What sports make the demands on the individual that amateur wrestling does? When a girl walks on the mat, she stands alone. No one will run interference; no one will pass her the ball when she is under the net, no one will catch a high fly if she makes a bad pitch. She stands alone. In other sports, where individual scores are kept, the contest is determined in time, distance and height. But in wrestling the score is kept on a girl's ability to overcome an opponent in a hand to hand contest, where a two second interval at anytime can mean a loss or a win. If an opponent gains an advantage, there will be no help, no substitute; there will be no time out and all can be lost in two seconds. Yes, the girl stands alone.

There is no place on a wrestling team for the show off, the halfhearted, or the weakling. When he whistle blows, a girl puts her ability, her determination, and her courage on the line.

We who are close to the young women n our wrestling teams have watched the range of human emotions from elation to heartbreak.


We have seen coaches with tears running down their cheeks as they try to console a young women who has given her all.... yet lost.


Wrestling is a tough hard sport, a life like experience; it is the survival of the fittest. The young women who enter and stay with the team know this. They also know that when the time comes and the whistle blow.

THEY STAND ALONE!