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Childs play: Scotts Valley High female taking the wrestling scene by storm
By JIM SEIMAS 1/20/07
Sentinel staff writer
Scotts Valley High's Haylee Childs is queen of the wrestling mat — and she's only a freshman.
She's No. 1 in the California Women's Wrestling Association's state rankings at her weight class, 18-1 against girls with 14 pins entering California's North Regional tournament semifinals today.
More than a dozen Santa Cruz County girls have tried out for their high school wrestling teams the past decade. None found success like Childs has. She has received solid coaching and has benefitted from the emergence of the CWWA. The 122-pound Falcons star, now in her fourth year of wrestling, also competes against the boys and may contend for a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title before she graduates.
"She's holding her own against the guys," said Falcons sparring partner Chase Kranich, "and dominating the girls in those out-of-town tournaments. Her record is pretty amazing. Who knows? In 10 years she could be in the Olympics or something"
Women's wrestling became an Olympic sport in 2004, and according to Sports Illustrated, girls participation in high school wrestling nationwide has tripled in the past decade, growing from 1,629 to 4,975. California accounts for a fourth of that total, said CWWA president Rob Redman.
And Childs is among the best.
Minutes before an exhibition match against a male teammate Wednesday [Childs wins a 2-0 decision], she is lifting her best friend onto her shoulders one second, and grabbing another teammate and putting him in a headlock the next — and she's not even on the mat during this horseplay.
"I don't really get nervous," Childs said. "I just try to go out, wrestle my best, and win"
Childs, a former gymnast who also plays softball and Class-III club soccer, intends to spread the word about women's wrestling.
She wants to aid Falcons coach Greg Stevens the next time he puts on a demonstration at the Scotts Valley Middle School, where Stevens also coaches. She also wants to organize a girls tournament at Scotts Valley before she graduates, and hopefully, she said, compete on a college team or club team.
"I think she'll attract girls to the sport because of her youth and enthusiasm," said Redman. "Look at the junior highs in the area. They've all got girls. They just don't seem to make that transition to high school. She's showing that you can find success"
Interest from girls has helped save the sport for many small-school programs state-wide, Redman said. Male turnout had suffered locally in recent years, but more teams throughout the county finally appear to be fielding full squads. Girls are helping the cause, he said.
"It's a great sport for boys and girls alike," Childs said.
Stevens believes Childs has the talent, work ethic and charisma to bring other girls into the physically demanding sport.
"I'm sure her success is going help influence other girls to go for it, girls who may have thought they didn't have a chance at the sport," Stevens said. "She's proven that's not the case"
Childs was coaxed by best friend Janaya Pereira to attend a demonstration put on by Stevens and assistants at Scotts Valley Middle School three years ago. It was love at first sight, Childs said.
"It's one of the most fun things I've ever done," Childs said. "Something clicked. It just seemed right for me to do. It fit with my background, having competed in gymnastics, my body type and skill level"
Childs has improved each season. Last year she took second in league at the middle school tournament against the boys.
"It's a great feeling to have your arm raised," Childs said of winning a match. "The first time I beat a boy was so exciting. I was like, 'Yeah, I won!' I was so proud. ... I've made several boys cry, particularly in seventh and eighth grade"
Because only two girls are on the Falcons' roster, both Childs and Pereira practice with the boys.
Pereira competes on varsity in the 103-pound weight class. Childs challenges Kranich each week, but has been unable to unseat him for the varsity spot. Kranich is one of the top wrestlers in the Central Coast Section for his weight.
"For a girl, she's amazing," Kranich said. "She's really strong. I'm a senior and she's a freshman. That's probably one of the biggest differences. If I came back here when she's a senior, it'd probably be a toss-up"
Childs didn't have the support of both her parents when she started the sport. Her mother, Kim, was reluctant to allow her daughter — the fourth of five children — to compete in the male-dominated sport.
The risk of injury was high, Kim said, noting it was just one of her concerns. During her daughter's first year, Childs, then a sixth grader, dislocated her shoulder.
