Multi-sport Mia
It has been an amazing seven months of athletic accomplishments for Mia Friesen.
Blessed with an impressive combination of speed, athleticism and physicality, the 16-year-old has starred in track, field lacrosse and now wrestling.
The Grade 11 student at Governor Simcoe started her impressive stretch last June by winning a gold medal in the junior girls 80-metre hurdles at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ track and field championships. She followed that up with a national title with Team Ontario at the under-19 field lacrosse championships and last weekend, she won the juvenile girls 57-kilogram division at the Ontario Cadet and Juvenile Wrestling Championships. It was her first time competing at the event.
“She walked through the competition really easily and won her final 10-0 by technical superiority,” Brock Junior Badgers coach Heather Sweezey said.
In the final, she defeated the reigning OFSAA and provincial juvenile champion.
“She dominated all of her matches,” Sweezey said.
Friesen describes herself as calm before the gold-medal match.
“I was ready for a battle and it was a battle,” she said.
Friesen would be the first to admit she’s taking wrestling a lot more seriously and it may end up being the sport
“The experiences I had last year wrestling for my high school team and occasionally going up to Brock, it made me want to experience more,” said Friesen, who also played for the Governor Simcoe senior girls basketball team this fall. “I decided this fall I was going to give up travel basketball and join the club (wrestling) team.”
That choice has been perfect for Friesen and she has described the experience as awesome. It’s a sport that fits her like a glove.
“I grew up watching my brother (Owen) wrestle and growing up in Niagara wrestling is sort of everywhere,” she said. “I grew accustomed to it and with personal space issues, I don’t have any, so this is right up that alley.”
She likes everything about the sport.
“I love the intensity level and I like that you never know what is going to happen,” Friesen said. “Anybody can win on any given day.”
In addition to training with the Junior Badgers at Thorold Secondary School, Friesen has also been going to the Brock wrestling room twice a week. There, coaches talk in glowing terms about her potential if she sticks with the sport.
“Going back to talking about the intensity level, it’s crazy in there and I love it,” she said. “I love being coach by Marty (Calder) and being helped out by the older male and female athletes in the room.
“Everyone is trying to help each other get better and everyone is pushing each other to the absolute limit in there.”
Friesen gets to spar with some of the world-class wrestlers who train at Brock, including former world champion Jessie MacDonald. Her most memorable moment so far was a chance to wrestle MacDonald at Brock’s winter camp over the Christmas Break.
“Wrestling her, she pretzeled me,” Friesen said, with a laugh. “It was awesome and a whole new experience. It was a new level.”
Since the fall, she feels her biggest improvements on the mats are her effort level and focus.
“I am putting everything into wrestling and I am not jumping back and forth from basketball to wrestling to track.”
Friesen is on track to be chasing scholarships in track and field, field lacrosse and wrestling and wrestling might have the upper hand.
“Right now it kind of feels like it, but I don’t know,” she said. “At the moment, this feels like what I want to do.”
She believes it is the strength she has obtained training for other sports that has helped her most in wrestling.
“I was also a gymnast for a long so that helps my flexibility,” she said.
The next big event for Friesen is OFSAA and she is looking to improve on last year’s finish.
“Last year I was sixth and I just want to climb higher on the OFSAA podium,” she said.
Compared to many of her opponents, she is still learning the sport.
“I think that is the most exciting part,” she said. “There’s so much more than I can learn and my inexperience excites me in a way.”
