Girls wrestling begins its second year

Driving down a gravel road, sophomore Ashlin George is making her daily commute to Adam Central High School for wrestling practice. She is one of the few members of the cooperative girls wrestling team, which is hosted by Adam Central, that attends Hastings High School.

Wrestling has opened up many new opportunities for George in the start of her high school career.

“It offers me the opportunities to travel and do things I’ve never done before. I’ve been to a couple towns that I’ve never been to like West Point,” George said. “That was pretty far away, but it was fun. I’ve never gone to state before, but I just bought tickets for that, so even if I don’t make it, I’m still going for the experience.”

George’s passion for the sport has helped her push through burnout and the time commitment that comes with being a varsity athlete.

“I just really love it. It’s something that I’ve become passionate about and I want to continue” George said.

The bond and support between the wrestling girls has been the best part of joining wrestling for George.

“I think (cheering each other on) is important for support. When I go on the mat, I hear a lot of my teammates chanting my name before a match. We come in and join hands and we go one, two, three and we shout out whoever is going on the mat to cheer them on,” George said.

Encouraging each other on and off the mat despite going to rival schools has been a key factor in leading the new program to success.

“A lot of the wrestling girls are very confident. They will speak freely, no filter, which I think is hilarious and awesome to have a team so close that they don’t care what they say around each other,” George said. “Sometimes they’ll just sit next to each other or sleep on each other’s shoulders on the bus. They talk a lot and yell across the bus just to talk to each other. It’s hilarious.”

Balancing school, wrestling, and home responsibilities has been hard for George to juggle.

“(Participating in wrestling has made high school) a little bit more stressful because I don’t have much time to do my stuff at home like chores or homework. I don’t have much time to study or get things done,” George said. “I’m normally the person who does the dishes at home and they’ve been stacking up since I have practice and tournaments. And if I don’t somehow have a little bit of energy to do the majority of them, they will continue to stack up.”

Wrestling has helped George to be bold and become more confident.

“I love the aggression, unlike prior sports that I’ve ever done. I was never really good at (being aggressive), but wrestling really helped me. I’ve come out of my shell when it comes to aggression.”

George wouldn’t recommend wrestling to everyone, but she believes it is perfect for strong and competitive people.

“I would recommend it to people who love like, I want to say fighting. But going up against other people to see who’s stronger. It’s really to see how you perform,” said George.

George has grown so much during her wrestling journey, mostly because of her support system.

“My brother (got me into wrestling). He would ask me ‘Hey, Elizabeth, you should do wrestling.’ Well, it wasn’t really an ask. It was more of a request, like you should do this. And he’s been asking me for a while. And I thought ‘why not?’ So I started and just fell in love with the sport. It’s way better than I thought it would be,” said George

George says that the head wrestling coach, a Spanish teacher at Adam Central high school, is known for being supportive while pushing the wrestling girls to perform their best.

“Coach Malinowski is awesome. He really pushes you and supports you. I didn’t win any of my matches yesterday. And I was, I just wasn’t feeling myself. And he asked me if I was okay. And it felt very nice to have him ask me if I was doing okay. I felt cared for, but there’s also times where he’s like, come on, you should have done better than that. Like in practice, he’ll push us to do our best, push us to our limit. He’s a very good coach, in my opinion.”

Although her wrestling career has been short, George has learned a lot.

“I haven’t even been wrestling for a full year. I’d say around late July to early August. I started at two tough gyms and was going Tuesday nights and Thursday nights. And from that I’ve just been either too tough or my brother would help me out with a couple of things I’d miss.”

George’s biggest strength is the use of her forehead.

“I love using my forehead. I pulled a very strong forehead. My brother I think I got it from my brother. And he’s proud of me for that too. I slammed my forehead into my opponent’s temple or their forehead. But when we went up against this one person, I slammed my forehead into their temple and she fell to her knees. It’s more of a resource. She had to forfeit.”

Joining wrestling has made an impact on George’s time at HHS in more ways than one.

“It’s definitely made (my high school experience) a little bit more stressful and a little bit more fun because I made a lot more friends and I’ve been hanging out with them. They’re great people, great teammates,” George said.