Girls wrestling in SWFL is a growing interest, but has been 18-year-old Reagan Thomas' main focus since her freshman year of high school in Naples. Florida.
Girls Wrestling in SWFL: The Spotlight
Being the only female wrestler at Naples High in her opening year of trying out the sport, Thomas had no choice but to be the only female on an all boys wrestling team.
"When I first started, the coach told me there were going to be other girls and when I showed up there were no other girls," said Thomas. "I was a little scared and I was kind of thinking of leaving, but the coach was really persuasive."
Despite being an outlier, Thomas went on to claim space on the boys Naples High wrestling team, competing as a 106 varsity starter and executing a 13-9 record against male wrestlers.
"To this day I'm glad I stayed, but it was definitely an adjustment."
Thomas' resilience lead her to AAU States that year followed by her qualification for State Championships her sophomore, junior and senior year once girls wrestling became sanctioned in 2021.
As girls wrestling in SWFL started to pick up, Thomas still held her spot on the boys wrestling team but had more opportunities to be matched against other females.
"I do think wrestling boys was beneficial and definitely improved my strength for other matches," said Thomas.
This showed through because of the fact that she was ranked 3rd in the state her sophomore year, 2nd her junior year and 4th her senior year in girls wrestling.
"Wrestling taught me discipline," said Thomas. "It translates into my everyday life, it improves my mindset and how I go about everyday things."
Combat Sports V.S. Team Sports: Outworking
Because wrestling is a combat sport, there's nobody during competition helping you other than yourself. In team sports, the outcome is based on a group effort through building off each other and equal accountability. However, in sports such as Muay Thai and Wrestling, individual training and sheer confidence is key to out performing your opponent because at the end of the day
"If you lose, it's all on you and you cant put it on your teammates."
This type of mindset is what carried Thomas through her uncertainty of wrestling with boys but allowed her to reap the benefits of it to ultimately earn a scholarship to wrestle at Lindsey Wilson College this coming season. The Columbia, Kentucky college is adding women's wrestling to it's athletic department this fall and Thomas will get a chance to make the team in their inaugural season.
"You definitely need confidence because it's scary going out there to be one on one against another person."
Coupled with confidence is the need to outwork those around you which Thomas is no stranger to.
Not only did she weight lift during school hours everyday, but she also did the football workouts for dynamic training as well as cutting and managing her weight year-round.
"It's harder for girls, especially lighter weight girls to lose weight like that, because most of it is water weight that you want to cut off," said Thomas.
With the sport being less understood from a girls perspective, Thomas had to learn how to diet and execute a weight cut without harming her body or risk any of her strength before matches, which was mostly an individual effort.
The Point
This was just one aspect of many that the Naples, Florida teen was faced with throughout her wrestling career that demanded a sense of persistence and constant eagerness to be the best.
This mindset is not limited to wrestling or Thomas herself, but is a shared mindset that is crucial to those who take up space in combat sports.
There's nobody behind or in front of you to support your next move or make up for your last mistake, which is why Reagan Thomas' work effort is respected in the eyes of coaches for battling through adversity and taking on the responsibility of representing not only girls wrestling in SWFL but combat sports as a whole.
