On Saturday, July 4, 2026, it will have been 250 years since the Declaration of Independance was signed.
Just prior to that in 1776, Abigail Adams wrote a letter urging husband John Adams to “remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors” in the new American nation. It took most of those 250 years, but Abigail would finally be proud of girls wrestling.
She’d love the fact that women now combine spirit, toughness and perseverance to create flourishing — but still united — communities from coast to coast. And that the pioneering will never end, even if it sometimes still takes too long.
“If you have a daughter who shows any interest in wrestling, find a room,” Clyde girls wrestling coach Adam Greenslade said. “Find a club. Get her in it. If you have a girl with the slightest bit of athletic ability and is tough and perseveres, they’re going to be successful.
“You’ll meet a girl just as new as you. If you’re mean and tough and you put in the time, you can have success.”
Girls wrestling may have exploded in recent years, but individuals started to make inroads long ago. Nena (Garcia) Cauda, who graduated from Clyde in 2005, competed on the boys team for the Fliers and earned two letters.
She was then twice an All-American at the University of Cumberlands in Kentucky and she finished fourth at the World Team Trials in 2009. She was part of the first wave of girls to break barriers and compete, establishing a necessary example.
“Without them doing what they did, when they did it, I don’t know where we’d be at today,” Greenslade said.
Clyde sophomore Meredith Greenslade, who qualified to state twice, wrestled boys until high school. That will no longer be the case for many girls.
From 1995-2001, the numbers for girls wrestling tripled, according to Greenslade. From 2011-2015, there were 15,000 girls. Girls compete on an Ohio national team, at national duals and at Fargo.
Coaches want the next step to be a second division for girls.
“As we grow, and figure it out, girls are still blazing a trail for ladies to follow,” Fremont Ross coach Jen Long said. “More schools will start programs. More girls will see it. The NCAA officially sanctioned girls wrestling last season. More colleges will start programs.
“There’s a ripple effect.”
Between 2,500 and 3,000 girls started wrestling in Ohio each of the last two years, according to Long. Still, the sport remains a secret to many people.
Women were finally allowed to vote in 1920 and Title IX arrived in the 1970s.
“We’re still in a fight,” she said. “We’re not at the beginning, but people in Fremont still don’t know it exists. There’s still a lack of awareness girls wrestling is a thing. When you think about women’s history, we went through battles for simple things. We’re still fighting and persevering for a fair shot.”
The OHSAA sanctions a state tournament for girls wrestling in conjunction with the boys. The Northern Lakes League added a conference tournament last season for the girls.
Competing alongside the boys put the girls in the same spotlight. Younger sisters there to support their brothers saw girls on the mat.
Community for girls wrestling a unique place
It’s not uncommon for girls to battle then hug following a match.
“All the girls have this camaraderie among them doing something new,” Greenslade said. “On the national stage, they know each other from other states and they interact and support each other. Wrestling develops close ties. It’s a grueling, challenging sport.”
Adams would likely appreciate something else about girls wrestling: the independence.
Either you put in the work or you didn’t. You can’t pass the ball and nobody can block for you. It’s a very public way to experience winning and losing. You have to be prepared for the stage and the outcome.
Often, girls come from wrestling families. They are finally allowed to wrestle themselves.
Faith is also a component for many programs. Rudis, a Marysville company, supplies wrestling equipment nationally and sponsors the mats at the Ohio state tourney.
Long reminds her girls that iron sharpens iron, which comes from a verse in the bible. You’re only as good as your practice partner.
“Faith over fear” is this year’s Rudis slogan. Ross girls lead a prayer before meets and often again before matches.
“You have to have a strong base, a solid support system,” Long said. “A lot of girls are very religious and support each other.”
There’s still room on the girls wrestling wagon
Greenslade still encounters grandmothers and mothers who don’t think women should wrestle. He directs them to learn about the success stories and testimony from Amit Elor, Sarah Hillebrandt, Helen Maroulis and Adeline Gray.
“It’s 2026,” he said. “We should support girls in whatever they want to do. Let her wrestle.”
Greenslade has seen many girls come out of their shell with all eyes on them. Some of those who were leery later approached Greenslade again.
Wrestling completely changed their daughters. You don’t walk into a wrestling room the first time and know how to wrestle. It’s awkward to learn the sport, but confidence and socialization are essential and coaches love to see them blossom.
Long has a form her girls must sign. One of the lines in that form?: Are you comfortable being physically manipulated by male coaches? The demonstration of certain techniques requires physical contact to teach.
“I’m adamant at the beginning that the girls feel comfortable in the wrestling room,” Long said. “It helps with me being a female. I’m not out there every practice, but I am out there. We’ve had one holdout. They changed their mind. ‘I need that.'”
Many Americans of old wished to blaze a trail. Today’s pathfinders in wrestling most often simply want opportunities to truly compete.
There remains one frontier Greenslade wants to reach — when wrestling is similar to basketball. No novelty, just the girls side of a sport.
“There’s some sense of responsibility to encourage more girls to do it,” Greenslade said. “But it takes a certain person to do it. They’re not just wrestling to wrestle. You have to be more than a pioneer. You have to have the mentality to stay in it.
“The mentality to win. They’re not just girls who wrestle, they’re wrestlers who are girls.”
mhorn@gannett.com
419-307-4892
X: @MatthewHornNH
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: America, girls wrestling in Ohio can each celebrate independence
Reporting by Matthew Horn, Fremont News-Messenger / Fremont News-Messenger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Matthew Horn, Fremont News-Messenger | USA TODAY Network
