The Rise of Girls’ Wrestling in America: A Revolution on the Mat

Michelle Collins 

June 27, 2025

Youthcast Media Group®

Wrestling is no longer just for the boys.

In May, Virginia added girls wrestling as a fully sanctioned high school sport, effective next school year. That leaves only four states that still don't have it, according to the advocacy group Wrestle Like a Girl.

 "Wrestling is for everybody," says Mike Moyer, executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association. "Why would we want to leave out half of the population?"

Increased participation has risen in step with increased opportunities: the number of high school girls who wrestle has quintupled since 2013, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Until recent years, girls who wanted to wrestle often had to do it on boys teams. The eye-popping spike in participation over the last dozen years has come in an era with more opportunities for girls to compete against other girls. 

“I walked in here not really knowing why I was going in," said first-year wrestler Melanie Valladares of Annandale (Va.) High School. "It was honestly just something to keep me busy, but it turned out to be the best thing ever."

 The Virginia High School League approved girls wrestling as an emerging sport in the 2022-23 school year. Schools in Fairfax County, including Annandale, began offering girls teams for the first time this past school year.

“This is such a male-dominated sport that half the time you get frustrated with yourself," Annandale wrestler Ana Jenson said. "Why didn’t I win? Was I not good enough? Why couldn’t I be as strong as a guy?”

Her teammate, Darling Saravia, figures there is more to wrestling than the wins and losses. 

“The point of this season wasn’t to make everyone a state champ,” she said. “It was to have all of them win at least one match and not quit, and every single girl did it.”

Saravia qualified for the state championships in Richmond.

“I think being a state qualifier is one of my biggest accomplishments so far," she said. "I look back at myself last year, and I would’ve never believed I would get here.”

Hawaii, in 1998, was the first state to sanction girls wrestling. Texas soon followed suit. And now Virginia is in the fold.

“This isn’t my main sport,” Annandale wrestler Callia Uviedo said, “but it has taught me so much about discipline and resilience that I can take to field hockey and soccer.”

And life.

Michelle Collins recently graduated from Annandale High School (AHS) in Annandale, Va. AHS is one of Youthcast Media Group’s journalism class partners.