Overcoming obstacles has been Smith’s road to the state tournament

Story courtesy of The Pilot News.

PLYMOUTH — A trip to contend for a state championship in girls wrestling has been filled with more than the usual obstacles for Plymouth’s Angel Smith.

First of all wrestling for girls in Indiana has only become a thing in the past year, with girls wanting to compete in the sport having to do so in the boy’s arena.
Finding herself in the ring this weekend had more than just that hurdle for Smith. Coming from a family where it might be safe to say that wrestling is a way of life, she first had to convince Dad, Plymouth coach Travis Smith, that it was the right thing for his daughter.
“She came to me I think when she was four and told me she wanted to wrestle,” said Travis. “My initial reaction wasn’t no. I didn’t have any bad feelings about it. She thought I wasn’t going to let her so the conversation started with her crying. I asked her why and she said she thought I wasn’t going to let her I asked her why and she said because I thought she was too pretty.”
“For me, it wasn’t a decision to make,” he said. “I threw her in there with the rest of my sons. She didn’t get a lot of pushback.”
Growing up in a house full of wrestling brothers had its perks and one was Angel was always allowed to be herself.
“I never felt like less of a girl,” she said. “I get along with guys easier because I’ve been around them for so long but I still like to dress up and do my make-up and look ‘pretty’. It never made me feel less ‘girly’. I’ve just always been around boys.”
A little harder was being in a sport that at that time was almost exclusively for boys and therefore almost exclusively wrestling with boys.
“The hardest part was dealing with their strength,” said Angel. “There weren’t a lot of girls to wrestle with when I was younger. Boys are just meaner in general so I always had to match that. It made me better.”
Another hurdle for the Plymouth freshman was more personal. An injury left her in limbo about her future in the sport with a prognosis of missing out on this season.
“A lot of people don’t know that Angel broke her back in August,” said Travis. “For her to go through that, that she was not going to be able to wrestle this season was tough for her. We didn’t push it. I took the position that this was a wash, this season was a wash and we have to get her healthy for next season.”
“She made a decision to rehab herself,” he said. “She was in physical therapy (once or twice a week) and all the other days she was working out on her own. I sat back and didn’t say a word for a lot of that time. I wanted it to be her decision. For her to be able to overcome a broken L2, L3, and L4 and then be able to step on the mat, and not just step on the mat but dominate, there is a certain amount of pride that goes with that. She stepped up to the plate and has shown she doesn’t need somebody to make her do things.” “There were times when she needed Dad to sit down and say the hard things to her but we both met in the middle and made it work.”
For Angel, quitting was not an option.
“There was never a point that I thought I was done with this (rehab),” she said. “My only thought was what’s next and when can I get back on the mat.”
“I’ve never had a serious injury like that,” said Angel. “I couldn’t really move my left leg for a while. It wasn’t really all mental it was physical. There was a time when I couldn’t really move my left leg. If I wanted to wrestle it wasn’t like I could even get in a stance. All that was on my mind was when I was going to be able to get on the mat and have that contact. There was not a moment when I wanted to quit. All I could think about was getting better.”
The moment when she was finally able to get back to the sport she loved was special.
“It felt amazing,” said Angel. “The moment I was able to strap on my wrestling shoes and get out there was amazing. I missed it for so long. Being told you aren’t able to do it for so long was heartbreaking, being able to do it again meant the world to me.”
“It’s special to look back and think about how far I’ve come,” she said. “I didn’t really think that it was something that was going to happen. I came in halfway through the season. It’s special for me but I think it’s special for girls wrestling. There are girls I am friends with who say they really want to wrestle. I feel like this story might motivate them to get out there and try it.”