Tristin Robinson mentioned the game of wrestling has modified her life.
The Northside Methodist Academy wrestler competed on the mats the final three years at a excessive stage, successful 68.9 % of her matches (62-28) regardless of some matches towards boys earlier than the AHSAA mandated that women wrestle women this yr.
She capped her highschool profession with a third-place end every week in the past on the Ladies State Championships within the 145-pound weight class and incomes a 26-8 recored.
That success – and her ardour for the game – has landed her a school scholarship to wrestle at Montgomery’s Huntingdon Faculty, which began ladies’s wrestling this yr. She signed the scholarship in entrance of a giant contingent of household, her NMA wrestling teammates, college college and the highschool scholar physique on the Knights’ fitness center Friday morning.
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“It feels nice,” Robinson mentioned. “I’m pleased with myself, in fact, as a result of I labored exhausting on daily basis. Every thing I do is pushing myself on daily basis to perform my targets and this was one among my targets.
“Now, it’s onto the subsequent factor and I’ll have extra targets after this that I wish to accomplish. I’m glad I get to take the subsequent step. It’s simply thrilling and that’s the reason I needed to ask all my highschool to return watch as a result of it’s a once-in-a lifetime expertise and I needed to share it with all people.”
Robinson is believed to be the primary wrestler from a Dothan highschool to signal for school wrestling. She is just the second in recent times from the Wiregrass, becoming a member of Enterprise’s Zach McFarland, who has gained a beginning position as a freshman at Brewton-Parker Faculty in Georgia. She can be one among a handful of ladies wrestlers within the state of Alabama who’ve signed for school wrestling. Highschool women wrestlers had been unusual within the state till the previous few years. Ultimately week’s state meet, 180 women from 59 colleges had been registered for the occasion.
“In every thing I do I wish to promote the game and so being the primary particular person to signal a scholarship and compete on the subsequent stage from Dothan may be very large to me, particularly as a result of I’m a woman and women wrestling will not be well-liked in Alabama and never on this space,” Robinson mentioned. “So to be one of many trailblazers is a really cool expertise. I hope it’s encouragement to different women, not simply at my college, but additionally within the space.
“Folks suppose it (wrestling) is horrifying and have misconceptions about (beginner) wrestling, however in case you do your analysis and look into it, it’s one thing that may change your life. I hope that me and my success can assist others see that.”
After competing within the sport for 3 seasons, Robinson simply sees the way it remodeled her right into a extra assured younger particular person.
“It has modified my life is so some ways,” Robinson mentioned. “Confidence is difficult for ladies to have. It’s both low esteem or an excessive amount of confidence. I used to be extra on the low esteem facet. I didn’t like to speak myself up or something.
“Wrestling builds confidence into you. You start to get confidence in your coaching, your power and your talents and to be impartial. That is without doubt one of the largest modifications in my life. The teachings in wrestling final endlessly since you study self-discipline and it modifications your mindset. It’s a must to be robust minded after you wrestle, no less than you need to.
“Wrestling is like 90 % mindset. For those who don’t have the correct mindset going into wrestling then you definitely received’t see the success you wish to. So it has modified my mindset in how I feel.”
She additionally enjoys the wrestling group the place it’s not unusual for foes to develop into pals and have mutual respect for one another.
“Wrestling additionally modified my life as a result of I’ve met a few of my greatest pals, whether or not or not it’s my teammates or opponents, and I had a number of the greatest coaches as nice examples in my life,” Robinson mentioned. “Wrestling is sort of a good group of one another.”
A longtime softball participant, Robinson started wrestling as a sophomore, the identical yr Northside Methodist picked up the game. It quickly grew to become her favourite sport.
“For the longest time, I assumed I could also be doing this for softball or one thing else,” Robinson mentioned of signing. “On the time I began wrestling, I used to be taking softball very severely and that’s what I may see myself doing in school.
“I began wrestling in tenth grade and it was form of my enjoyable sport on the time as a result of softball was my critical sport. I began realizing in my eleventh grade yr how aggressive I needed to be in wrestling.”
Her coach and pop, Travis Robinson, mentioned the Knights senior is able to successful matches along with her power, however largely due to her capability to grasp technique and work sport plans.
“She is a thinker,” Robinson mentioned. “Whereas she is powerful and bodily succesful, I feel she depends extra on having a plan when she goes on the market, executing the plan and planning for as many variables as you’ll be able to and hopefully react accordingly throughout the match. She likes to maintain it near the place she will put on the opponent down. Now we have skilled her to go all three intervals.”
Via her three years, Tristin Robinson not solely discovered concerning the ins and outs of the game, however has grown to adore it a lot that it’s now a ardour for her. She talked about a current essay on the game for instance.
“I needed to write an essay of why you want wrestling. The minimal was like 350 phrases, however I wrote like near 2,000 phrases,” Robinson mentioned. “I can’t simply share every thing about wrestling in underneath 350 phrases.”
She has loved the game a lot that she desires to advertise and encourage others – women and boys – to provide it a strive.
“As a result of I’m so passionate, every thing I do concerning the sport, I wish to promote the game,” Robinson mentioned. “Even in case you have a look at my social media, I’m all the time posting about it. It isn’t well-liked on this space, however the connection I’ve with wrestling I would like others to share that have as a result of I really feel all people deserves an opportunity at wrestling and for it may do for you and your life.”
Robinson selected Huntingdon Faculty over a number of different packages who expressed curiosity in her. She additionally visited Brewton-Parker in Georgia and Iowa colleges Cornell Faculty and Simpson Faculty.
“I really like all the colleges I visited. I visited 4 colleges, however Huntingdon simply felt totally different,” Robinson mentioned. “It felt like that was the place the Lord was calling me. It felt totally different additionally in the best way the coaches actually needed me there – not that the opposite coaches didn’t need me of their program – however I may inform that Huntingdon had a plan for me they usually already knew what they count on from me and the issues they can assist me with.
“They don’t simply wish to develop me as a wrestler and simply enhance me as a wrestler, which in fact is a objective, however they need me to succeed with no matter I do. They wish to assist develop me non secular and assist me develop in my data for no matter profession path I wish to pursue.”
