| Updated: March 12, 2015 at 9:40pm Hard work and dedication is the key to success in any sport, but for Hutchinson Kids Wrestler Nichole Moore, it’s the only way. “(She’s the) hardest working kid in the room. She’s got tons of heart. No girl from Kansas has beaten her in about 5 years. I think her record is about 18-10 against boys this year,” said her father, Dustin Moore. Nichole, a 7th grader at Reno Valley, according to her mother, Angel, runs 1 to 2 miles and does 100 push-ups and sit-ups a day during the summer. She also wrestles freestyle during the summer. “The boys are stronger and faster, she has to simply be tougher through the first 2 periods. Then in the 3rd, when they are tired and slow down, that's when she goes to work and does her thing,” Angel explained. Nichole has been wrestling since she was 6-years old, when asked what sparked her interest in a male dominated sport, her response, “Confidence.” Her father suggested the sport to her to help build that confidence. Dustin is also one of her coaches, along with Abel Godinez and Curtis Edwards. According to Nichole, her favorite memory of youth wrestling was making the Boys State Tournament in the 2012-13 season. “Every weekend I wrestle boys. I only wrestle in 2 to 3 girls tournaments a year. It helps me be a better wrestler,” Nichole said. |
She gives up physical advantages every weekend, but it only helps her shape her craft. It makes her a more aggressive wrestler against other girls, Nichole added.
“We only have Nicki wrestle a couple girl’s tournaments a year. She wrestles mostly guys. It’s just better competition. It really makes her hit her movies perfect since the boys are actually more athletic,” said Dustin.
According to her mother, Nichole sometimes struggles because it comes more easily to her younger brothers and at 12U, she has to work twice as hard just to be average in the boys division. In the girls stuff, she is very successful but 12-year old boys are going through puberty and they get speed and strength but it’s not the same for girls that age.
“I’m just in awe. It takes a lot of drive. While she may not me physically as strong, mentally, she’s stronger. Nichole is a very strong willed individual,” said Coach Godinez. “It amazes me how someone of the opposite sex, who isn’t as strong, can really compete against these boys.”
Last year, Nichole won Girls’ State and finished 6th at Nationals. She also took first at Southern Plains Girls Freestyle in Dodge City and 2nd at Body Bar Women's Nationals in Irving Texas in 2014. This year she recently won the War of the Roses 91 Lb Middle School division on March 1, 2015. Next Nichole will attempt to qualify for boy’s state and girl’s state at the end of the month.
“Nicki Moore, one word. Fearless. This young lady might be polite and respectful, and an honor student, but she’s not a lady on the mat,” said Coach Edwards. I see a lot of young men actually nervous to wrestle her.”
At 4’ 10” and 86 pounds, Nichole also plays on the 7th Grade Reno Valley football team, where her fellow linemen call her “bulletproof.”
“When I walked into the Middle School wrestling practice, the coach looked at me and said ‘huh thought you would be bigger!’” laughed Nichole.
Outside of sports, Nichole is a straight A student who loves to read. According to her mother, outside the occasional black eye, you would never know that she wrestles or plays football.
When Nichole started wrestling, she lost every match for 2 years.
“Dustin is a firm believer in giving maximum effort during practice and during every match and not worrying about her win-loss record. He makes a point to tell the kids he loves them before and after every match,” Angel said. “If the kids give 100% effort, then they did their job. Sometimes you lose and sometimes you win, but if you learn to give 100% effort then the rest will fall into place no matter if it’s wrestling, school or something else they choose to do.”
Nichole is among a trend nationwide of more females taking to the mat. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, 2014 saw the number of female wrestler’s peak to 9904 compared to 804 in 1994. The states of California, Oregon, Guam, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Hawaii and Washington sponsor a state high school championship and in 2004, women’s wrestling is now a recognized Olympic sport.
Even though see hasn’t talked any other girls into join her on the mat, Nichole has a companion that she looks up to in Garden Plain’s Mercedes Gassman.
Nichole’s future goals are to one day go to college to wrestle and to possibly make the Olympics some day.
“Nichole's success in wrestling is not based on a win-loss record, it’s a journey. If she can stick with wrestling and continuously beat her own personal records, then there is nothing life can throw at her that she can't handle using the skills and tools wrestling has taught her,” her mother concluded.
“We only have Nicki wrestle a couple girl’s tournaments a year. She wrestles mostly guys. It’s just better competition. It really makes her hit her movies perfect since the boys are actually more athletic,” said Dustin.
According to her mother, Nichole sometimes struggles because it comes more easily to her younger brothers and at 12U, she has to work twice as hard just to be average in the boys division. In the girls stuff, she is very successful but 12-year old boys are going through puberty and they get speed and strength but it’s not the same for girls that age.
“I’m just in awe. It takes a lot of drive. While she may not me physically as strong, mentally, she’s stronger. Nichole is a very strong willed individual,” said Coach Godinez. “It amazes me how someone of the opposite sex, who isn’t as strong, can really compete against these boys.”
Last year, Nichole won Girls’ State and finished 6th at Nationals. She also took first at Southern Plains Girls Freestyle in Dodge City and 2nd at Body Bar Women's Nationals in Irving Texas in 2014. This year she recently won the War of the Roses 91 Lb Middle School division on March 1, 2015. Next Nichole will attempt to qualify for boy’s state and girl’s state at the end of the month.
“Nicki Moore, one word. Fearless. This young lady might be polite and respectful, and an honor student, but she’s not a lady on the mat,” said Coach Edwards. I see a lot of young men actually nervous to wrestle her.”
At 4’ 10” and 86 pounds, Nichole also plays on the 7th Grade Reno Valley football team, where her fellow linemen call her “bulletproof.”
“When I walked into the Middle School wrestling practice, the coach looked at me and said ‘huh thought you would be bigger!’” laughed Nichole.
Outside of sports, Nichole is a straight A student who loves to read. According to her mother, outside the occasional black eye, you would never know that she wrestles or plays football.
When Nichole started wrestling, she lost every match for 2 years.
“Dustin is a firm believer in giving maximum effort during practice and during every match and not worrying about her win-loss record. He makes a point to tell the kids he loves them before and after every match,” Angel said. “If the kids give 100% effort, then they did their job. Sometimes you lose and sometimes you win, but if you learn to give 100% effort then the rest will fall into place no matter if it’s wrestling, school or something else they choose to do.”
Nichole is among a trend nationwide of more females taking to the mat. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, 2014 saw the number of female wrestler’s peak to 9904 compared to 804 in 1994. The states of California, Oregon, Guam, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Hawaii and Washington sponsor a state high school championship and in 2004, women’s wrestling is now a recognized Olympic sport.
Even though see hasn’t talked any other girls into join her on the mat, Nichole has a companion that she looks up to in Garden Plain’s Mercedes Gassman.
Nichole’s future goals are to one day go to college to wrestle and to possibly make the Olympics some day.
“Nichole's success in wrestling is not based on a win-loss record, it’s a journey. If she can stick with wrestling and continuously beat her own personal records, then there is nothing life can throw at her that she can't handle using the skills and tools wrestling has taught her,” her mother concluded.