Walking out on the mat ready to take on his opponent. Ready to be thrown around, taken down, and participate in hand-to-hand combat. His only goal is to pin the other guy for two seconds. It takes hard work, determination, and sacrifice. Wrestling is a sport that has been around for ages. It started with the Greeks wrestling each other naked. It’s no surprise to hear that many boys love the sport of wrestling. Free reign to throw people around and fight in a controlled environment. But you might be shocked to hear that so do many girls. Senior Lillian Towne is one of those girls. She is pumped about the idea of having an all-girls wrestling team at her school. She says, “I think it's awesome, because it's something that the guys do, too. So it's a really cool opportunity for girls to be able to do such a physical thing. And they can be just as good as guys at, which is why it kind of started because girls were joining the guys teams.” Towne says that the wrestling team is an extremely important addition to our school. She says it’s important because “It builds a community. There are going to be very few girls that want to join a guy's team, because it's guys. But if there's a specific goal, like specifically a girls team, more girls are going to be open to it. They're going to be like, ‘Oh, I don't know if they wrestle guys. That's awesome. So they’ll be more open to the idea.’” Adding girls wrestling is a big step in the right direction. Towne says, “They're trying to make it an official sport. Along with boys volleyball, which has a head start because it’s more popular, but they're trying to get girls wrestling an official sport. Other people’s views don’t matter when it comes to wrestling, it's a thing girls can do too. Towne says, “Well I mean, there's a lot of people that say like, if a guy can do it, so can a girl, but there are a lot of things that girls can't do, just based on our genetics. So I think wrestling is one of those things that girls can do. It's based on weight class – it's not like you're having a 300-pound lineman wrestling a 100-pound girl.” Towne also says, “Everybody is just starting. The wrestling team is new. Nobody is ahead of anybody. Everyone is growing together. As the years go on it will be a community of girls who have learned how to do this sport together.” Towne really enjoys the social aspects of being a part of a team. She says, “I just think it's fun because it's really bonding with other people.” She says everybody should give it a try. Nothing should be holding you back from trying something. Even though it may be difficult you can overcome the hardships and they can make you stronger in the end. “Towne says, I have asthma, and that can make it kind of hard, especially because you need to breathe well. But I can't use that as an excuse. So I use that to make myself better physically.” Hayden Ruley is a student writer for The Pilot Flashes, Franklin Central's newspaper. Issues of The Pilot Flashes are printed quarterly. If you are interested in becoming a Pilot Patron and donating to offset printing costs, please contact the teacher sponsor Daniel Lichtenberger at daniel.lichtenberger@ftcsc.org.