My daughter finished her first year of wrestling!

Zeke's Chaingun

Gold Belt
@Gold
Joined
Feb 12, 2003
Messages
21,147
Reaction score
499
A year ago it occurred to me that maybe my daughter Mialee would like to try wrestling. She was 10 and a half and in the middle of a soccer session.

I should have thought of it sooner, because our State had just introduced Girls Wrestling in High School, but with me being away from the wrestling scene for about 10 years I was slow on the uptake.

I enrolled her in an advanced program because it was the off-season and the normal school programs were done. She signed up and it was rough. Not only did she not know what she was doing but all of her partners were boys who had been wrestling for years and she struggled to score a point, even against kids 20 lbs smaller than her. To keep her motivated and putting forth effort, I decided to pay her $1 for each time she scored, that way instead of just giving up against superior opponents she had a reason to keep trying to score in any capacity she could.

She did that all summer and after about 4 months I signed her up for the only tournament I could, a nationals tournament. I knew she wouldn't win a match but all she had was practice and I wanted her to see what it was she was training to compete in. We went and she got two girls who had been wrestling for many years and were highly ranked in their states. As expected Mialee got pinned in both matches but it was worth the experience. She went back to training with her eyes on her first regular season coming up in a few months.

To cut things short, the season finally came and in December she had her first in-season tournament. She had some ups and downs but overall was fantastic!

She finished with a record of 31-9.

She competed against boys in their first year like her and was 17-5 against them. Against girls she competed in Open Tournaments, where the girls could have (and most did) have many years of experience. She went 14-4 against them.

She competed in 12 tournaments. She took 1st place seven times, 2nd three times, 5th once and 6th once. She placed in every tournament.

At the first ever youth Girls State Tournament she placed 5th. She was among the few girls in their first year of wrestling there.

Her worst tournament of the year she took 6th place at. She was in the Semifinals and wrestled unlike herself by doing things she hadn't done all year. She lost in OT to miss out on 1st or 2nd place and then after that she lost her next 2 dropping to 6th place. She was mentally done after missing out on the finals in overtime. However, three weeks later she pinned the boy who took first at this tournament!

Her last tournament was the AAU Gold State Tournament for first year wrestlers. She moved up in weight class and took first place! Also, the boy who took 1st at her previous weight class she pinned a month earlier. Moreover, every year the AAU Gold Tournament has around 70 brackets between all ages and weights. It was 5 tournaments ago when the a girl won AAU Gold in a bracket that had more than 3 kids in it. So she was the first in 5 of these annual tournaments to win it as a girl! The last girl who did it on 2/2016 was the undefeated Girls High School State Champion this year.

Anyways, I'm posting because I'm very proud of how hard Mialee has worked. She began wrestling in very harsh circumstances being so new and wrestling only boys. Wrestling is hard enough and many kids quit even when they win a lot because of how hard of a sport it is. She hung in there even when all she had to look forward to was another day of getting her ass whipped. And now the hard work paid off!

She has a bright future and I am excited to see how far she goes and I can't wait for her 2nd wrestling season to begin!

I have a YouTube Channel recording her entire journey. I didn't create the Channel for Subscribers, I created it for memories and something she can look back on someday. However if you are a fan of wrestling and feel so inclined, please subscribe. In order to unlock new YouTube features we have to hit 100 Subscribers. Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWveacgdYc6Oev9jONCMCBw
 
An interview after her first season concluded by winning the AAU Gold Tournament for first year wrestlers:

 
My favorite win of hers on the year. This boy took 1st at the Tournament my daughter had her worst performance in, when she took 6th. This video was 3 weeks later. This boy also took 1st at AAU Gold at the weight class below my daughter because she chose to go up 1 class at the end of the year.

 
This is my wife's favorite match of hers, because she wrecks this poor boy. My daughter told me afterwards when I asked her why she went after the boy so hard that this was her home tournament and there was no way she was going to go home in 2nd place.

 
Don’t know much about wrestling but as a dad who is raising two strong young ladies, I feel ya. She will not let society tell her what she can and can’t achieve. Mad props, brotha!
 
Anyone else here have a daughter that wrestles? What about BJJ?
 
Anyone else here have a daughter that wrestles? What about BJJ?

My daughter is a daddys girl and when she is old enough will be in bjj/wrestling. I cant wait for it, shes such an independent 16 month old already so i have a feeling she will like sports that are less team driven. Shes also freakishly strong for her size compared to other kids so she might even do well in gymnastics.
 
