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As winter sports begin, all athletes are spending long hours after school practicing. Led by Mr. Bowls, Washington’s wrestling team competes at various tournaments across the Bay Area. Historically, wrestling has been a male-dominated sport. In the 2023-24 school year, approximately 82% of students on high schools wrestling teams in America were boys. However, women’s wrestling has been growing in popularity for the past few years, with Juniors Alyse Domingo and Roslyn Turner driving this change at Washington High School.
Domingo has been a part of the team since freshman year, training in Jiu Jitsu from the age of three. She says, “My dad owns a gym, so since I could walk I’ve been training,” and attributes her experience with Jiu Jitsu to her decision to try out wrestling. However, when Domingo decided to try out for the team, she was very apprehensive, describing how “wrestling is a male dominated sport, so I wasn’t sure if I belonged.”
Turner also tried out for the team in freshman year. Her biggest motivation was her brother, who competes on the varsity team. She said having someone on the team to support you and have your back is always reassuring. Turner’s experience in martial arts in eighth grade added to her decision to try out. Additionally, with two older brothers, she said, “Rough housing guys wasn’t uncomfortable or new for me.”
Once Turner and Domingo made it on the team, it took a lot of hard work to stay determined and excel at the sport. Domingo remembered “times where I felt like I didn’t belong because there were barely any girls on the team.” In the past two years of wrestling, Domingo said she feels much more confident and welcome.
Similarly, Turner said she felt like she had to work harder than the guys on the team to prove herself. She said that being on the team definitely made her get thicker skin, saying “It’s not easy to be sensitive on the team, you kind of learn to roll with the hits and pass them back.”
While Turner and Domingo are more accustomed to the nature of the team, there are still times they feel the effects of the male-dominated culture of wrestling. Domingo says that she feels like she needs to work harder to get the same amount of attention as some of the other guys on the team. Both Domingo and Turner say that they are grateful to Coach Bowls for still supporting and encouraging them despite the inherent stereotypes in the sport.
There has been an increase in membership over the past three years. Domingo says she has seen a lot more girls try out for the team. Overall, Domingo and Turner’s main takeaway is that you have to be resilient and keep persevering. “Wrestling puts you on a mat basically half naked and you just have to put your soul into it,” says Domingo.
Avni Mishra is a junior at Washington High School. She grew up in Fremont, California. This is her first year at the paper and she is interested in writing about politics, local businesses, and book/movie reviews. She is also part of Whs DECA and has been doing Indian Semi-Classical dance for the past eight years. She hopes to become a print journalist in the future!