When most individuals think about wrestling a variety of different things may come to mind. It might be the cardio workouts, the clean dieting, the constant weigh-ins, or the competitive matches itself. A large percentage of people fail to realize that society classifies wrestling as a male sport, rather than a co-ed one. At Glenbard South students are aware that there is a girls and a boys team for basketball, swimming, soccer, volleyball, etc, but many don’t know that this 2023 winter season is the first time the school has had a girls wrestling team.

Even though the team consists of only three girls, sophomore Alex Arquilla, freshman Haven Colagrossi and Nichole Castillo, they have made it work and are heading to a conference tournament, towards the end of January, with the help of their coach, Ben Michelon. The boys wrestling team and coaches have been very welcoming to the girls that they have their daily practices together. Practices for Colagrossi and Castillo start right after school from 2:45-4:45 with the boys freshman team while Arquilla practices with the JV and varsity team from 3:30-5:30. At this point in the season, the three girls feel more comfortable as Castillo stated that the boys “can be wild sometimes but it’s always fun with the team around.”

One thing Castillo and Arquilla totally agreed on was the difficulty of practices at the start of the season. “Conditioning days are still very exhausting” and “the fact that you are all alone on the mat, unlike other sports where you have a team to back you up” were mentioned by them but they both agreed that its purpose is to help build strength and muscle, to become a better wrestler for the conference match. Conference will take place at Glenbard East on January 27th and the girls stated that they are still excited to learn new moves during practices to help their performance on that big day.

Castillo made the choice to give wrestling a shot after really enjoying her Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes throughout middle school. Arquilla mentioned that although she has no previous experience with wrestling before high school, she wanted to follow the footsteps of a lost loved one. Not only is there no experience necessary to join the team, but the girls recommend anyone who is even the slightest bit interested to give it a try. Avoiding discouragement, pushing yourself during practices, and asking for help are the main pieces of advice the girls team has for anyone trying out next school year.