ALFRED, N.Y. (WKBW) — Over the past few years, women's sports has gained more popularity and recognition than it ever has.
Just this year alone, we've seen multiple record-breaking events that caught the nation's attention. Iowa Women's Basketball — playing in front of over 55,000 fans, Nebraska Women's Volleyball — selling out a crowd of over 98,000 fans and the WNBA Finals — breaking attendance and viewership records.
The idea that "no one watches women's sports" is simply not true. As the advocacy for and commitment to excelling women's sports reaches a national level, it's helping pave the way for younger athletes to find their place in a sport.
Alfred State is leading the charge in excelling women's sports here in New York State as the school launched its women's wrestling program, the first in the SUNY school system. Next year, Buffalo State will be joining the Alfred State as the second-active SUNY program.
This a very unique program. Along with the team being the first of its kind in SUNY, there are a list of firsts with this team. First time wrestlers, like Sophomore Judiely Ventura.
She's a transfer student from The Bronx and has never participated on an athletic team before. Neither has she lived away from home. The idea of joining a team of some sort, was just what she needed.
"What better way to have a family away from family, a home away from home than joining a sports team," Ventura said. "Now some of these girls have become my close friends here."
Freshman and Albany native AJ Osterhout is having a very similar experience as Judiely. She has never been on an athletic team. She tried wrestling in middle school, but gender norms derailed her from sticking with the sport.
"I tried out for the boy's team and the second I walked into that room, I was immediately intimidated and I didn't feel welcomed." Osterhout said.
Fast forward to now, she is a collegiate athlete. The NCAA does not have statistics for Division III women's wrestling, but only 1.2% of men's wrestlers go on to participate in Division III men's wrestling. There are only 152 collegiate women's wrestling programs in the country as well.
"This has like majorly increased it in my self-confidence," Osterhaut said. "I walk around campus knowing that people know I’m a wrestler, and they have some degree of respect."
It was in no plan at all for either Osterhout or Ventura to become collegiate athletes.
For Freshman and Niagara Falls native Ethe Hemphill, it was a little different. She wrestled on the boy's wrestling team at Niagara Falls High School. She decided to forego pursuing an athletic career to attend Alfred State. When Hemphill found out about the team forming, it solidified her choice to attend Alfred.
"It was honestly just fate. I had no idea there was going to be a wrestling team here," Hemphill said. "I was so enthusiastic. It would've been sad if I couldn't wrestle [in college]."
Although Hemphill has wrestled before, this is her first time on an all women's squad.
"Transitioning from an all boys team to an all girls team was a very interesting experience. I was always comfortable," Hemphill said. "But I will say, being able to relate more with my teammates with different experiences like womanhood really helped me to become more comfortable here really quickly."
Even as an experienced wrestler, Hemphill says she continues to learn from her fellow teammates everyday.
"There are things they have taught me in their first few months of wrestling that I just didn't know," Hemphill said. "Whether that be mentally, socially, in the wrestling room, they've just been helping me."
All three wrestlers described this team as a family. In sports, or any team, the type of culture put in place is usually what propels a team forward or sets a team back.
Head Coach Margaret Laine made sure coming into this job that she created more than just a team.
"I was asked to build a team. And the way that I interpreted that as this first year, build the foundation." Laine said. "We do wrestling. That’s my vehicle to change their lives in a positive way so that they can go out and change other women’s lives."
Laine joins Alfred State from a high school position with a Co-Ed team back in Washington State. This will be her first time serving as a head coach for any program. As a second generation wrestler — one who wrestled with a boy's team and girl's team — she felt giving back to the sport she loved and helping advance it was her calling.
"I am so honored," Laine said. "My call to action is to empower women so my women 2, 3, 4 years down the line walk away with the tools to live a healthy life. Then to also use our platform as a NCAA Division III team to contribute abundantly to the growth of women's wrestling."
Every sport is more than a game and a match. It's about inclusivity, accessibility, growth, passion and the love for the game. Ventura said it best — the past is the past, the future is now. As women's wrestling continues to be one of the fastest growing sports in the country, it is now becoming a sport for all.
"I think the time where men can only do certain things and women can’t do what men do, I think we’re over that time. And it’s time that we join in."
