Marty Gordon, NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Girls’ wrestling is currently the fastest growing high school sport in the United States. Nationwide participation has exploded, with more than 74,000 girls competing at that level. The vast majority of states, including Virginia, now officially sanction girls’ wrestling as a varsity support.
For one Blacksburg youngster, she is working her way to the top. Ten-year-old Sylvia Brillhart brought home a national championship this past month, a first for a local girl wrestler.
She competed at the Viper Pit Nationals and brought home the gold after facing competitors from throughout the United States. Brillhart has also taken top honors for the third year in a row in state competition.
The National Federation of High Schools points out the sport has grown exponentially, jumping from under 12,000 participants a decade ago to a record of over 74,000 recently.
The NFHS says one in six high school wrestlers are female.
The surge in popularity means young women no longer have to exclusively wrestle against boys. Instead, they are competing in their own sanctioned divisions.
In most tournaments, Brillhart still has to face boys. In most cases, she is beating them too. To win the national championship, she only competed against girls.
There are now over 120 women’s wrestling teams at U.S. colleges. Major Division I programs like the University of Iowa have added fully funded women’s teams, pushing the sport to new heights.
Girls, just like Brillhart, are falling in love with the sport.
“I did—I fell in love with it. At first, I wanted to box. Then I tried wrestling in recreation and fell in love with it,” she said this past week.
Brillhart’s dream is to wrestle at Virginia Tech.
Her mother, Justine, says Sylvia wants to put in the work.
“She has gained self-confidence and mentally gotten stronger.”
No one else in her family has wrestled, but a younger brother is catching the itch and starting in the sport.
Brillhart is a rising fifth grader at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School in Blacksburg.
