Jasmine Mian, left, is in for one busy summer, but she wouldn't have it any other way. The 17-year-old Innisdale Secondary School student will be stepping onto the mat to wrestle at the Junior World Championships in Beijing, China, this August.
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GH's Kaffenberger 7th at national wrestling tournament
Grand Haven Publishing 4/26/07
Three Grand Haven High School students competed in the U.S. Girls Nationals wrestling meet, held in Livonia on March 31 and April 1.
The highlight of the meet came at 130 pounds, where junior Cindy Kaffenberger advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Samantha Phillips of Manteca, Calif.
Kaffenberger advanced to the consolation round, where she lost to Brittney Dell of Ashtabula, Ohio, before pinning Melissa Soderblom of Newton, Iowa in 1 minute, 58 seconds to claim seventh place. The top 12 wrestlers in each weight class receive All-American status.
Kaffenberger said she could have wrestled a smarter match against Dell.
"I tried a move that I usually don't use and it came back to haunt me as she got out of it, catching me on my back in the process," she said. "As soon as it was over I could hear (Grand Haven high school coach James Richardson's) voice in my head telling me what went wrong with the move I was doing and how to do it right the next time."
Sophomore Molly Boersma went 2-2 at 100 pounds while junior Alyssa Anderson finished 2-2 at 105 pounds.
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Mian wrestling with world travel; Barrie's Mian heading to Beijing this summer for junior world's
Dan Charuk
Sports - Thursday, April 26, 2007 @ 07:00
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Jasmine Mian, left, is in for one busy summer, but she wouldn't have it any other way. The 17-year-old Innisdale Secondary School student will be stepping onto the mat to wrestle at the Junior World Championships in Beijing, China, this August. |
Jasmine Mian will be racking up the frequent flyer miles this summer.
The 17-year-old Innisdale Secondary School student will be stepping onto the mat to wrestle at the Junior World Championships in Beijing, China, this August, following a brief stop over in the Czech Republic for training camp in July.
It's a good thing she's not afraid of flying.
"There's not going to be a lot of time to rest," Mian said. "I'm really excited, though. I never thought I'd make the junior national team still being a juvenile. To go to all of these places is going to be awesome. I've heard so much about Prague, and not too many kids can say they've been to Beijing. It's so exciting."
Although both destinations have their own allure, Mian is looking forward to going to China the most. Getting to experience the culture there and wrestle for Canada are two things she can't wait to do.
"Plus it's going to be held in the same venue as the 2008 Olympics," Mian said. "It will be so cool to see what it's going to be like, and it will put a little more perspective on what going to the Olympics would be like."
With first-place finishes at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations and junior national championships to go with a silver at the juvenile national championships, Mian is on top of her game heading into the world's.
She feels like this is the best she's ever wrestled.
"I think this has been one of my most successful years," she said. "I've settled into my age division, and, technically, I've been getting better. My coaching has been really good, too. Everything has just meshed together, and it's been working well."
The key now though is taking a little bit of time off. Having just come off the two national championship events, there are plenty of little bumps and bruises that need some time to heal up before she goes into full training mode to get ready for the world's.
"I'm taking a couple of weeks break," she said. "I'm running a bit with the track team at my school and doing some fun stuff. I will be back in training in three or four weeks though."
Mian will need that training in order to be ready to face girls up to four years older than her at the world's. That doesn't bother her, though.
Being the underdog allows Mian to come in relaxed and without any pressure on her. That's when she feels she wrestles her best.
"Being so young, there's not a lot of pressure on me," Mian said. "I also perform better when I'm the underdog. I'll just be able to go in and wrestle, and that's the best mentality you can have going into the tournament.
"I just think that it's a good opportunity to see what the international scene is like. That way, when I'm that age, I'll have a leg up knowing what to expect."
There is a price to pay for heading to China and the Czech Republic. The team doesn't receive much in the way of funding, so a lot of it falls on the athletes and their families to help support their ventures.
The Kempenfelt Bay Wrestling Club, which Mian is a part of, will be holding a charity car wash at the Petro Canada station on Bayfield Street and Cundles Road, Saturday, June 2, to help raise funds for all of its wrestlers who will be representing the club at various competitions.