High school wrestling, a once male dominated sport, has experienced an influx of girl wrestlers to their programs. Senior Ashley Carmouche is not intimidated by wrestling’s notorious reputation of being a difficult high contact sport.

Carmouche has a background in martial arts with eight years of jiu jitsu and six years of boxing experience that she attributes to making her keen to join the sport.

“Just being in the martial arts sport brought that familiarity and drew me towards wrestling,” said Carmouche.

Although she finds the challenges of making or maintaining weight difficult, Carmouche is motivated to break the expectations others have for other female wrestlers.

“There are gonna be times where people doubt you because you are not a male wrestling you won’t be as strong or as good as some of these guys may be but that just pushes and motivate you to show them you can be strong and just as good as they can be to,” said Carmouche.

Since joining wrestling her sophomore year, Carmouche credits her growth and strength to her time spent wrestling. She finds that wrestling is a mental game that strengthens her as a person. 

“It helps you realize that you can get through tough things you just have to push and it’s really like a mental game. You need to mentally push yourself,” said Carmouche.

Carmouche has a 19-9 record this season dominating the mat. Pushing through her senior season with the understanding this is her last opportunity to leave a mark. She encourages other girls to try wrestling despite its intimidating appearance.

“I would say to all the girls thinking about joining wrestling to definitely try it out to see if it’s something you might like. It has so many benefits and not just self defense wrestling allows you to develop and build your self and helps with discipline like those hard practices that make you feel like quitting helps you alot helps you realize if you can get through that hard practice you can get through so many hard things in life,” said Carmouche.