Mira Costa girls take fight to the mat and the pitch
The lone junior on the Mira Costa girls wrestling team, Sasha Medvidovic placed third in the state as a sophomore. Photo
While protests and marches demanding equal rights for women have swept the nation, female athletes on the campus of Mira Costa High School are making their own marks for gender equality.
Teams have been formed where the Lady Mustangs can showcase their athletic talents in what had been traditionally male-oriented sports — rugby and wrestling.
The wrestling team began in the 2015-16 winter season. Head coach Jimmy Chaney is optimistic about the program at Mira Costa and the growth of girls wrestling both locally and within the state.
“Girls wrestling is doing well and is definitely here to stay,” Chaney said. “It is common to go to tournaments with 30 plus teams. Close to us we have four girls teams — Mira Costa, [Torrance] West, San Pedro and Lawndale. About one third of the local boys teams have a girls team also and I would guess it is growing close to that statewide. There are 700 boys wrestling teams in California and about 200 girls wrestling teams.”
Chaney does not believe the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts and the publicity of athletes such as Rhonda Rousey has drawn more girls to wrestling, but points instead to the introduction of women’s wrestling to the Olympics in 2004.
Chaney admits the South Bay has been a bit slower than other areas in the state and nation to develop girls wrestling programs. But he was excited how popular it has now become at Mira Costa.
“The way we developed our team was to go into the PE classes and introduce it to the girls and then they started joining,” Chaney said.“This year our team, other than Sasha, are all freshmen and sophomores with only one junior. They are young and new to the sport but have done surprisingly well. We took 3rd place at South Hills out of 33 schools.”
In its inaugural season, Mira Costa’s team had an immediate star in Sasha Medvidovic, who finished third in the 150-pound weight class at the CIF State Championships as a sophomore.
Knee surgery kept her sidelined for most of this season but with only three weeks of practice, she managed a 7th-place finish at the CIF-Southern Section Championships on Feb. 11, which qualified her for the State Championships to be held Feb. 24-25 at the Visalia Convention Center.
“For Sasha, 7th place feels like a letdown,” Chaney said. “It takes some time to get back in the rhythm of things and to get in shape. We have two weeks and I know that isn’t much time, but she is pretty exceptional. I think she can pull it together.”
Medvidovic began wrestling in her PE class during her freshman year at Mira Costa. With no girls team, wrestling boys was a common occurrence.
“Since I’m in a middle weight class (150 pounds), the boys are much stronger than me,” Medvidovic said. “Looking back, I don’t know why I didn’t quit. But I love the sports and the feeling of being in shape, strong and competitive.”
Medvidovic recalls her freshman year when she looked up to Mira Costa’s first female wrestling star Ariel Floro.
Floro placed sixth in the 131-pound division at the 2015 CIF State Championships to become the Mustang’s first medalist at the event.
“I admired her and her accomplishment set such a high goal for me to shoot for,” Medvidovic said.
Medvidovic is hoping to attend UCLA and help build a women’s wrestling team at the school.
“There are amazing opportunities for females now,” Medvidovic said. “It was difficult finding a college that was strong in athletics and academics where I will have an opportunity to wrestle.”
The junior also has some advice for girls considering the sport.
“Wrestling builds confidence and has provided the most memorable moments in my high school career,” Medvidovic said. “It’s a sport where girls of any shape, height or size can compete on an equal level.”
Sophomore Bianca LeBosnoyani takes down a teammate during a practice session. Photo
Also reaching this year’s CIF-SS Championships were sophomores Bianca LeBosnoyani and Alyssa Nocum.
LeBosnoyani, a jiu jitsu world champion, joined the Mustang’s wrestling team this season at the urging of her father, Nono, and brother Jean Paul, a senior on Mira Costa’s boys team who is ranked No. 5 in the state in the 170-pound division.
“They told me wrestling would add a different aspect to my jiu jitsu game,” said Bianca, who regrets not wrestling during her freshman year. “I already had some grappling technique and worked hard to adapt the take down. Most of the other girls on the team were learning wrestling for the first time.”
Bianca, who competes in the 116-pound weight class, placed first in only her second tournament. She was named Most Outstanding Wrestler at the South Hills Tournament in early January after pinning her opponents in the first of the three periods in each match.
“My time in the spotlight was short-lived, however,” Bianca said, with a laugh. “My brother was named Most Outstanding Wrestler at a tournament the following week.”
She said her first wrestling match was an eye-opener.
“I was used to having maybe 1,000 spectators in the stands for jiu jitsu matches, but was so surprised to see all of the girls in the gym,” LeBosnoyani said. “You couldn’t even see the mat, there so many girls warming up.”
Rob Wigod, Commissioner of the CIF Southern Section, is excited about the rise in popularity of girls wrestling.
“Girls Wrestling continues to grow and prosper in the CIF Southern Section,” Wigod said. “Each year, we have new programs beginning at our member schools and we currently have approximately 150 schools with individuals and/or teams participating in Girls Wrestling.”
Co-captain of Mira Costa’s girls rugby team, senior Maria Meola also plays hockey on the California Wave AAA all-star team and was a starter on the Mustang’s varsity lacrosse team as a freshman. Photo
The Right Pitch
After enjoying an extremely successful first four years with the Mira Costa boys rugby team, head coach Duke Dulgarian spoke with forwards coach Ali Taylor last year about the possibility of starting a girls team.
