There’s a girls’ wrestling movement across the country, and Warren Area High School freshman Jenna Kophazy is at the forefront.
And now it’s official.
YUP! Athletics is a sporting goods company by women for women. The company is based in Kansas City, Missouri. “Deb (North) was born while shopping for wrestling gear with her youngest daughter, Annie, and formed YES! Athletics to empower young female athletes by bridging the gap in sporting goods for girls in sports. Young girls participating in traditionally male sports are both vulnerable and brave…YES! Athletics is sportswear for girls and women who are brave enough to step into the world of male-dominated sports. Our mission supports girls in athletics by offering footwear that male athletes have traditionally worn, in styles and colors that appeal to female athletes.”
Jenna is one of those athletes. In addition, she was recently named a brand ambassador for the company’s wrestling gear.
“My dad posted a video on Facebook of a super cool bridge move I did at the Tournament of Champions in West Virginia while wearing her shoes.” said Jenna. “I didn’t even realize what I was doing myself until I saw the video of my match. The video went viral, garnering thousands of views and comments across multiple social media platforms. YUP! Athletics saw the video and wanted to share it on their social media, and they also asked if I would be interested in being a brand ambassador for them too. I was excited about the offer and figured why not? Whatever I can do to bring more awareness to the sport of girls’ wrestling, it would benefit more people in the long run.”
The video, posted on Facebook at https://fb.watch/eQ2G1Kzjbm/ by Yes Athletics, is captioned “Roll through. Look at this! We love seeing our shoes in action.”
Kophazy has represented the Crawford County Girls Wrestling Club locally and wrestled for Team Pennsylvania at the Junior National Duals in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a versatile athlete and excellent student, Kophazy takes on her new responsibility for YES! Athletics seriously. She posted product updates and her personal discount code for YES! Athletics on social media.
“I only wear her shoes and shirts, which I already did”, She said. “But one of the coolest things I can do is they sent me some stickers with their logo or sayings for wrestlers that I can just give out to other wrestlers. They also printed me business cards with my name on them to give out to other girls who like my shoes or their gear I wear, but that not only tells them where to get the same things, it gives them one too special discount code that will allow you to save some money on your purchases. I post online for their products and share pictures of me wrestling in their gear.
“YES! Athletics has shoes, water bottles, backpacks, vests, etc. – all just for girls. I myself had almost all of their products even before I became a brand ambassador.
“The recognition from the company let me know that people were watching and seeing what I was doing in the sport, which made me feel pretty good.” said Jenna. “Being an ambassador for her is almost a perfect fit because I know so many women wrestlers that I could help extend their mission and products to the fastest growing sport of girls’ wrestling.
“Wrestling has gone very well this summer,” added Jenna. “I’ve been to some very exciting girls’ tournaments where I’ve had to compete against some of the best high school wrestlers in the country and I’ve done really well. … I’ve gotten to watch younger girls wrestle and feel like I’ve become a role model because my favorite things to do are watch, talk, hang out and even get on the mat and warm up with the younger girls. My shoes help with that because they come in colors that most young girls like and a very common question I get asked is, ‘Where did you get these shoes from?’”
You don’t have to look far to find female wrestlers to join Jenna in building the sport.
“As a freshman wrestler into my sophomore year, I see the sport growing in the area,” said Jenna’s sister Kasey Kophazy. “Many of the tournaments are now beginning to have girls’ sections for youth and junior high school, but few offer them for senior school. The number of young girls is growing rapidly, but at junior high and high school it is growing more slowly. The reason is that by the time boys reach that age, they are physically stronger than their female counterparts, and girls have to rely on technique to stand even a small chance and risk career-ending injuries that damage their bodies bring to their limits. Many of the tournaments I’ve been to have larger numbers of girls each time, with increasing numbers in the girls’ division. In recent years, 55 Pennsylvania high schools have sanctioned girls’ wrestling teams, most of which came within the last six months. Places like Seneca, Saegertown and Mercer are some of the school districts that have made commitments. With 14 Pennsylvania colleges adding women’s wrestling teams to their athletic programs and more on the way, and over 130 colleges sanctioned statewide and some of the major universities adding programs this year, it opens a door for fantastic scholarship opportunities that had never existed before for lady wrestlers. There are already several wrestlers at each of the schools in our district, enough for us to already have a team. If we do some try-it nights, I think we could build an all-female wrestler team that could be one of the best in the state.”
Shelby Lobdell from Sheffield has no problem wrestling a boy or girl but sees the benefits of programs for girls. She wrestled Youngsville Senior Allyson Henry in a 113-pound varsity match on February 11 at Youngsville High School.
“Some girls are intimidated because it’s male-dominated and the girls’ clubs and stuff are a big help.” She said.
Kasey said female wrestlers are ready to shine.
“I took first place at the Bragging Rights Tournament in Waynesburg and also first place at the Dean Johnson Memorial held at our county fairground.” said Kasey. “I wrestled over 40 matches in Crawford County Girls Wrestling dual meetings and singles tournaments in my freshman year wrestling and won an average of 50 percent of them. I may be new, but I’m focused and eager to learn.”
Girl daddies are on board.
“As the sport grows, our athletic director has let the (school) board know he’s coming,” said Keith Kophazy. “We have received permission to ask schools in our county if any of their students are interested. We’d love to have a ‘Try It’ night in the near future and move on from there. You don’t have to have a full team to be sanctioned. The girls meanwhile compete for tournaments and possibly other teams from the region; There are already regional and state championships (which Lobdell qualified for) so it takes very little funding to start a team. If girls are interested in trying the sport, reach out to us.”