Girls’ Wrestling Embarks on Rookie Season

Coaching The Team

Waukee has added girls’ wrestling to its sports program. This team is made up of girls from Waukee High School, Waukee Northwest High School, ADM, and Van Meter. Another name for this team is the Raccoon River Wrestling program, and they will be competing in the 2022-2023 school year. 

Head coach James Biscoglia and assistant coach Joseph Burch are what help bring this team to a win.“I enjoy seeing the kids grow through the sport,” Biscoglia stated. He said that he loves coaching wrestling because “every wrestler who sticks through four years of high school wrestling comes through it with a greater sense of self-motivation and self-awareness.” Biscoglia wrestled throughout high school and college and was looking to pay back what he got out of it and it motivated him to become a coach for the sport. When asked what’s the most challenging part of coaching he responded, “There is a learning curve in wrestling so both the hardest and most rewarding part of the sport is getting kids through that learning curve.”

Wrestlers’ Experience 

One of the members of the team, Timberline freshman Calista Rodish, is looking forward to a great season. “I love that it betters me as a person and it’s a very fun sport for me to keep me busy all the time,” Calista stated. Calista has had a great season so far, winning her weight class at the Northwest Invitational January 14 and Colfax-Mingo January 21.

Both of her parents were involved in wrestling, her mom being an MMA fighter all of Calista’s life and her dad being a high school state champ. Her older sister also wrestled in high school, and dedication to the sport continued to run in the family and motivate Calista. 

When asked about her favorite wrestling move, Calista said, “a right collar tie to a low-level sweep single.” Her favorite memory of competing in this sport was going to Colorado with her national traveling team and wrestling in a black light-in-the-dark tournament. 

Ways To Grow The Team

Girls’ wrestling has just been brought to Waukee this year. This is the first year the state of Iowa has made this a stand-alone activity; all of the girls on the team used to have to compete on a boys’ team and now they finally have their own. Waukee wants to work on growing the team and shining more light on it, ways to keep up with this sport is by checking their Twitter. In the future, we will see lots of events getting posted online and hopefully getting a girls’ wrestling meet at the high school. 

“I hope to see girls’ wrestling similar to all of the other sports here at Waukee,” activity director Eric Boyle stated when asked where he thinks the sport will be in the near future. The main challenges of this sport are pushing through the mental barriers, pushing yourself to be the best you can be, and always being open to growing. Not every meet is going to be a good meet, and that’s okay because it allows the team to develop and work together. 

The 2023 girls’ wrestling state tournament is scheduled for February 2nd and 3rd in Coralville. Last year’s tournament had 700 girls competing from 160 schools in the state, and the sport is expected to grow.