Thanks for the post man, that's awesome to hear. As someone who has coached for over 10 years, I love seeing this growth in girl's wrestling
 
Thanks for the post man, that's awesome to hear. As someone who has coached for over 10 years, I love seeing this growth in girl's wrestling

Agree!

When I was heavy into wrestling I was in my early to mid 20's. I remember telling a friend that I couldn't wait to have boys so I could watch their wrestling careers. My friend jokingly responded with, "Just watch, you'll only have girls".

Well, as I am now 40 and done with having children, I have two girls. LOL! But, in a ironic twist, my oldest is a good wrestler! My youngest is 6 and she signed up this past season was did well, but she's not showing the same mental strength my oldest does. My youngest will lose her temper and cry/quit in practice when it gets tough. She also beats herself up, saying she sucks when she loses and her opponent sucks when she wins. Not the right attitude but maybe she will mature more and be in a better mindset next season, if she wants to try it again.

My oldest, Mialee, she has a much better outlook on competing and I hope she continues as she has been.
 
This quarantine is killing me. My daughter was supposed to start up training again and instead we are holed up. I know, it's for the best and in the scheme of things this is such a little thing, particularly compared to real problems people are having. But man, she knows she has a long way to go to catch up to the kids who have been wrestling for many years and losing time stinks.
 
Don’t have a daughter but it’s awesome to me to see wrestling grow to the point where they have enough females for a girls league. When I was in high school the interest wasn’t there and the 2 girls that were interested were on the men’s team with us.
 
Don’t have a daughter but it’s awesome to me to see wrestling grow to the point where they have enough females for a girls league. When I was in high school the interest wasn’t there and the 2 girls that were interested were on the men’s team with us.

Allegedly it's the fastest growing sport in the USA right now.
 
weird lol guess due to this feminist thing lately

If there is any of that, I think it's small.

Back when I was involved in wrestling a long time ago, there were girl wrestlers. The problem was very few stuck with it because once they hit High School few could compete with the boys. In recent times, at least in our state and a few others, they managed to get enough support to have a girls State Tournament so the girls could compete against other girls and not just boys. Once the states opened up a Girls State Tournament, more girls decided to go out for wrestling. That started the boulder rolling down the hill.

There may have been some feminist BS that helped get the girls their own state tournament, and if so id say that feminism finally managed to do something good for the first time in decades. But beyond that, once the doors opened it was just girls wanting to compete.
 
If there is any of that, I think it's small.

Back when I was involved in wrestling a long time ago, there were girl wrestlers. The problem was very few stuck with it because once they hit High School few could compete with the boys. In recent times, at least in our state and a few others, they managed to get enough support to have a girls State Tournament so the girls could compete against other girls and not just boys. Once the states opened up a Girls State Tournament, more girls decided to go out for wrestling. That started the boulder rolling down the hill.

There may have been some feminist BS that helped get the girls their own state tournament, and if so id say that feminism finally managed to do something good for the first time in decades. But beyond that, once the doors opened it was just girls wanting to compete.

i just find it funny that its dead or not growing in young males yet females are getting into it tbh i think thats a bad sign for boys/men in the future

kinda sad how things are flip flopping in that boys hate sports or anything masculine yet girls are now the ones going into sports ect i think its due to video game culture is so strong now and lack of proper parenting
 
My son is only 3, and has some learning handicaps regarding language, speaking, communication, patience, stuff like that. He isn't diagnosed with ASD but he is getting some specialized extra education for his deficient areas.

With that being said, I'm wondering when is the appropriate age to put him in wrestling or BJJ. I'm optimistic that his language will continue to improve. I see other kids his age being put into things like ballet/dance where they follow instructions really well. My son simply can't do that yet.

OP's done a great job with his daughter. Very inspiring!

Being in the wrestling room I have to say it's different for all kids. MOST under the age of 5 aren't really paying attention or getting the moves down. Between 5 and 6 it's 50/50.

Glad to hear about the improvement! I told my kid that wrestling is super tough but I believe she can do it and that the hardest part is in the beginning. After that it gets easier as you get tougher.
 
She's got some nice pinning. Hopefully she keeps that up, that's a huge difference maker in high school wrestling and basically separates the wheat from the chaff after that. 31-9 is an amazing start, by any standard.
 
Major props, but it's great to see wrestling grow like this. Hope she becomes champ!
 
Back
Top