The Wrestling team’s Alyssa Moore is currently a senior as well as the captain and only member of the Girl’s Wrestling team. She is currently wrestling out her last year as part of the Shorecrest team. With the final season looming over, Moore hopes to grab a place at the Regionals and State competitions.

Highland Piper(HP): So, how long have you been in wrestling?

Alyssa Moore: I’ve been wrestling since I was in the eighth grade and I’m a senior this year so this is going to be my fifth year.

HP: Why did you join wrestling? What is your favorite thing about wrestling?

AM: I first switched schools when I was in eighth grade and it was kind of a new thing for me… At first, I didn’t know what wrestling really was, but a friend of mine was in the team and she invited me to join. I fell in love with the sport. And I stuck with it… and here I am. Five years, captain of the team. Even though, I’m the only girl in the team.

HP: So, is wrestling a Co-Ed team?

AM: No, it’s not a co-ed team. It’s just me and the boys, but I do wrestle with the boys in practice- and in meets. I also do go to a couple girl tournaments, but in my freshman year, I wrestled with all boys. My whole sophomore, and most of my junior year too.

HP: Are you separated from the boys’ team or compete separately from the boys’ tournaments?

AM: Well, in my freshman year, I never went to any tournaments except for districts. In my sophomore year, I went to one tournament prior to districts. And then last year, I went to two girl’s tournaments prior to districts. And then this season, I had two separate tournaments last month and I have two this month- then I’ll have districts, regionals, and – hopefully – State.

HP: Do you consider yourself a good wrestler compared to others?

AM: I mean, I guess I consider myself as a good wrestler, I mean, I’ve made it to the regional levels. I placed seventh out of sixteen during my sophomore year and I placed fifth last year. And this year I’m hoping to place top three, place at regionals and hopefully move onto State this year. I’ve placed third and fifth in many different tournaments last year. And I’ve placed third and fifth in tournaments this year also.

    In the girl’s scene, I guess, I consider myself a good wrestler, but I want to be humble about it- I don’t want to boast. But, it’s definitely harder [against boys]. It’s a lot harder against the boys with our muscle mass differences, but it’s just human anatomy where we’re built differently. I don’t want to complain though because it makes me tougher, so when I go wrestle a girl… It does feels a bit easier and I feel like I could persevere a lot more because of what I go through with a guy.

HP: Is Girl’s wrestling not popular within the other schools as well?

AM: Well, [girl’s wrestling] is huge elsewhere. It’s just not huge here. I mean Edmonds Woodway has an all-girls team and they usually wrestle against girls only. Nathan Hale has a full-girls’ team, Ballard has about six girls in their team. If you go up further north, they have schools like Lynden, Seedro-Woolley, and Edison all have full-girl teams, Auburn full-girl team… It’s only me on the girls’ team here. Just me. It’s not really a burden since it’s always been just me since my freshman year.

HP: What do you feel the role of the team is in wrestling?

AM: I love the camaraderie. We always call wrestling a “brotherhood” and I love being part of the team. It doesn’t matter if my team’s not girls, but like, being a part of the guys, it’s huge, the friendships and relationships you build.

     Without the team, well, wrestling itself is a very individualistic sport. And once you step on the mat, it’s just you and your opponent. You could hear your coaches in the corner and your team, but it’s really just you and your opponent. But without your team, you wouldn’t have any motivation to improve; you wouldn’t have anyone to push you.

     When you walk into practice and when practice is really intense, you need to care and put your in your all, but if you slack, who’s gonna hold you accountable? Who’s gonna yell at you? To tell you when you’re slacking and that you need to get better? You need someone to support you because wrestling is just so mentally and physically draining. Like, having that brotherhood, fighting together through that pain to achieve your goals, doing it together is so much easier than doing it when you’re by yourself.

HP: What are your main struggles with wrestling? Anything you don’t enjoy?

AM: Mentally, it’s the practices, they’re intense. There are warm-ups but we normally go straight into the drills where you’re tackling each other. You’re kind of hurting your team mates, physically and mentally, with no padding or protection. It’s just you and another person, just fighting and it’s really tough.

     [Physically, it’s] making weight. For wrestling, there is a certain weight class that you have to and achieve in order to compete. So, for example, I actually have a meet tomorrow at the Shoreline Invite so I have to wrestle at a 139-pound weight limit. [If we don’t] I may have to bump up or we wouldn’t be able to compete in the competition at all. So, that can be very stressful because right now I weigh about 142 pounds. So, I have about 20 hours to lose about 3 pounds. It’s not the hardest I’ve done; it’s not the hardest any of my teammates, we have lost more weight in less time. But that in itself can be a huge stress because making weight could make or break your match like you will be forced to play against people where you’d be at a disadvantage or you wouldn’t be able to compete at. It’s just part of the grind, but sometimes we just need to persevere.

HP: If you could change one thing about the wrestling team, what would it be?

AM: I love the team, I love our coaches, I love everything about it and… you just can’t take anything for granted. There are teams that have more things than us, but there are also teams that have even less than us. It’s hard being on a team that doesn’t win as many matches as other teams, and a lot of people ask me this: “Do you wish there were more girls on the team? Do you wish you could play in more tournaments?” And all of those things are true, I wish we had more funding, more people to join, but you just can’t control those things. We’re given what we’re given and that’s the thing. Funding, your teammates, your coaches, those things shouldn’t hold you back from succeeding in the first place. Of course, there’s a lot of what-ifs, but you can’t worry about those things… you can’t worry about the past because, again, you need to persevere and to keep going. You can’t focus on the things you wish for. You have to leave your whole self on that mat. Because if you don’t put your everything on the mat, or the practices, or in the sport, then it’s not gonna help your worries at all, especially if you’re not dedicated. And if you are dedicated, that determination will just help you overcome those what-ifs and those worries.

*Quotes have been edited and shortened.