Like mother like daughter
Ryleigh Schweitzer is making the most of her head start on high school wrestling.
“I started falling out of love with trampoline and then I started wrestling for my mom’s school in Grade 8,” the 14-year-old Binbrook resident said. “I started really liking wrestling again so I kept coming back. I am happy with my decision.”
Her mom, Blessed Trinity wrestling coach Megan Schweitzer, entered her in high school tournaments last year and she won most of them.
That success has continued on this season with tournament victories at the Bishop Ryan, Blessed Trinity, St. Thomas More and a gold medal Thursday in the 51-kilogram division of the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships at Blessed Trinity. She has also won a bronze medal at the Ontario Winter Games and a silver medal at cadet provincials.
Wrestling high school athletes has been an adjustment.
“They are a lot stronger but now I feel a lot stronger against the other athletes. Last year, I was really slow against them and my shots weren’t great but now it is a lot easier.”
Megan Schweitzer has seen a lot of progress in her daughter this season.
“It has been a great season for her. She has had some really tough matches and she has made some huge improvements now that she is just focused on the one (sport),” she said. “She is a lot feistier with her hands, she is moving well and she has more confidence knowing that she is so powerful and she had a beautiful single and a great cross ankle. She has improved on those little bits of technique and the mental preparation is really good. It has changed a lot from last year to this year.”
Her improvements have not come by chance.
“I started training a lot more; four times a week now and I used to only train one time.”
Ryleigh’s motivation is simple.
“I want to win tournaments and improve. I am setting goals for myself and slowly improving my movements.”
She qualified for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships March 5-6 in Hamilton with a dominating performance at SOSSA. She won her first match 15-3 by technical superiority and pinned her second opponent early in the first round.
Ryleigh would love to have the same success as her mom at OFSAA but that will be a challenge. Megan, an alternate for the 2008 Olympics, was the first female to win OFSAA four straight years.
“I am hoping to get in the top six and just wrestle well,” Ryleigh said.
Her mom will be crucial to her journey.
“She is very important. I don’t think I would wrestle if she wasn’t my coach. She pushes me to be the best that I can be and I can hear her when I wrestle.”
