The female wrestling team for Team Alberta has returned from the Canada Summer Games with seven medals.
Wrestling took on a new meaning for Kelsey Raab at the games in Sherbrook, Que. Aug 2 to 17, who felt part of a team for the first time. The girls representing Team Alberta came back with a silver medal after losing to Ontario in the final round.
The girls earned four gold, two silver and one bronze medals while the boys’ wrestling team earned a bronze and a silver medal for Alberta. Although she had competed with the Alberta team in the 2010 Canada Winter Games, this year the entire crew worked together over the summer to hone their skills. “It was really fun because we spent from May to August with these people.”
Team wrestling is slightly different from an individual match.
“It’s still individual wrestling but how you win or lose depicts how well the team does,” Raab said.
Team Alberta faced few challenges as they won all four of their team matches with high points. They first beat Team Manitoba 47-7, then they had a resounding win against Team Nova Scotia with 57-1 and Team Newfoundland and Labrador 52-7. Team Saskatchewan posed a challenge for the girls but they still won with a 31-21 victory.
“The girls kind of kicked butt there,” Raab told Ponoka County council Aug. 12.
Once the girls knew they were facing Team Ontario for gold, they knew there were a few weak spots that would hurt their chances for winning. That did not stop them from going out there and fighting their hardest. “We still came there to wrestle.”
They lost 37-18 but were the only team to get as close as they did in points.
Individually Raab powered through her matches pinning Adrienne Lu with 5-0 in the semifinal match. Lu was the wrestler who defeated Raab at nationals last season.
“I won’t lie, it felt fantastic,” said Raab.
Her loss in the finals match to Saskatchewan’s Georgina Nelthorpe, weighed heavily on the 18-year-old, whose goal was to return with a gold medal.
“I have a thing with my brain that says that, ‘Oh my goodness it’s the final,’” she explained. “So I tend to over-think what I do and what I know.”
One of the mental challenges she intends to work on is to stay strong mentally during key matches. Despite the loss, one of her coaches, Brandy Gaunt, intends to sort out the mental block in university wrestling.
“She said she was proud of me,” Raab explained.
Councillors at Ponoka County are proud of her efforts and are confident of her future.
“She’s still doing exceptional and makes our community proud,” said Reeve Gord Svenningsen. “We’re very proud of what she’s accomplished.”
The biggest challenge the team faced was the times at which they wrestled. They had games earlier in the day and then were the last to compete the same day. Then they had to wrestle in the morning, which meant an early wake up call to be ready. Female wrestlers on Team Alberta powered through it all though to represent the province well.
For all the sports Team Alberta returned with 68 medals, second next to Team Ontario, who brought back 108 medals. Team Quebec was third with 65 medals and Team British Columbia fourth with 62.
The Canada Summer Games are now in week two of competition.