Amid national surge, girls reshape wrestling culture

Madison Neely started dreaming of being a wrestler in fifth grade, but over the years, the vision faded. Nobody ever told her wrestling was not for girls, but over time she saw that it was mainly a boys sport and quietly put her ambitions away. 

Then she met someone who opened her eyes.  

Neely befriended a girl wrestler two years ago and fell for the sport again. “She was so strong willed,” she recalled. “It was just amazing watching that and then seeing her hand go up whenever she won, or seeing her walk away to take a breath after she lost. It just kind of changed me, it kind of just clicked.”