Kim refused to sign the permission slip the following year and said she wouldn't attend the matches. She also refused to give her daughter rides to events or pay the sign-up fee. So Childs raised the money herself to enroll in the sport.
Childs' father Joe, a former high school wrestler in Chico, empathized and signed the permission slip. Kim didn't attend any matches early on during her daughter's seventh grade year, but eventually made her way to gymnasiums to cheer for her daughter.
"If you asked me a couple of years ago, I'd say I was horrified to watch her," Kim said. "But I'm really proud of her. She loves it and is accomplishing whatever she wants"
Childs' shoulder still pops out of place sometimes. When the pain is overwhelming, Childs has been brought to tears.
But she's not alone in that department. She has made many of the boys cry. She is a heartbreaker. She's also an arm-twister and a neck-torquer.
She's not dirty, just rough, like she's supposed to be.
"When she goes at it, she goes at it," Stevens said. "She goes out and gets it done. And she has that desire. She works hard, unlike some of my guys. She's extremely focused. It's refreshing"
She's a tough girl. "I can do sit-ups for hours," she said. "My abs look like a guy's stomach. It's cool to show off sometimes"
Childs practices with the boys, and on weekends, dominates girls tournaments. Her father often accompanies her.
This weekend, Childs is competing at the California Interscholastic Federation's North Regional tournament at Liberty High in Brentwood. Next weekend the non-sanctioned state championships take place in Hanford.
Childs knows many of her opponents well, despite being hundreds of miles away from most of them.
Before and after matches, Childs spends a great deal of time socializing. She exchanges phone numbers and e-mail addresses with other female wrestlers, or looks them up on myspace.com.
"It's good to do," said Childs. "It's better making friends than making rivals. They're people. And they're great friends of mine"
Spoken like a true ambassador of the sport.
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Phillips on track for back to back titles
Staff reports of the 1/20/07
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
BRENTWOOD— Manteca High varsity wrestler Samantha Phillips was able to fight off the sluggish effects of waiting through her first round bye of the CIF Girls Wrestling Northern California Regional tournament and earn a first period pin during her first action on the mat.
Phillips pinned Chelsea Oliveras of Montgomery High in Santa Rosa in 1:45 seconds laying the ground work for the tournaments final day, and Phillips’ shot at back-to-back titles in her weight class.
“I was really nervous coming in to the tournament,” Phillips said after the tournaments opening day. “It seemed like I had to wait forever for my match, so by the time my match came I was so exhausted.
“I started off a little slow, and she was able to block a few of my moves, but I was able to settle down and get the pin,” Phillips added.
Phillips walked away from the CIF regional a year ago with the 126-pound title, now the nationally ranked wrestler is focused on finishing off her second title run today.
“I really want to be fast and strong out there (today), so I am definitely going to go get some sleep,” Phillips said. “I know my final match will be a tough one, so I know I need to be strong and work really hard.”
Phillips will be in action today at 10 a.m. for the tournaments final day of competition.
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Notebook: Samuell junior finds release on mat
08:10 PM CST on Wednesday, January 17, 2007
By KEITH WHITMIRE / The Dallas Morning News
If it weren't for wrestling, Tanzanecia Hogan figures she would be in anger management classes.
Hogan, a Samuell junior, said she started wrestling as a ninth-grader to control her temper.
"I wouldn't get into fights, I'd just go off real quick," Hogan said. "Instead of taking it out on other people, I decided to take it out on the mat."
Hogan's opponents might disagree. She's 25-2 this season in the 128-pound class with all but one win by pin.
Hogan won a match at the UIL state meet last season but did not place.
"I felt that I did good to make it as a sophomore," Hogan said. "I was going up against real experienced people."
Hogan was named the outstanding girl wrestler at the recent DISD meet. Now she's recognized for her wrestling skill and not her temper.
"I know how to control it now instead of letting it go," Hogan said. "I feel people looking up to me."
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Washington County Wrestling Tournament
Joe Tuscano 1/20/07
Staff writer
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FREDERICKTOWN -- The first indication that Matt Longstreth was going to have an interesting Friday evening was when his quarterfinal-round opponent walked past in the Beth-Center Middle School gymnasium.
