| A win for local wrestling
I played every sport available to me growing up, but wrestling was the one that stuck. It was an accident, too; I didn't like my high school basketball coach, and I thought it would be funny if I showed up to wrestling practice the first day of the winter season instead.
It was a joke that changed my life.
That was almost ten years ago, and it's been a while since I've seen a high school wrestling match.
But last week, I was asked to attend a special dual at Olathe. The school was honoring the Gray family, an Olathe clan that has produced 19 wrestlers over three generations that placed in the Colorado State Championships.
The family was inducted into the state's chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for their collective victories earlier this year, and recognized at Olathe just last week.
They've got an impressive track record to say the least, but watching the family gather for the award, I couldn't help but notice all the wrestlers were dudes. Of course, this family has been dominating the state wrestling scene for 50 years, and certainly back then a female wrestler would have been unconventional.
Even 10 years ago in Rhode Island it was, but I didn't know that when I joined the team, because I knew absolutely nothing about wrestling at all.
These days, it's less uncommon, and it's been awesome to flip open the sports section and see the girls' team grow over the years.
And while all the family hall-of-famers honored that night at Olathe were men, it was also the school's senior night, and what really made my day was seeing 5 or 6 female wrestlers celebrated that evening.
I gained so much from wrestling, and I love to see more and more kids getting into the sport. I only hope it keeps growing, and especially that we keep seeing more girls on the mats.
Cheers,
Kylea from the newsroom |
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