Girls' Wrestling Team Makes an Impact

In the past year, women’s wrestling has been one of the fastest growing high school sports in America according to CBSNews.com. What has caused this rise in popularity? ? And what is it like being a woman wrestler? Mia Pomasl, a freshman who is a female wrestler herself, shared her thoughts about her experiences. 

Pomasl is drawn to the competitive part of wrestling.  “... it’s not just throwing a ball into a hoop, or trying to get it to touch the ground. It’s more physical and mental.” 

She said it’s not that other sports aren’t physical and mental, but she appreciates  the aspect of wrestling feeling more physical and more competitive.

Some struggles  Pomsal has faced in wrestling include those physical aspects such as pushing her body too much, and the gender aspect in the sport. 

She said , “The amount of discrimination I face just being a woman in wrestling is a lot. And I feel as if I have to push myself just because I’m a girl just to show that I deserve to be on the mat. It’s so discriminatory but over time it’s gotten better.”

Pomasl  shared  more on discrimination in girl’s wrestling and said , “Often I would get made fun of and I was even told when I first started wrestling that I couldn’t help roll up mats because I was a girl.” 

Pomasl feels it is hard to get further because of how many people think women don’t deserve to be on the mat. “It’s so much harder to focus on the sport when there’s so many people telling you that just because you’re a girl you aren’t good enough.”

Pomasl originally wanted to join the girls basketball team, but she  ended up not getting a  chance to join. She had said to herself after she did not sign up for basketball, that the next sport that opened up she would join.  The next sport that ended up being available was wrestling. “And I remember being like ‘okay,’ ” Pomasl said.

 The community  in girls wrestling is  great and uplifting though. . Everybody on the wrestling team is always helping each other, pushing each other. And when you mess up a move Pomasl said people are positive and say something like,  “Hey try this next time.” 

Pomasl said that  if you’re considering joining wrestling, you should do it. But she warns to be prepared because starting off is a lot of work.  She said when she started wrestling she was hesitant. She remembered getting pinned a lot her first year.

“You really have to put yourself out there and just go for it,” Pomasl said.