By Kaetlyn Young
With fall sports drawing to a close, winter sport athletes have already begun preparation for their seasons. For the girls’ wrestling team, that means some changes in the process. This year’s girls’ wrestling team is separated from the boys’ team for practice and is completely on their own for the first time.
“The girls this year have their own identity, and I feel like it will make a lot of changes in their mindsets,” head coach Sheri Thompson said.
This will be their third official season. Their past three seasons have featured several wrestlers advancing to the state tournament. Along with the growth of the middle school wrestling team, the girls’ roster has grown by seven with eighteen girls looking forward to getting on the mat.
With head coach Sheri Thompson and assistant coach Bailly Ballard, the team hopes to grow the interest in girls’ wrestling in the community.
Preparation began with conditioning this week to prepare for their matches. Workouts are planned by the coaches both in and out of the weight room.
“The girls this year have better attitudes and are more optimistic about wrestling than last,” assistant coach Bailly Ballard said.
Along with the work getting put into the weight room, the team got a chance to grow their skills during the summer. They started the summer off by attending the annual “Nebraska Blue and Gold Wrestling Camp” in Kearney. There they worked on perfecting their individual skills and competing through difficult brackets.
They followed up later in the summer with a camp held in York. Every Thursday night they hosted an open bracket wrestling tournament, with girls and boys from schools from all over competing.
Official practice starts on Nov. 13 followed by their first tournament a few weeks later.