In 1972, wrestling, a traditionally male-dominated sport, became open to U.S. high school girls. While only a few schools hosted their first ever girls wrestling meet back then, today, girls wrestling has become one of the fastest-growing sports in U.S. high school. Nonetheless, many girls are discouraged to join due to the male-dominated stigma that still plagues the sport. In New Jersey, PHS girls wrestler Ava Rose ’23 is currently one of the most promising high school wrestling talents. In her five years of wrestling, Rose has shown great resilience and talent for the sport. Last month, she proved to everyone that hard work and grit can amount to success by winning the New Jersey Wrestling State Championships for the third time.

How long have you been wrestling for and what encouraged you to start wrestling?

“I’ve been wrestling for five years. My older brother didn’t like it, but I used to come and watch his practices, so I started in 7th grade. My two [younger] brothers Cole and Forest wrestle too.”

What have been your biggest accomplishments in wrestling so far?

“My biggest accomplishment has to be winning the State [Championship] because that was my biggest goal, what I most wanted to achieve. I trained really hard for that, so I’m definitely most proud of that. The very first match of the tournament was on the same mat that I was pinned on last year, kind of deja vu. I didn’t want it to end the same way. During [the match], I almost got stuck on my back during a cradle, but I told myself that it wouldn’t end like last year, and I won the game.”

Why do you think that girls should try wrestling?

“I think that everybody should do wrestling. It’s a really great sport because it teaches you responsibility while also meeting new people and making friends. The effort you put in is the results you put out. Girls wrestling is a growing sport, and soon there will be teams in college, so it’s important that girls join to keep the sport growing.”

Do you feel that girls may feel pressured not to play in high-contact sports, and if so, why?

“I definitely think there’s a weird stigma around it. I personally like playing co-ed with boys, but I think a lot of girls may find wrestling against boys as weird. Some people think that wrestling is too tough for girls, which I dont think is true at all. It’s a male-dominated sport, so a lot of people won’t think that they fit in, but wrestling is accepting of anyone.”

Do you think that girls wrestling is being promoted enough? And if not, how can it be?

“On a public level, I think it’s being promoted enough. What I think matters though is that on [an administrative] level it’s not talked about as much and it’s not seen as urgent. I believe that girls wrestling is important to include in college, but [the administration] making decisions [about sports] don’t really care.”

What are your hopes for the future of girls wrestling?

“For me, I hope that next year a lot of college girl teams will open up because I want to wrestle division I in college. There [are] only a few girls teams that wrestle division one but they are at [competitive] schools, so I want it to be more of a [collegiate] sport. Most colleges mainly have clubs right now [for girls wrestling], so I hope [collegiate girls wrestling] opens up so I can have a good college to go to.”