By: Maya Magaña
Last year the Granada Hills Charter (GHC) wrestling team traveled to Burbank High School to compete against three schools. The girls won every match they wrestled. Despite their achievements, they didn’t win because only three girls represented GHC, while the competing schools had full rosters.
Wrestling is one of the oldest sports, tracing back to 3000 BCE. However, it is often referred to as “a man’s sport” and is male-dominated.
Women’s wrestling has often been overlooked despite becoming one of the country’s fastest-growing high school sports. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, participation has grown from roughly 12,000 girls a decade ago to nearly 89,000 during the 2025–26 school year.
Over the past few years, GHC’s wrestling team has struggled in numbers, with its 2025-2026 season having only five girls compete. Annually, almost 100 boys try out for wrestling, while the girls’ team has less than half of a full roster. The presumption that wrestling is a boys’ sport remains strong in today’s culture. It’s been a common conversation between teammates as to why there is such a large stigma surrounding wrestling.
“There’s this weird ideology where joining wrestling somehow makes you inherently more masculine than other girls, when that’s not necessarily the case and you wouldn’t say that about any other sport,” senior and co-captain Gracie Sanchez said.
Because of this presumption, many girls feel like participating in wrestling devalues them as women.
Wrestling is critiqued for its intimate nature, but that closeness helps build bonds that can only be found in a contact sport.
“I love these people,” Sanchez said. “They’ve all sweat on the mat as I have, bled on the mat as I have. We’ve seen each other lose and win, seen each other at our highest and then lowest and yet we’re always there for each other the next day.”
This year, a total of 10 girls tried out for the team, including both returning and new wrestlers. Four girls graduate this year, practically cutting the team in half. The team posts information on campus and on social media to recruit more wrestlers. Anyone can try out, and no one will be cut for being “weak” or “bad.” The team prides itself on accepting people from all backgrounds
Senior Amelia Verceles emphasized the need for attitudes to change.
“If you still believe that women shouldn’t be strong, it’s time to get out of the 18th century,” Verceles said.