That was the one with the long flowing red hair and goes by the name of Amanda Cooper. Longstreth, a junior from Avella, drew Cooper, a sophomore from Beth-Center, in one of the more intriguing matchups in the Washington County Wrestling Tournament.
"My coach told me he was going to kill me if I lost," said Longstreth, breaking into a grin.
To his relief, Longstreth pinned Cooper in 1:10 and advanced to today's semifinals against Burgettstown's Zach Schilinski. Wrestling begins 10:30 a.m. and runs through to the finals at 6 p.m.
"I'm a big tomboy," said Cooper. "My mom hates that I wrestle but my dad supports it."
Cooper's interest in wrestling emerged from watching her brother, Jude Recktenwald, compete in the youth leagues. Recktenwald was eventually forced to give up wrestling because of back problems sustained in an automobile accident when he was in second grade.
"His car rolled over a cliff near Marianna and if it had rolled one more time, it would have ended up in the creek and he would have drowned," Cooper said. "I was a cheerleader for wrestling at the time and I fell in love with it."
When the pain in his back forced Recktenwald out of the sport, Cooper decided to give it a try.
"She showed up for physicals and when wrestling practice came up, she was there," said Beth-Center head coach Dave Nelson. "She does pushups and she runs the (quarter mile). I tell my wrestlers they have to do it in under 1:30 and she's brought her time down eight seconds to 1:32."
Cooper is not the first female varsity wrestler at Beth-Center, and probably won't be the last. The most well-known of this small group is Malissa Mort, who competed on the varsity a few years ago.
"People stare at me like I'm an alien," Cooper said. "You know they are talking about you when you see them point at you."
Besides Mort and Cooper, Beth-Center has had two other female wrestlers, Paige Price and Courtney Jenkins, both of whom competed at the youth level.
One of the more renowned female wrestlers in the area was Terri Harding, who competed for Waynesburg. Erin Tomeo of Grove City made the United States Olympic Team; Andrea Lyle was a middleweight for Quigley in 1999 and Lisa Bisers was a lightweight for Hampton also in the late '90s.
"I've seen women wrestlers, but I never wrestled one before," said Longstreth, who has a 49-31 career record. "It felt kind of awkward. I was nervous."
Cooper said some boys have refused to wrestle her. Last season, she compiled a 5-11 record on the junior varsity. She is still searching for her first competitive varsity victory. Cooper says she does not count forfeits as victories, though the PIAA does.
"She struggles with upper body strength," Nelson said. "It would be better if she was at 103 or 112 but she's not built that way. At 125, you wrestle a lot of juniors and seniors."
And sometimes, two-time state champions.
Cooper's most interesting matchup came this season against Derry. She was supposed to wrestle two-time state champion Troy Dolan but failed to make weight. Nelson put her at 130 for an exhibition bout but the Derry wrestler backed out.
"She works hard," Nelson said. "There is no quit in her."
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Blind female wrestler shines on the mat
By BRAD NORMAN
Record & Landmark
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Kelsey Hendrix doesn’t mind the questions.
In fact, she’s become quite used to it and readily answers them, often using that special type of razor-sharp bluntness reserved exclusively for teenagers.
The questions often vary, but one she won’t answer is when someone asks Kelsey - a wrestler at Lakeshore Middle School who was born blind - what she thinks other wrestlers think when they step onto the mat to wrestle her.
“I’m a wrestler, not a psychic,” Kelsey explained.
And a pretty darn good one.
When she’s not breaking down the obvious barriers that exist in the male-dominated sport, Kelsey is busy taking down her opponents on the mat.
She has won both of her matches so far, the product of an enthusiasm to learn the sport and an unwavering stream of support from her teammates and coaches.
“I’m pretty close with the guys,” Kelsey said. “They’re cool, especially the eighth-graders.”
Her inclusion on the team is evident.
When Kelsey emerges from her locker room, a pair of teammates rush to greet her and guide her to the corner where she’ll sit and chirp happily with teammates while the roll is called.
Afterward, she bustles out the door with the rest of the team to run laps (using a teammate’s arm to guide her) before learning and implementing moves later in the day.