“Naturally she was on board with the idea,” Dulgarian said. “I felt that there are girls at Mira Costa who could really benefit from the sport both presently, learning the game, being part of a team, making new friends and in the future as more and more scholarship opportunities are becoming available to girls wanting to play at the college level. Additionally, I thought it would bring more interest in our boys rugby program.”
Dulgarian was surprised at how quickly the new sport was embraced.
“We were so pleased with the first year of the program. We had 18 girls sign up,” he said. “Only two had played any rugby and both had just one season in the sport. While the girls struggled to win games they had a great attitude, made friends both on our team as well as with their sisters from other schools and in their final match of the year they came up big with an upset victory over a very good Roosevelt High School team.”
“Another thing is that we’re competing for athletes who are also in winter season sports, such as girls water polo, basketball, soccer, off season track and field and now girl’s wrestling,” Dulgarian added. “That’s why for our first year we were very happy with our numbers. We’re hoping that next year we’re going to get some of the track and field athletes out to add some more speed to our team.”
Head Coach Ali Taylor was excited at the progress made by her inexperienced team in its inaugural season. Photo
Taylor has found it challenging yet rewarding to coach the girls team. Most boys have played football or other sports before playing rugby, she said, but the majority of players on the girls team had never participated on an athletic team before.
“At first the school didn’t recognize us as a sport so the girls had to do our own recruiting,” Taylor explained. “It started with two sisters, Alexis and Taiana Fonua. They wanted to play and from what I’ve heard they made their friends come to practice. Then everyone fell in love with the sport and our numbers tripled.”
Taylor has been more than pleased with the progress of the girls team this season.
“We started with a group of girls, most never having played a sport before, and now they’re holding their own against some very competitive teams,” Taylor said. “We spent a lot of time on the basics; catching, passing and running.”
Jaslynn Mejia powers her way past an opponent during first season of the Mira Costa girls rugby program. Photo
Alexis Fonua, a junior who was a co-captain along with the team’s lone senior Maria Meola, joined her sister, sophomore Taiana, as the Mustang’s major recruiters.
“Our dad played rugby for the Perth Broncos semi-professional rugby team in Australia and he came back to the US and played for the Los Angeles Rugby Team,” Alexis said. “But it was not until around 2013 that we practiced with the South Bay Spartans in Carson, thanks to our aunt who coached the team. We fell in love with the sport but only practiced for about two months because I injured myself in a basketball game.”
Initially, the sisters found it difficult to get girls to join the rugby team.. Posters were put up throughout the campus and practices were announced in the school’s Daily Bulletin, attracting jut four more girls to the team.
“It wasn’t until my cousin Fine Tuitupou decided she would tell a few of her friends about how much fun we had at practice that our team’s growth increased.” Fonua said. “Eventually, her friends told their friends and my friends decided to join. Now we have a group of about 20 girls playing. I feel very accomplished and am very grateful for the opportunity I was given to help start the first ever Costa Girl’s Rugby team. It truly is an honor to even be a part of the team.”
Fonua believes the popularity and participation of rugby at the high school level will expand and having. Having the sport a part of the 2016 Olympics has already helped the cause.
“Rugby is an amazing sport. It’s probably the only sport where you can tackle someone and run people over and then become best friends with them,” Fonua said. “I think it’s because of that bond that the game at this level will most definitely grow.”
Fonua has great admiration for her coach.
“[Coach] Ali has taught me so much, mainly that there is always room for improvement and to have confidence in myself,” Fonua said. “She’s like a mother and sister figure to me. She has taught me to never settle for less. Whenever I thought I couldn’t do it, she pushed me so that I could prove to myself that I am capable of doing the things I may think I can’t. She is extremely skilled in the game and her calm demeanor is one of the reasons why our team has improved as much as we have.”
“We have about 15 girls who have never done anything athletic in their lives and somehow Coach Ali was able to get them to run a ball full speed and tackle girls running at them full speed. We are very blessed to have Ali as our coach.”
Becoming a CIF-sanctioned sport is years away for rugby, but that doesn’t matter to Ali Taylor.
Rugby would have to be included on the CIF list of approved sports which is under the authority of the CIF State Office in Sacramento and the CIF Federated Council, the legislative body of the CIF, which is made up of representatives from all 10 sections within California. A section would need to approve adding rugby to the list of approved sports and then that proposal would need to be forwarded and approved by the CIF Federated Council to become a CIF-approved sport.
“Rugby is the fastest growing sport in the nation, especially with it being in the Olympics this [past] summer,” Taylor said. “I am working on getting a Rugby 101 program in the local school PE classes. I don’t care if we get CIF sanctioned because that would just mean we would have to administer to another set of rules.”
Members of Mira Costa’s newly formed girls teams now have new goals to strive for — to match the success of the Mustangs’ boys teams and promote their sports within the South Bay community.
“I feel so honored to be one of the pioneers in the sport of girls wrestling at Mira Costa,” LeBosnoyani said. “I look forward to the day when I see how much the sport has grown, both on the high school and college level.” ER