How One Girl Scout Gold Award Project Brought Together Three Olympians
Shreya B. is a senior at Dougherty High School in San Ramon, California. She’s working toward earning the Girls Scout’s Gold Award—the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn—and that’s how Girls Can Wrestle, and the Girls Wrestling 101 webinar came to life.
To earn the Girl Scouts Gold Award Shreya said, “Each girl has to take action with a project and make a sustainable impact on a topic they’re passionate about.” There’s a required 80 hours of service and a vetted lasting impact.
“Through this project I realized that there’s no linear path.”
Shreya’s first idea, in the early spring, was to start a choir at the local senior center. She loves to sing, they don’t have a choir and “music is something that’s so therapeutic,” she said. The coronavirus quickly upended her original plan—so she pivoted.
Her next idea was contingent on the coronavirus being quelled by mid-summer. Shreya planned to run a middle school recruiting event during preseason. “Wrestling has made such an impact on me physically as well as mentally,” she said. “It’s given me so much confidence and I felt like sharing that with other girls would make a difference.”
But as current trends prevailed, she thought, “Even if restrictions in the community were lifted, how many people would want to put their kids in wrestling at this time?” That’s when her high school coach sent a Zoom invite to a Sanction PA meeting in May. Shreya left that meeting inspired, connected and thinking, “Maybe I don’t actually have to teach people on the mat how to wrestle, but I think I can still make an impact virtually.”
With guidance from 2004 Olympian Tela O’Donnell Bacher of Wrestle Like A Girl, and Leah Wright of Sanction PA, Shreya organized a panel of Olympic women wrestlers—Helen Maroulis, Randi Miller and Tela herself—to speak on Girls Wrestling 101 and to encourage other girls to give the sport a try.
“I was so invested in the idea that I made a website. But even at that time I wasn’t anticipating I was going to have all of those panelists,” she said.
But as the panelists did come together, Shreya went through iterations of questions to capture the unique experiences of her guests. “I realized they had so much to offer . . . but I felt like each of them had a unique perspective, so I wanted that to shine a little bit.”
Shreya pointed out, “Tela has experience with Wrestle Like A Girl as an advocate, and knowledge of how we can help the cause and help empower girls . . . Randi has a really good dual perspective on coaching and wrestling . . . Helen knows what it’s like being at the top of the sport, but also how it can benefit people of all skill levels.”
2016 Olympic Champion Helen Maroulis answered a question on if, or when, it was too late to join wrestling:
2004 Olympian Tela O’Donnell Bacher offered a response on growing resilience:
2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist Randi Miller narrowed down what came together during her wrestling career:
The webinar extended well beyond a 101-level course on girls wrestling and an encouraging message to try the sport. Beyond the story of each panelist, individual questions reached into the mental space of trying something new, growing resilience, leading by example, knowing yourself, overcoming mental blocks, and honestly exploring experiences with injury and sexism.
Shreya joined wrestling as a freshman in high school after attending an interest meeting with a friend. “I’ve always been really inspired by the women in wrestling who came into such a male-dominated environment but still managed to exceed all expectations and I wanted to be part of a sport like that.”
She says the Dougherty high school coaches have intentionally grown the girl’s team. There are approximately 75 wrestlers, and 20 or so are girls. “I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to be on a girl’s team,” she said. “I can’t say for sure, but I don’t know if I would have joined if there wasn’t a girls team available for me to join.” Girls wrestling has been sanctioned in California since 2011.
In addition to Girl Scouts and wrestling, Shreya is passionate about advocating for social justice and promoting education for all. She said, “I really wanted to emphasize it’s a good pathway to seeking higher education.” During early research for the Girls Can Wrestle project, she found that wrestling is a sport with the second most first-generation college students—23%, according to an NCAA One-Pager by The Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Coalition.
“Sports are probably one of the most powerful tools to empower girls,” said Shreya. “And, so, when I started this project I felt like empowering girls and wrestling had such a strong correlation and I felt like putting these together would be such a great project for me as a Girl Scout whose goal is to empower other girls.”
The live webinar for the Girls Can Wrestle project aired with 100+ registrants on Zoom, 200+ live viewers through Facebook and an untapped potential of post-event viewership.
Shreya says she would like to go into the medical or computer science field; she’s not sure about wrestling in college but says that, even if it’s at the club level, she wants wrestling to stay in her life. Learn more about the Girls Can Wrestle project and watch the recording online, here.
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