Through conditioning and practice, Kelsey is there and works as hard as anybody else - and she’s not asking for favors.
“Just because I’m blind and a girl, they shouldn’t treat me differently,” she said.
Kelsey is certainly a key component of the Lakeshore team, according to head coach Bryan Chappell.
“She works hard and she’s done well. Everyone on the team is fantastic with her,” he said.
Kelsey has a lot of friends on the team, which was one of the reasons she decided to try out for the squad.
“I always wanted to try (wrestling), and I just decided one day to sign up,” Kelsey said. “My friends were always talking about it.”
It put Chappell - who is also Kelsey’s math teacher - in a unique situation.
“Kelsey never really talked about sign-ups,” the coach said. “One day she said she was interested. I was obviously nervous, but would never send anyone away. I’ve had a couple of girls sign up, but they never stuck with it.”
There are slight modifications for Kelsey’s matches. The main one dictates she and her opponent must be touching at all times.
Chappell and assistant coach Andy Harrison have also had to adjust their teaching methods slightly.
When teaching a move, Chappell and Harrison talk about the move and then demonstrate it.
After the coaches demonstrate the move for the team, “we would perform it or someone else performs it on her, and then she would do it to them,” Chappell said.
Kelsey’s hard work was rewarded earlier in the season when she got to wrestle in a meet for the first time - and she won handily.
“The excitement in the gym the day she won was awesome,” Chappell said. “The referee, the opposing coach ... everyone was excited.”
Everyone, including Kelsey herself.
“It’s awesome,” she said of winning. “The team’s proud, the coaches are proud of you and you’re proud of yourself.”
Her spotless record is a testament to the fact that she should not be taken lightly on the mats - she’s there to win.
“She’s pretty good at a bunch of moves and can catch other people by surprise,” Chappell said. “She feels pressure and uses it to her advantage.
“She feels what’s coming. She sees; she just sees in a different way.”
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By Joe Mason 1/11/07
Times Sports Editor
Constance Jennings Brosnan is your regular high school girl.
Known simply as "C.J." by her friends and family, the George Washington High School senior enjoys the things your typical 18-year-old girl would enjoy.
Upon waking in her Somerton home each morning and getting ready for school, Brosnan stands in front of her mirror, making sure her hair is done perfectly.
She makes sure to accessorize.
Then she heads to school and acts like the perfect lady.
Later in the evening she’ll rush home and head to the Boyle Recreation Center, where she teaches ballet to children. There are times when she’ll show up with a noticeable bruise, perhaps a slight limp, maybe even a black eye.
Teaching ballet isn’t that hazardous. But there are times when life as a high school wrestler can be.
Brosnan is the 103-pounder on the Washington High School wrestling team, which has 20 members. This is her first year in the circle, but it’s not her first year around the program.
Last year she served as the manager, keeping the stats, helping with the scoreboard and getting water and towels for the wrestlers.
This year she does just one thing for the team. She wrestles.
Brosnan has competed in three varsity matches so far. She has been pinned all three times, but each match has given her some insight on technique and strategy.
Brosnan doesn’t worry about it all that much. She’s glad to be competing and having fun.
"I love it. It’s such a great feeling to be out there," Brosnan said. "It’s scary, it’s a lot of hard work, a lot of running, a lot of drilling and really hard practices. But I still love it. I’m so glad I decided to give it a try."
If you’re the wrestler, those six minutes on the mat during a match can seem like an eternity. To build her stamina, Brosnan joins her male teammates and runs laps. In fact, she spends close to three hours every day, running, sweating, drilling and honing her ability.
Constance Jennings Brosnan doesn’t get special treatment because she’s not one of the boys.
"She’s a wrestler . . . a lot of times we forget she’s a girl," Washington coach Mike McKinney said. "You know how boys are, and sometimes when we’re at practice, the boys are talking like boys. You have to stop and say, ‘Hey, there’s a lady in the room.’
"But she doesn’t get any special treatment," the coach added. "She works just as hard as any guy. She’s still learning, but she’s done a great job so far.
