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'JUST ANOTHER WRESTLER'; SHE MAKES HER MARK IN MALE-DOMINATED
SPORT
Wisconsin State Journal
December 21, 2000
Some will call Nella Bernadoni a trailblazer. Inevitably, some also will say
the Darlington High School freshman should not be doing what has become
second nature to her.
Bernadoni isn't tangled up in all the labels and philosophies; she just
wants to be like everyone else on her team.
''I just consider myself another wrestler,'' she said.
While Bernadoni, 14, is the first girl to make the varsity squad for the
Redbirds, girls are increasingly common on prep wrestling teams. Last year,
nearly 3,000 girls competed on boys teams across the country, including
about 100 in Wisconsin.
But Bernadoni is one of the most talented girls to hit the mats in this
state.
As an eighth-grader last season, she finished fifth at 106 pounds in the
high school division of the United States Girls Wrestling Association
national championships. This season, she is ranked fifth at 106 pounds by
the USGWA and 10th at 103 by Female High School Wrestler.com.
''I'm definitely anticipating that she will be productive over her four
years,'' Darlington coach Tom Mathias said.
''Technique-wise, she's a good-looking freshman. She's got things to learn
and she's got time to mature . . . but I would tend to think that by the
time she's done she could be the best female wrestler from the state of
Wisconsin. That's maybe a lot of pressure to put on a freshman, but that's
what I think of her.''
Wrestling at 103 pounds, the 5-foot-1, 100-pound Bernadoni has a 5-2 record
with four pins for the Redbirds.
One of those pins came in Friday's 36-33 win over state-ranked Fennimore,
which was Darlington's first Southwest Wisconsin Athletic League Division 2
dual-meet victory in five years. She won the Silver Division title at the
Waunakee Invitational last weekend with a 3-1 record -- all of her victories
were by pin -- and went 3-0 to win a junior varsity tournament earlier in
the season.
''I don't look at her as male or female; all along I've looked at her as
someone who can help the team,'' said Mathias, who has coached Bernadoni in
the Darlington youth wrestling program for seven years.
''We have had a hard time filling the lower weights, so Nella was a godsend.
She can fill one of those spots and get some wins for us, and even if she
doesn't win, she probably won't get pinned.''
In wrestling, teams receive six points for a pin, six points for a forfeit
and three points for a decision. ''Even if I do get pinned, it's still just
the points lost for a forfeit,'' said Bernadoni, who counts her older
brothers, senior Jeve and sophomore Silas, as teammates.
''The team accepts her really well, pretty much nobody has any problem with
her. Everybody has been pretty supportive,'' said Jeve Bernadoni, a
135-pounder for the Redbirds. ''We're glad to have her.''
Bernadoni had some foes choose to forfeit rather than wrestle her during
junior high school competition, but she hasn't encountered any protests from
opponents in high school. Before the season, Mathias took aside Bernadoni
and 119-pound junior Barb Richards, who is on Darlington's junior varsity
team, and told them they might run into some awkward situations.
''I told them they're in a male-dominated sport and they're going to have to
work twice as hard as anybody else, be better conditioned, work on building
strength, because there's not one boy out there that wants to lose to
them,'' he said. ''(The boys) are either going to be afraid of them or
they're going to want to crush them. That's just the way it is.''
For Bernadoni, having Richards to practice with has been helpful, despite
the weight difference. ''This is the first time I've ever had another girl
to practice with,'' Bernadoni said.
And it appears more girls are getting involved in wrestling. Three other
Wisconsin girls are nationally ranked, and Bernadoni will likely face
another girl, Prairie du Chien junior Holly Lange, in a dual-meet tournament
at Prairie du Chien on Jan. 13.
''I think there are a few more girls every year,'' said Bernadoni, one of
about 10 girls in the youth program in Darlington. ''I don't know if it will
ever be its own sport, but for the bigger girls, I think if they knew they
would only have to wrestle against girls, they might do that more.
''If there was girls wrestling, I think a lot of weight classes could be
filled. Right now at the bigger weights, girls don't go out because they
know they would get killed.''
