Wrestling To Find Balance

     Her journey into wrestling started in second grade. Sophomore Ellie Marrah’s family participated in the sport, so she continued the tradition.

     “When I was in second grade, my whole family had done it,” Marrah said. “So I just thought I’d follow in my dad’s footsteps.”  

     She grew to love and enjoy the sport, continuing to her high school years, but in her earliest years of wrestling, there were no “boy and girl” teams. She said it was a struggle wrestling with only boys.

 “I was in a wrestling room with all boys, and I didn’t have any girls to wrestle, and it was really hard because they were always stronger,” Marrah said. “So it’s really hard to stay in love with the sport when you’re always getting beat.”

Although it was hard wrestling with boys, it also taught her many things about the sport, skills she uses today in girls wrestling.

 “It was interesting, but they definitely made me like them a lot better, and I am still close with a lot of them because they’ve had such a big impact on how I play now,” Marrah said.

She said her experiences with high school wrestling have been different than before since she’s on the girls team. 

“It’s kind of different, but I think that it’s a lot harder to actually wrestle with girls because not a lot of them stick through the sport, so we’re always changing a lot,” Marrah said. “I do think it’s better because you can bond with the girls a lot easier.”

It became pretty hard to balance school, cheer and wrestling, but throughout that time she had support from her parents. 

     “When I first started wrestling they were probably my biggest supporters,” Marrah said. “My dad just always being there and coaching me really helped me throughout the whole thing. He’s always a shoulder I can turn to, and my mom showed up to everything she could.”

Although she knew having her parents by her side was a privilege, it didn’t stop the struggle between school and the sport. 

     “We were about to go to state. I just didn’t have the work ethic,” Marrah said. “I didn’t feel like doing school; I didn’t feel like working hard in practice; I didn’t feel like doing anything. I just felt like giving up on everyone and everything. Just really struggling with getting the energy I needed.”

Balancing wrestling and school was one of her biggest struggles, but she found a way to handle the stress.

     “Definitely trying to focus on myself a little bit more,” Marrah said. “You’ve always got to take time to yourself and not overwork it.” 

     Although wrestling has been one of the toughest experiences of her life, she said it has also been the greatest.