Trish Stratus, Mickie James, Chyna, Awesome Kong and Lita.  What do all of these people have in common?  They are all famous women wrestlers. Kayla Grubb, sophomore, hopes to one day join these “influential and strong women who have paved the way and changed the way female wrestlers are viewed.”
Grubb is hoping to accomplish this feat by continuing to wrestle throughout her stay at Athens Drive. This past winter she was the only female in this usually male-dominant sport.
“I was kind of like the sacrificial lamb, so the other guys wouldn’t have to wrestle a girl.  If there was a varsity girl wrestling on the opposing team then I wrestled varsity.  If there were Junior Varsity (JV) girls wrestling on the opposite team then I wrestled JV.  But in general, since there weren’t too many girls, I wrestled JV and competed against boys,” said Grubb.
According to Grubb’s coach, Sean Finkbeiner, Grubb is the first female wrestler to be on the team since he started coaching three years ago.
“It was tougher for her because she was the only girl on the team.  She had to practice with the boys in order to learn the correct technique,” said Finkbeiner.
The match that most stood out in Finkbeiner’s mind is when she wrestled a male from Cary.  Kayla Grubb lost this match 2-1 but improved based off of this defeat.
“This match was one of Kayla’s best matches because after that match she started believing in herself,” said Finkbeiner.
One of Grubb’s idols is Kayla Miracle, who was named the USA wrestling Athlete of the year.  One day Grubb hopes to be as good as her.  She plans on accomplishing this goal by continuing to wrestle at Athens Drive as well as hoping to do this sport professionally.
“I will take any opportunity that comes my way.  I like this sport because I really wanted to prove to people who said I couldn’t do it or that I wouldn’t make it past one practice wrong.  When you hear wrestling you automatically think males.  But females can do it too,” said Grubb.
As a female wrestler, Grubb had to face and overcome many stereotypes, some even being from her teammates.  People thought she would not be able to complete the whole season, but she did.
“It was actually sort of funny whenever I wrestled a guy. I would always hear his teammates say, ‘You better not let a girl beat you.’  If I did beat them they would get really upset.  It was probably embarrassing for them,” said Grubb.
Grubb considers herself “one of the guys now.” She is very confident because she knows that she did her best and cannot wait to try out again next year.