** Disclaimer: There is no Edgemont Girl’s Wrestling Team. There is an Edgemont Wrestling Team which is technically co- ed, and has a separate “Girl’s Division.”
Edgemont is known for its wrestling team. Of late, the sport has gained popularity among not only male but also female students. In neighboring schools, girls wrestling has also caught on..
A few weeks ago the Scarsdale Inquirer published an article about the Scarsdale High School girls who are on their schools wrestling team. The article spoke about how more and more girls have been wrestling for their schools as of recently. The article also gave shoutouts to Edgemont girl wrestlers, Janice Lin and Daisy Gilmore.
In an interview with tenth-grader, Daisy Gilmore, I learned that even though more have become interested in girls wrestling as of this year, girls from Edgemont and other schools still wrestled on their school’s male team in past years. I was also informed by Janice Lin that, within the Edgemont Wrestling team, there is a girl’s division. Girls who have wrestled for the Edemont team in the past and currently wrestle under the Girl’s Division.
However, this does not mean that Edgemont girls and other female wrestlers don't wrestle boys from time to time. The next step involves establishing an Edgemont Girls Wrestling team if enough were interested.
This year will be Daisy's first year on the team. Janice Lin, an eleventh grader has been on the team since tenth grade. Stephanie Kornberg, an Edgemont graduate who wrestled in previous years, introduced Daisy to the sport. Before wrestling, Daisy said she used to practice Brazilian jiu jitsu and boxing for about a year before she started to practice wrestling.
Stephanie immersed her in wrestling by bringing her to a local wrestling club in Westchester, GPS. Many students from Edgemont and neighboring schools like Scarsdale HIgh School go to GPS for wrestling practice. Because GPS receives so many participants from competing
schools, the wrestling community in Westchester County is very close-knit and welcoming.
When Daisy first went to GPS, she met other girls who wrestled in the area, and was surprised to find out that so many girls wrestled.
The trend has led to rumors that some schools, including Edgemont, might start their own girl’s wrestling team if there are enough schools to compete with one another. The girls division in wrestling has also been encouraging more girls to join.
After hearing from Daisy, many girls signaled an interest in wrestling at Edgemont this year even though the season has already started. However, there is still, of course, a drastic disparity in the number of boys and girls on Edgemont’s wrestling team.
Wrestling being a co-ed sport can be a bit of an awkward topic, as that brings up some reasonable questions: Is it appropriate for girls and boys to wrestle each other because of the genetic height, weight, and muscle mass differences? Is it appropriate for them to wrestle each other also due to the fact that wrestling is a very close contact sport?
Daisy confirmed that awkwardness is a given when it comes to co-ed wrestling, but it is also a given when it comes to wrestling in general. This is because of how close wrestlers will get when competing. This is why only a few girls are interested in wrestling. Daisy claimed, “It takes a certain level of comfortability to wrestle.” Daisy said that she feels comfortable this year on the team, which may be primarily due the fact that she had been taking boxing and jiu jitsu lessons for more than a year before trying out for the team.
While Daisy was not worried necessarily about close contact while competing, she was worried about making friends. “I was a little scared about not being accepted into the (wrestling) community, because it is so small, and including me, there is only one other girl on the team (Janice).” But, a pleasant surprise to Daisy was that she made friends very quickly and feels more than welcomed in the Edgemont wrestling community. She has especially become close with her fellow teammate, Janice Lin.
What’s more, both Daisy and Janice assured me that they still has the same opportunities when it comes to competing and therefore advancing (to All-States, etc.). With the increased interest in girls wrestling, both Janice and Daisy have found they have been paired with more girls than they have boys. If they were to be paired with any boys, they would be ones similar to them in size and capability.
As it turns out, The Edgemont Wrestling Team is really welcoming to all.
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