First Ladies: Upstate area building strong girls wrestling programs

Across the Upstate, girls wrestling is on the rise. Talented girls have been competing both against boys and in individual tournaments for several years, but this year, girls teams and a full-bracket girls state tournament marked a huge leap in participation across the state.

In Spartanburg, Greenville, Cherokee, and Union counties, nine young ladies finished in the Top 4 of their individual weight classes, while two – Woodruff’s June Welch and Mauldin’s Bianca Connell – earned state championships. For Welch, it was just one more piece of history, as she’s a four-time state champion, including becoming the first female wrestler in state history to win a title in an all-boys field.

Girls programs are undeniably drawing interest and providing another athletic outlet. Here’s a look at how one local program is building.

It’s been a quarter-century since Brandy Green walked into a wrestling room.

Dorman’s girls coach didn’t get quite what she was expecting.

“My story’s kind of silly,” she said. “I thought WWE (professional wrestling) was cool, and I grew up watching it. When I walked into the wrestling room for the first time, I thought it was going to be ropes and lights and suplexes and all those things, and then I was asked not to come back.”

She DID go back, though, driven by that first experience.

“When I got home, It made me want to do it even more,” she said. “I had to go back and beat somebody to be on the team without even knowing how to wrestle.”

Green certainly learned how to wrestle. The Michigan native wrestled in middle school, high school, and transitioned to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. She wrestled collegiately at Northern Michigan and Central Michigan. She advanced to coach a college program for eight years.

But, in budgetary concerns, Limestone college dropped two programs – men’s volleyball and women’s wrestling. Suddenly, the sport Green loved was gone.

“I’m here, and there’s no wrestling in my life, when it’s been in my life for so long,” she said.

Soon, though, she had a direction when a Dorman wrestler reached out to her.

“Morgan (Grimsley) reached out to me, and said they really wanted a girls wrestling team at Dorman. So I reached out to Zack (Clary, Dorman’s head coach). I had great conversations with him, and with our AD Jon Stoehr and principal Bryant Roberson. In all those conversations, this was all about reaching more students and offering them more. It was a no-brainer, really.”

It helps the Cavaliers that both their senior captains, Grimsley and Avery Wilson, both share a great deal of Green’s passion for the sport. They’ve been competing against boys for years, and both are thrilled that they got to complete their senior year on their own team.

“It’s very different,” Grimsley said. “To go from being beat up and beating up on boys for the past five years, being able to wrestle girls is a big change. I definitely think it’s a better change. I enjoy this team. I love being able to lead these girls and seeing them grow and seeing women’s wrestling grow. It’s great.”

Grimsley said she used everything she learned as an underclassman on the boys team to help her lead the girls.

“I was on the varsity team as a freshman being the only female,” she said. “Watching the seniors lead the team, I definitely looked up to them and wanted to be like them one day, but I knew I’d never have that opportunity on a boys team. Being able to do it for these girls is amazing, but it does get tough some times. I had those seniors to push me, and that’s the only reason I’m here today. So I’m trying to do that for them.”

Grimsley was joined on the boys team as a sophomore by Wilson. Their relationship, at first, was a challenge.

“We didn’t like each other at first,” Wilson said. “There was definitely some competition between us. But we got closer, and she’s my best friend. I love her with my whole heart. We spend so much time together, and she’s my favorite person ever.”

Wilson is also close to Green, which helped her grow to love the sport.

“She was my first-ever coach in fifth grade,” Wilson said. “She was awesome, I loved her, and I stuck with it.”

Now, Wilson is enjoying her leadership role much like Grimsley does. However, she knows that her teammates have to find that spark on their own.

“They definitely look to us in a leadership position, but they have to find it within themselves,” she said. “That’s wrestling. I’ve stuck with it for six years because you grow to love it and what it teaches you. You feel yourself get stronger, you learn to pull off those moves, and you get you hand raised.”

That mentality is exactly what Green wants to see in the wrestling room, and something she thinks is on the rise.

“I think it’s more of a generational shift,” she said. “It’s ok for girls to want to be strong. It’s ok for girls to want to be confident. It’s ok to have the same skills that wrestling builds for the boys built for the girls. I think that’s the appeal for them. They like the way their back looks in the mirror, where 20 years ago most women didn’t want that appearance. I think it’s kind of a sign of the times. A woman having a strong presence is acceptable and not as taboo I guess would be the best way to say it.”

The impact is much more than physical.

“We talk a lot about the values it gives the kids,” Green said. “The dedication, the mentality, the confidence, the body image. We focus on the fact that all their bodies are wonderful. We don’t have to focus on being in a certain weight class to be competitive. We’re just going to teach them how to win. After that, all the success comes from them and from the work they put in.”

That work is going on statewide. Girls wrestling has grown from a state tournament with roughly 60 participants and a truncated season into a full-scale tournament.

“This year, we had to have qualifiers for the first time, and we’re competing alongside the boys,” Green said. “Our region tournament alone had more girls than the original state tournament.”

The qualifier paid off for Dorman, too. Tashya Hamms became the first Dorman female wrestler to advance to the state tournament, and notched a pinfall win in the consolation bracket before falling to the eventual third-place finisher.

“I think it’s an accomplishment for my first year,” Hamms said. “In the future, it’s going to mean a lot, but at this point it hasn’t really hit me yet. It’s definitely something hard, mentally and physically. Probably more mentally.”

Green said Hamms is absolutely right.

“We talk a lot about that,” she said. “It’s supposed to be hard. It’s supposed to hurt. If you can make it the first two weeks, three weeks and understand that the things we’re doing are supposed to hurt, you can make it the rest of the season. A lot of our job is getting them to understand that it’s ok you hurt today. Nobody turns in a move because it feels good. It’s uncomfortable. It’s ok that you walked in today and you don’t feel 100 percent. Give it everything you’ve got. You’re just going to grow from there. You just have to embrace it – the sweat, pain, tears, emotion, everything that goes into it.”

Her senior captains have absolutely embraced it, and are happy with the legacy they’re leaving behind.

“Leaving this team is definitely sad, but I’m just so glad Dorman has given us this opportunity to have this girls’ team,” Grimsley said. “I never thought this would happen.”

Wilson agrees with her co-captain.

“I’m so proud of all of these girls and this program,” she said. “I didn’t think we’d have this by the time I graduated. It makes me proud to know it’s going to impact our lives forever.”

That impact is exactly what Green is after.

“I feel like these girls have the opportunity to come in and be welcomed and have their flaws and still be a part of something that’s going to be great going forward,” she said.