Mayowa Dokun ’22 is no stranger to athletics, but prior to this school year she was a stranger to wrestling. Dokun started wrestling for the first time this year and now participates in the sport along with playing volleyball in the fall. She got interested in wrestling because of her older brother Anu Dokun‘s involvement and because her teammates suggested she join.

“I also play volleyball and one of the girls on my team was talking about [wresling] a little before it finally started and it got me intrigued,” Mayowa said.

Wrestling is a relatively new thing to most girls on the team and many of them come from outside sports and compare those experiences to wrestling. Dokun believes that the difference between wrestling and volleyball is the team aspect of each sport.

“Vollyball is a team sport, so if you win or lose it’s not because of one person, it’s because collectively we all made a mistake,” said Mayowa.

This is a contrast to wrestling which she says is based more on the individual than the team.

“Wrestling, it’s all on you. You get to focus on yourself and not have to worry about other people when you’re on the mat,” said Mayowa.

Despite the individual nature of the sport, she believes that the sport fosters a team atmosphere and helps build relationships between the athletes.

“As of right now, I completely love the sport. Especially since all the girls on the team are amazing. We have all gotten really close to one another in a short period of time and we all hang out together outside of wrestling,” said Mayowa.

Since the girls wrestling team is still so new, they do not have team managers yet. Luma Makawi ’20 is one of the boys wrestling team managers and she believes that because the girls team is still so new they are not as accustomed to the sport, but will be in the future.

“This was after all, their first year, and they are still trying to get things organized,” said Makawi.

Mayowa thinks that because they are both still working on finding themselves as a team and getting things in order, their practices are not at the same level as the boys.

“Our practices are less serious than the guys, and I would say we joke around a little more,” said Mayowa.

Despite this, both Mayowa and Makawi believe that in the future there will be some changes in girls wrestling. Makawi says that they will soon start watching match footage together, have a team manager, and start a live tweet like the guys team. Mayowa believes that next year the team practices will also be more serious.

“Next year almost everybody will be returners, so practices will change,” said Mayowa.