ever did with the managers. So they [the wrestlers] became more of my friends and…I finished out the year as a manager and then at the end of the year I started doing some of the club workouts after season and I really loved it, and so I stuck with it throughout the year and this is the first official year I’ve done it,” Boatright said.
Although Girls Wrestling is a newer sport, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t struggles among the group. The sport generally has a decent amount of injuries due to lack of protection and the nature of it being a contact-heavy sport. Besides the physical impact of the sport, there is also a mental impact as well. Boatright explained that one hurdle for female wrestlers is that some of the male wrestlers do not take them seriously and think less of their abilities due to biological differences. In spite of these issues, the Girl’s Wrestling team hopes that more people in the school will know of their presence and will support them in the future.
“It’s very preached that you don’t have to wrestle a boy, it’s totally an option [in girl’s wrestling],” Boatright said.
Boatright credits Girls Wrestling as being an accepting community where she can be a part of a team and where she can feel belonging, “[To prepare myself] I have a lot of anxiety, so normally for me when I get really anxious, I will put on my headgear, which we’re required to wear…and I start bouncing to keep my muscles warm. Sometimes when it’s really high stakes, like I was second at my first tournament ever so I was going into my championship match, I went to my friends and teammates and I was talking to them and they helped me through it, they help me with confidence and talk me through what I want to do when I get out there [in a match] so I can mentally prepare for it,” Boatright said.
Boatright loves the energy, atmosphere, and people in her sport and has found a group that pushes her to do better, even when obstacles arise.
Camaraderie and warmth among a group is something that is built with time. Thankfully Boatright has found that, “The family that I have acquired from joining wrestling is probably the best family I have. They are definitely my sisters, my brothers, my best friends,” Boatright said, “for people who want to join: it hurts and it sucks but there’s a reason you walked in the room.”
