“So how’s the girls’ wrestling team going?” Nicole Morelli’s mom asked her.  Senior Nicole Morelli did not know that her mom thought her wrestling team consisted of teenage girls. When she broke the news to her mom that she was the only girl on the team, she no longer had permission to wrestle on the school’s wrestling team.

   “My mom doesn’t want me wrestling with the guys, otherwise I so would,” Morelli said.

   Morelli started conditioning with the team before her mom told her she couldn’t wrestle at all. Although she cannot compete or practice, Morelli is still an important member to the team.

   “I help manage. I clean the mats and do conditioning. I time their matches they do and I’m supposed to keep their stats this year,” Morelli said.

 Morelli attends every practice after school. She is dedicated and enjoys helping out her team.

   “I still get to watch and take mental notes and mess with my brother. It gives me something to go after school instead of just going home and sitting around,” Morelli said.

   Morelli may not be as close with the team as the other teammates are with each other, but she at least has some friends who were already on the team and the whole team knows the girl on the wrestling team.

   “They treat me nice. They treat me like I’m a part of the team still,” Morelli said.

   For now, Morelli has fun being the team’s manager and hanging out with the guys. She has not had any prior experience, but wrestling is just this girl’s sport.

   “I find the wrestling interesting,” Morelli said, “I like to watch it.”