The Dark Side of Girls Wrestling
On our very first tournament, we were coached by two of our friends on the boy’s JV team. It felt like we weren’t important enough to even have a coach in our corner. The next week we were asked to clean the boy’s mats because the “girls had to do it.” I had no problem doing so, but it felt wrong. We couldn’t even have a practice without being looked at disgustingly and we had to help clean. I wanted to quit so bad because I didn’t feel welcomed. Just fighting to be on the team, was mentally and emotionally draining.