Derby’s Amara Ehsa told VYPE “My favorite part about being on this team would have to be the way we show up for each other. We cheer for one another and we cry for one another. We push each other and we hold our teammates accountable. We even pray together before every tournament as a team and everyone participates. Wrestling is an individual sport, not a team one, but my girls don’t understand that. I love that they don’t because that’s what makes us stronger than the other teams we face.”
This season, Ehsa has been working to “win another state title of course but also to lead my team to a trophy at state. This is the first year we actually have a shot at doing that. It won’t be easy but our team shows a lot of grit and perseverance”. Going on to say “Wrestling has taught me a lot that of things I use in my daily life. Personally I think wrestling is the best sport to be in when you’re young to prepare you for adulthood. It teaches you to be calm when in scary, unpredictable situations. It teaches you how to take a loss and use it to motivate you instead of degrade you. It teaches you how to be tough and keep fighting. Most importantly, it teaches you how to be mentally tough”.
“Wrestling is 1% physical, 99% mental. I hear this a lot from multiple people and I fully agree with it. It’s not about who’s stronger or in better shape. Of course that comes into play but if the stronger wrestler that is in better shape is thinking about how they could lose or about all their injuries, none of it matters. You have to go onto the mat with a winning mindset or none of your training matters. If I go out onto the mat believing I’m about to lose why would I fight off my back if I get put there? If I go out onto the mat believing I’m about to win then I’m going to fight with all my might to get off of my back. We physically train so hard for it to be 1% of our sport. After I heard that quote I started training my mental game just as hard” said Ehsa.
Ehsa also shared “I want to say thank you to my mom for being at every tournament no matter how far it was. I also want to say thank you to my teammates who have saved my behind when I needed to borrow shoes or headgear at a tournament since I get air headed on those days. Finally, I wanna say thank you to my coach who has been with me from the first day I stepped on the mat at practice to the days I stepped on the mat and won state. He has always believed in me and will never stop believing in me. Yes, I make him nervous a lot but never has he doubted my abilities to wrestle and keep wrestling”.
