By Delaney Dine

Girls Wrestling has become increasingly popular in the last five years. Jada Weiss and Helena Underbakke provided some insight into what that can mean for female wrestlers and shared a little bit about their perspective as a wrestler.

In recent years there have been more girls wrestling teams popping up in the Ohio area, with more girls joining wrestling in high school. “In the last five years, it’s exploded,” sophomore Helena Underbakke said. “When I was in third grade, there were like no other girls. I would be the only girl at a tournament, maybe there would be another one. But it was mostly just me.”

“Throughout my four years, now starting my fifth, in wrestling I have seen a tremendous amount of growth in women’s wrestling,” junior Jada Weiss said. “From back in middle school to being the only girl, or maybe seeing a few other girls at a tournament, there are now tournaments specifically for girls, as well as a separate division in the state.”

Some female wrestlers, however, have been in the sport since they were younger and would rather not wrestle for a girls’ team, “We don’t have a girls’ team and I’m not personally too upset about that because I get to drill with the guys and work harder,” Underbakke said. 

“I could not imagine being on a team with only girls,” Weiss said. “But not all girls are the same as I am, and they may have different perspectives. So, I think that having more girls teams is beneficial to those girls.”

“I have wrestled boys my whole life so wrestling girls is different for me,” Weiss said. “Wrestling boys is a lot different than wrestling girls, and although I don’t do as well in boys wrestling, I do prefer it. I think it has made me a much more tough and aggressive wrestler which has helped me when it comes to girls tournaments as they are not nearly as skilled, strong, or aggressive as boys are.”

“Girls’ wrestling and guys’ wrestling are definitely different,” Underbakke said. “I like how I still get to be on the guys’ team. But for other girls who didn’t grow up with it and decided to start in high school, it is a hard sport to join. So I think girls’ teams and having other girls around could be better for them.”

Girls wrestling is very new and in its early stages of growth. “One thing about wrestling is that it is a sport that is very difficult to start and be good at immediately,” Weiss said. “It may help if you are very strong, but it is a very tedious and technical sport that has so many aspects to it.”

“There are so many different rules, moves, and situations, that it is very difficult to grasp the concept of if you don’t have experience with them. Since girls wrestling is so new, there aren’t nearly as many girls that may be considered good compared to the amount of guys that are considered good,” Weiss continued.

“That is why you see lots of girls who have only wrestled for a short amount of time and are already placing in state tournaments. While for boys you never see new wrestlers placing at state. Boys wrestling and girls wrestling are on two completely different levels of competition. However, through time, girls’ wrestling will become more advanced and grow in size and it will become more difficult to be considered ‘good’ and place at these big tournaments,” Weiss said.

Both Weiss — who placed in the state tournament as a freshman — and Underbakke are very accomplished wrestlers and have progressed and improved greatly this season. “I’ve already seen so much growth. I’m hitting my moves more aggressively and sharp,” Underbakke said. 

“I want to make it to state,” Underbakke said. “I would love to get first, but I think I’m gonna go for third.”

“My biggest, most important goal this season is to place at state,” Weiss said. “I placed 8th my freshman year and didn’t qualify my sophomore year. I was in arguably one of the toughest districts my sophomore year which might have slightly affected my positioning but excuses aside I never forget the fact that I didn’t even qualify my sophomore year. This year I am going to come back better and stronger.”