“From a High School coaching perspective, it was an amazing sight to see that many young women working at their craft. To see their heart and desires, necessary to impress Olympic Wrestlers, National Champions and Iowa’s own head coach.
I truly believe that several girls in the room had the talent and makings of future state and international champions,” Gabriel Hernandez said when talking about the tournament. It was one of the biggest girls’ wrestling camps with around 250 girls from many different states. Most, if not all the coaches that were involved, believe that this was the biggest girls’ high school wrestling camp ever held. This camp was made for any level of wrestler, whether that be from beginner or nationally ranked, there was a spot for them. This year four local girls went to be part of this amazing, hard-working camp. The locals were Gabriel Hernandez, the head coach for West High School and assistant head coach for Will James Middle School in Billings, one of his West High student athletes named Olivia Ruiz, and two others representing Lockwood, Bella and Serenity Hernandez. This was a very tiring camp where the girls would start off their day at 6am with a group run. It was then followed with a two-hour session that went three different times a day. Morning, noon and evenings you would find the girls working on technique and having live wrestling matches.
The Iowa Hawkeye’s first all-girls’ wrestling camp took place July 5-10. There were current and non-current wrestlers in Iowa for the NCAA Wrestling National Championships. The list of helpers included three-time National Champion Spencer Lee, and an Olympic bronze medalist Terry Brands. Teaching the girls not only technique, but also what it takes to become a college and Olympic wrestler was none other than Tom Brands, Head Coach for Iowa and Winner of an Olympic Gold Medal. The event was co-sponsored by Wrestle Like a Girl Organization, a non-profit founded by Sally Roberts, who is not only a veteran but also a national champion wrestler. The focus was to empower women through female wrestling. Sally started wrestling in the eighth grade when she had the choice of an after-school activity or juvenile detention; she chose wrestling. Sally is also doing work to try to get female wrestling recognized by the NCAA which would give the wrestlers benefits for things like health insurance and scholarships. “To empower women both athletically and academically, we call upon the NCAA to support female wrestling beginning with recognizing women’s wrestling under emerging sport status for the upcoming season,” she said. Last year, Tom Brands, Head Coach for University of Iowa, sent a letter to many wrestling organizations to try to make women’s wrestling an emerging sport under NCAA supervision.