McKinney recalls when Brosnan approached him about her desire to wrestle with the team.
"She came to me last year and told me she wanted to join," he said. "I knew she was a dedicated manager, so I was all for it — the guys were all for it too. I’m glad that’s how everyone felt."
Brosnan knows that her teammates respect her. She has the bruises to prove it.
As with all Public League sports, if there is no girls sport and a female athlete wants to compete, she’s eligible to play with the boys teams. Brosnan is the first Public League female wrestler to take the mat since Central had a female participant during the 2001 season.
"They treat me like their sister," Brosnan said of her teammates. "They’re all really cool about it, they don’t take it easy on me. I don’t want them to go easy on me because if they did, I’d never get better. I love being a part of this team, and I’m really happy the guys treat me like a teammate and not a girl teammate."
Washington High’s opponents may not be so welcoming. During the preseason, when the Eagles were wrestling teams from the suburbs, Brosnan heard that some of them were a little leery about grappling with a girl.
This can be . . . uh, a sensitive matter. Wrestling tends to put the combatants in provocative positions. And then there’s the matter of pride and reputation. A male wrestler who defeats a female wrestler does what he’s expected to do. But if he loses that match . . . transferring to another school might seem an appealing option.
Brosnan understands that, for the guy, the whole thing may seem like a no-win situation. You beat a girl . . . how macho! You don’t beat the girl . . . what a wimp!
"If I were a boy, I don’t think I’d want to wrestle a girl, so I know where those guys were coming from," Bronson said. "But I know how hard this girl is working and belongs out there.
"I’m not out there for any reason . . . I’m not trying to make a statement or anything like that, I just want to wrestle," she explained. "I just love competing."
She thinks it’s worth all the sacrifice.
Coming into the season, Brosnan, who stands 5-feet-6, weighed about 110 pounds. To make the weight class, she had to drop at least seven pounds to wrestle.
"Before I wrestled, I could eat whatever I wanted and I never really gained any weight," she said. "Making weight was the hardest part. I had to give up a lot of food, had to be a lot pickier."
On Jan. 5, Brosnan made her Public League debut.
In Washington’s 43-33 loss to Frankford, the 10-time defending Public League champs, Brosnan was pinned by the Pioneers’ Khalil Stokes in the second period of an entertaining bout.
During the tilt, Brosnan scored eight points before getting stuck. She also wasn’t just battling Stokes; she was battling a strong case of stomach butterflies.
"I puked before I went out and almost puked again during the match," she said with a smile. "I was just nervous. We had a good crowd, we were wrestling the best team . . . I think it really got me a little too excited."
Brosnan is happy to note that her father Pat is her biggest fan. C.J. is the youngest of three girls — she also has a younger brother — and she’s the only one who plays sports.
"My family thinks I’m a little crazy," Brosnan said. "My older sisters are both girlie-girls. My brother is a skateboarder. None of them played any sports.
"My dad comes to the matches, he loves it," she said. "My mom (Kate) thinks I’m crazy for wrestling, but she’s supportive. She knows I love it and she wants me to be happy."
Joining the wrestling team has done a lot for the 18-year-old. She sees it every time she gets ready for school in the morning . . . you know, when she’s doing her girlie routine.
"Sometimes I’ll look in the mirror and see muscles I never knew I had," Brosnan said.
She has endurance, too. And she seemingly has the respect of her teammates.
Now, she just wants to win.
Just cracking Washington’s lineup is an achievement, and right now she’s penciled in as the team’s starter. But it would be nice to get that hand raised in triumph.
"I really want to win a match, and I think if I keep getting better, I have a real shot," she said. "I think it helps so much that I have the support of the guys on the team. They’ve been so good about me being here. It means a lot that they support me and they treat me like a wrestler. I’m just one of the guys."
Almost.
A few years ago, McKinney instituted a rule that wrestlers must wear a shirt and tie on days the team wrestles. Brosnan doesn’t have to follow that dress code.
"I always look pretty," Brosnan joked. ••
Sports editor Joe Mason can be reached at 215-354-3035 or jmason@phillynews.com