Written by: Makenzie Fox
Forget what you thought you knew about wrestling. This season Northview steps into uncharted territory with the debut of all girls’ wrestling, where strength, determination, and breaking barriers take center mat.
History is being made in the world of Northview wrestling with this year’s addition of an all-girls team. In past seasons, there haven’t been enough girls to make a separate team and the program has combined girls and boys. Now, with an all-girls team, more girls can try out and feel more comfortable during practices.
Carl Bowerman, an assistant wrestling coach for eight seasons, is looking forward to increased participation this year with the addition of a new team.
“We were very happy with the numbers we got. We have about 13 girls on average at practice whereas last year when it was combined we only had five or six,” Bowerman said.
There wasn’t much talk about creating a new team until a few months before school.
“We came up with the idea this summer to try. We were trying to determine how to grow the numbers,” Bowerman said. “We wanted MHSAA to decide over the spring to reinitiate the girls’ state championships as a team.”
Junior McKayla Brown, who has been wrestling for different clubs and teams for four years, is looking forward to the upcoming change in the program. Starting the all-girls team will create opportunities to bring the girls closer together as a family.
“In previous years we haven’t really done team bonding but starting the all-girls team we have some fun team bondings planned out,” Brown said.
Senior Anna Quartell is a second-year wrestler and is a part of the new all-girls team. Something she loves about the experience is the opportunity to explore this new passion further and develop new skills as an athlete.
“I want to wrestle for Davenport [University] but it all depends if I get accepted, but I do want to keep and be able to use the skills [from wrestling] like the mindset and the toughness it gives you,” Quartell said.
On December 4th, the school was invited to a wrestling kickoff. However, nearly half the school was able to watch the team wrestle, and it opened with a female match featuring Anna Quartel. Parents came to see their kids, and the students gathered to support their classmates. When a match was won, everyone cheered, and when a match was lost, everyone felt it. The connection between students and sports was electric.
All the girls on the wrestling team are excited for the upcoming season and the progress that awaits. The next time to see the lady cats is Saturday, January 11th. Go Cats!
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