Junior Paige Vansetters has been dominating the women’s wrestling world with a passion since the fourth grade. She wrestles for the high school team but also participates in other tournaments on her own whenever the opportunity is there. In her most recent tournament outside of school, she was named a national champion at just 16 years old.
The tournament is called the National United Wrestling Association for Youth (NUWAY) and it takes place in Lansing, Michigan once a year. People from all over the country came to participate in the weekend of matches, with ages ranging from five to nineteen.
Players that secured one of the top four places in their state championship wrestling meet for their school season were invited to wrestle the best of the best from other states. Vansetters placed second at state and was the only athlete from the high school that went on to wrestle at NUWAY. She won all of her matches in her weight class and won the final contest, making her the 120 pound weight class national champion.
Her father, Travis Vansetters, was a youth coach and convinced her to give wrestling a try seven years ago. She immediately fell in love with the sport and has been participating since, empowering girls like her to not be afraid of playing a sport that is male dominated. Although her dad was her coach for a large portion of her life, one day a new opportunity and coach was presented.
In 2022 at Michigan’s wrestling state tournament, a man named Artie Romance approached Travis and asked about coaching her. He saw the potential she had and wanted to see her improve immensely with his help. Romance was coaching another youth program at the time, but had also been a mixed martial arts fighter in years previously so had a lot of experience to bring to Vansetters athletics.
“He talked to my dad and asked, ‘Can I coach her for a match?’ And so he liked him already,¨ Vansetters said, ¨I really enjoy him [Romance] as a coach, being kind of a calm person. I could be really rattled up about something and he’s there to be like, ‘take it one step at a time, you’re good.’ I enjoy having him in my corner for these kinds of things.”
Since then, Romance has been prominent in Vansetters wrestling career. He is there at just about every match with her parents, cheering her on from the side of the mat.
Wrestling matches are broken up into weight classes so participants can be evenly matched with their opponent. When the match is about to begin, both players are assigned a color, either red or green. The referee uses these colors to decipher who is getting what points and to keep track of the two competitors.
Wrestlers can obtain points by using moves such as takedowns, where they bring an opponent to the mat and hold them there. There are also other things available to use like reversals, where they are on the bottom and flip so they end up on top. Points are also given to wrestlers as seconds are counted for takedowns, every second counted as a point.
Whoever ends with the most points, wins the match unless there is a pin fall. A pin fall is when the wrestler pins their opponents shoulders to the mat for as little as a second. Regardless of points, the pin fall will outweigh them and win the match.
There are plenty of moves available to use, Vansetters however has a favorite called the granby.
“You’re on the bottom, and then you basically move your legs and you do like a big ol roll flip to get out of it,” Vansetters said. ¨That is my favorite thing, I flip a lot in my matches.”
Using flexibility to her advantage is a common method for Vansetters, giving her an upper hand in many of her matches. This is especially important during high school season when Vansetters’ opponents are sometimes guys in the same weight class. She uses the skill of flexibility to dominate her field, even when spectators and opponents think the boys have the upper hand. Wrestling is Vansetters forte, and no man or woman can stop her from killing it.
“Wrestling gave me a purpose, I really want the next generations to fall in love with the sport as I did.”
One of Vansetters biggest goals is to promote female representation in wrestling. Across the world, there is a lack of respect for women in the wrestling community.
Vansetters hopes to be able to wrestle in college, but will not be able to compete at the division one level. There is not a single college in Michigan that has a womens wrestling team, and only four division one colleges in the entire United States host women’s wrestling programs. In order to add sports to schools, administrations will usually have to revoke funding for another one. Schools don’t find womens wrestling as serious or important, so they keep moving forward without a program for it. Many universities have clubs, but they cannot give out any scholarships and financial aid.
Though it has low numbers for collegiate athletes, it is on the rise for high schoolers. According to the Wrestle Like A Girl organization, in 2020 only 10 percent of high school wrestlers were females. However, in the last two years it has grown 27 percent making 37 percent of high school wrestlers girls.
With such a small public image, it can be tough to notice the hard work and dedication athletes put into womens wrestling. However, Junior teammate of Vansetters Ava Niedzielski notices the dedication Vansetters puts into the sport, making sure it continues to flourish.
¨I have seen Paige make a difference in the girls wrestling world through her perseverance, along with her ability to encourage the people around her,¨ Niedzielski said,¨She is one of the reasons why I do, and continue to do the sport.¨
Vansetters will continue to make a difference in women’s representation in wrestling, both during high school and college.
With an extensive amount of support and determination, Vansetters has accomplished a great deal of achievements. She has placed at states, won a national title and inspired many young women in the wrestling world. Vansetters will wrestle her senior year and continue to compete, hoping to keep encouraging girls just like her.
¨She gives the idea that nothing is out of reach, and that no matter what, as long as you put your mind to it, you can do anything.¨ Niedzielski said.