For years, Wando’s male and female wrestlers have been on the same team. Now, for the first time, there are enough female wrestlers for them to make their own team: one that has quickly found its way to success.
Sophomore Svea Scott is in her first year of wrestling for Wando, and is on the brand new Girls Varsity Wrestling team.
“I think in the past, boys wrestling was a thing, but… girls wrestling was always like a joke… But then it became more of a just a female division, where people took it just as seriously as guys. And I think just this year, it got recognized as a… sport, rather than just like a hobby,” Scott said.
For Scott, wrestling is not only good for her physically, but mentally as well.
“I decided that wrestling would help me physically better myself… I thought, why not play a sport, or join a sport that will help me become physically active and better, while also a sport that’s also, like fun,” Scott said. “I really feel like there’s a community there, and I also feel like… there’s this part of, like wrestling and girls wrestling, especially, where… it’s a place where I feel like I can de-stress while also, like, focusing. I also really like it because, again, it’s really motivated me and brought me to being a better athlete.”
This year, the beneficial sport has also turned out to be successful. Head Wrestling Coach Adam Schneider has watched the girls of Wando battle their way to new heights.
“For the first time in school history, they won a dual meet. And so that was pretty cool. This is only kind of the second year that we’ve ever had a dual meet for, for girls anyways… at the beginning of the year we didn’t have a girls’ team because we didn’t have enough weight classes covered… We’ve always had girls wrestlers, but not like a team,” Schneider said.
The new team has made it to the state level of competitions, and has already achieved a lot while there.
“They were very competitive with Blythewood [High School], who’s one of the top teams in the state for girls, and we beat Ashley Ridge [High School], which was pretty cool,” Schneider said, “It’s the first time that Wando has won a girls wrestling match in school history.”
Although it is less common for females to wrestle than males, the gap is beginning to lessen. Senior Cassidy Warren has been wrestling for Wando since her sophomore year, and currently holds a captain role on her team.
“I think [girls] should go for it, because I know a lot of girls who are afraid to start because of what people think, or because they’ll get hurt, but… you probably won’t get hurt like you think you would,” Warren said. “I think it’s just different from what people perceive it to be.”