And in a strange twist, that would be something that might take Bernadoni a
little while to get used to. After all, she's always wrestled boys. ''I've
always considered it normal. Last year, it was a big change to wrestle
against girls,'' she said of competing in the national tournament in
Michigan.
Of course, she wouldn't mind having more girls out there with her.
''I'd say to (other girls), go ahead and try it,'' she said. ''You're only
going to get positive things out it, and it's a wonderful thing.''
Although she calls herself "another wrestler," freshman Nella Bernadoni is
ranked fifth at 106 pounds by the United States Girls Wrestling Association
and 10th at 103 by Female High School Wrestler.com
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Wrestling tightens hold on high school girls
By LORI D. ROBERTS
Staff Writer- Neighbors/The state
Kayla Henry said she would become a high school wrestler. And she did.
"It's actually fun, until I get hurt," said Kayla, 14.
Kayla, a freshman at Richland Northeast High School, was introduced to wrestling in June. She attended a wrestling camp at Dent Middle School, sponsored by the Richland County Sheriff's Department and directed by then-deputy David Soto, RNE's wrestling coach.
Kayla vowed then to try out for her high school team.
That's no surprise to Kent Bailo, founder and president of U.S. Girls Wrestling Association, based in Michigan. Kayla is one of a growing number of high school girls across the country who have chosen the mat as their playing field. At least one female wrestler has preceded Kayla at RNE, as have others in Richland 2 and schools around South Carolina.
"It's so common nowadays it's not a big deal at all," Bailo said, noting Texas and Hawaii have girls' varsity wrestling teams. "But it's regional."
Bailo said his association plans to increase the number of girls' state championship tournaments it sponsors next year. A South Carolina tournament is tentatively planned for March at Dreher High School and would be open to wrestlers from North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.
"Wrestling is a natural for girls as a self-defense mechanism, and it's also a great fitness activity that is as good as or better than aerobic workouts or that Tae-Bo stuff that's so popular now," Bailo said.
"It's only natural to have this event for both sexes."
RNE's Soto agrees.
"There are a lot of coaches who are reluctant to have girls wrestle because of the gender issue," Soto said. "It's a male-dominant sport. There are concessions that must be made."
In her first official match at Ridge View High School last week, Kayla's opponent "found out pretty fast that the 'little girl' wasn't easy to take down," said John Floyd, RNE's assistant wrestling coach, who as a high school wrestler in Conway a decade ago wrestled Wando High School's homecoming queen.
Kayla lost the match, but she said "it was good experience to wrestle somebody I don't know."
Kayla wrestles in the 103 weight class, weighing in either before or after the area is clear of male wrestlers. She also uses a separate locker room.
"But we don't treat her any differently in any other way," Soto said. "She's just like any other wrestlers. No special provisions."
Kayla, a former gymnast, likes it that way.
"I think it's nice that I'm the only girl," she said.
Her coaches say Kayla is so serious about wrestling and the conditioning it requires, she often has to be reminded to rest her injuries, which for wrestlers typically are in the ankle and shoulder.
Kayla's mom, Regina Henry, is her daughter's No. 1 fan. Even so, Henry said, "it kind of felt like I got three or four additional gray hairs" watching Kayla's first match.
At first, she was concerned about people's reactions to her daughter. "But when she hits the mat, she's like everybody else out there," Henry said. "They are even."
Henry said Kayla's teammates treat her with respect. "They take good care of her. They treat her like a little sister."
Kayla often practices with Mykel Diggins, a second-year wrestler who acknowledges some surprise at Kayla's skill as a rookie.
"It's my second year," he said, cautioning, "that's the only reason."
Henry said she and Kayla remain focused on Kayla's ability to handle her academics in Info-Link, RNE's technology-based magnet program, and her sport.
"She knows she has a job to do when it comes to both things," Henry said.
Kayla plans to continue the balancing act of hitting the books and hitting the mat.
"I'll try out again next year," she said.
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