Athlete Not Pinned By Stereotypes
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News-Mirror Photo/Diana Westphal
Whether it�s joining her teammates on the sideline . . . or working into a winning pin position, Triton High School freshman Sierra Mitchell has earned her spot on the junior varsity wrestling team. |
By Mike Siroky
BOURBON � OK, so she doesn�t feel like a trendsetter.
What Triton High School freshman Sierra Mitchell feels like is an athlete.
After playing junior varsity volleyball, she wanted to be a basketball player for the junior varsity team . . but she didn�t make the cut.
Rather than give up, she decided on that other traditional girls winter sport . . . wrestling.
It�s a tradition she is starting herself.
Her dad, Jay Grossman, had wrestled for Triton�s Sam Davis a while ago.
Her older brother, Chance, had wrestled while the family was in Kansas.
So, rather than take the winter off, Sierra thought about wrestling and figured, why not me?
Normally 105 pounds, she has wrestled in the 103 weight class (the lowest in Indiana High School wrestling) and has had two matches so far. She lost the first and won the second.
She said she is picking the technique in practice more than from her family predecessors.
"My dad wasn�t so sure he wanted me to do this, so it�s all about practice," she said. She is holding her own, winning more than losing in workouts. "And I grew up around it, so I was familiar with it," she said. "The coaches have really helped me."
And her teammates. have helped, making the transition easy for a rookie. "It really wasn�t that hard," Sierra said.
She knew the first win was inevitable from the start of the match. Based on how she had done in workouts, she knew she could handle this guy. She won by pinfall early in the second period.
"I pretty much knew from the start," she said.
Her teammates help build her confidence by treating her as an equal in training. "It�s pretty fun," she said. "They treat me just like another wrestler. We lift together, run, work out."
There is one more sport to come. She�s a pitcher in softball.
Davis has never had a female wrestler actually make it to a match in his 34 years of coaching the sport at Triton. He has had some girls come out for the team. "Her parents and I had the long talk about it," he said.
"She was a little quiet at the start, but once the season got going, she got it going," said Davis. "A little sloppy at first, but most other wrestlers her age don�t have that much experience either. I expected a little bit of apprehension from the other wrestlers, but it�s been the exact opposite. They re not going to pull any punches.
"That first match, the guy threw her pretty hard. I think he felt a little bad about that. But he wants to win and that�s wrestling. She didn�t mind. If she�s out there, she�s gonna take whatever comes her way.
"We don�t have any problems. She�s trying to learn a sport. She runs with the guys, hits the weights, does everything they do. The whole deal.
"When she got cut by Mark Heeter, she said �I want to do something.� She came to me and said, "Can I wrestle.� I didn�t see a reason not to."
Sierra said she is not trying to be a trailblazer.
"Not really," Sierra said. "I just like to play sports."
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