Wrestling program add girls’ team, boys’ team gains confidence
Sophomore Brooke Nelsen wrestles an opponent from Bennett.
February 7, 2023
As a team we have gotten to really know one another so everyone is invested in the success of each other.” — Senior Evan Torres
As we grow closer to the end of the 2022-23 high school wrestling season, it is time to reflect on how the Berthoud Wrestling program has represented the school, as well as get an inside view of how the wrestlers experience the season. This season has certainly been one to remember, with the new group of freshmen wrestlers, as well as Berthoud High’s first-ever Girls Wrestling Team.
New to BHS athletics this season is the Girls Wrestling Team. The team is made up of seven athletes, and is the first girls team in school history. Despite the lack of many highly experienced wrestlers, senior boys wrestler Evan Torres describes the girls team as having a very good mentality and being fearless. According to Torres, many wrestlers that lack much experience struggle to wrestle competitively because of the stress that being one on one with another wrestler may bring. This girls team, however, does not seem to struggle with such issues, and handles all of the matches very well. “It’s fun to watch because the team is new, so you get to see when things start to click for them and they start to understand what to do in different situations,” said Torres.
Wrestling is one of the most physically and mentally demanding sports available for high schoolers, as it takes a lot of confidence as well as physical endurance. One of the most experienced wrestlers at Berthoud High School is senior Torres, who has now been involved in wrestling for nine years. According to Torres, “The hardest part [of wrestling] is definitely losing because sometimes you get beat so bad that it’s almost humiliating, and so learning to come back and gain knowledge from the loss is really important.” Wrestling can heavily affect the wrestler’s mental state, as the heavy reliance on the individual skill makes losing that much more difficult to bear.
When people think of wrestling they often think of it only being an individual sport, however, wrestlers gain so much strength and confidence from their teammates. When questioned about the team’s success this season, Torres mentioned, “As a team we have gotten to really know one another so everyone is invested in the success of each other.” Despite the wrestlers being alone on the mat, they rarely find themselves alone in practices, where they learn their moves with teammates, practice, and uplift one another. The wrestlers all heavily rely on support from their teammates, as the people that they train with can very well make or break their confidence. Torres also described one of the biggest challenges as keeping the mentality to keep fighting in the later rounds, when the wrestlers find themselves exhausted. It’s times like this where having a strong, uplifting team can really help you. Having a positive team can really help the wrestler feel like it’s not just them, and they want to bring back a win for their team, as well as not to disappoint their teammates.
All this being said, it’s fair to say that this has been a fairly successful season for the Berthoud High School Wrestling program and we cannot wait to see what next season may bring.
