Girls claiming a place on the mat with Bedford North Lawrence wrestling

BEDFORD — When 17-year old Alessia Agostini made the journey from Italy to the United States to spend a year at Bedford North Lawrence High School as a foreign exchange student, she had a list of things she hoped to see and do.

Improve her English language proficiency, study and learn the American culture, see how the school system is structured and conducted, meet many, many new friends, and have fun were among the priorities Agostini had set aside.

Nowhere on that list did "go out for the wrestling team and earn a starting spot" show up.

Yet, it's one she has now checked off. This little Italian import of enthusiasm, curiosity and courage is BNL's 126-pound competitor, and she is leading a charge of girl power for the Stars, who boast four girls among their numbers this season.

Agostini, junior Samantha Biel and freshmen Alivia Crane and Katie Sites are the female foursome for the Stars. They aren't, nor do they claim to be, superstars. They won't be favored Saturday when BNL travels to the Southridge Sectional. 

They aren't even the first female wrestlers at BNL. Jessica Dodd was one of the originals, and there have been a couple of others. But this is the first time there has been more than one girl on the team, so it is by far the largest contingent in school history, so they are certainly pioneers in a sense of a sport that is growing rapidly.

Women's wrestling is already an Olympic sport, and is expected to become an official IHSAA sport in the next few years, already having their own state tournament as a club sport.

Agostini came to see America

Agostini hails from the city of Civitanova Marche, a beautiful city of 42,251 citizens on the east coast of central Italy. It's bordered by the Adriatic Sea, northeast across the country from Rome, and a short boat trip from Croatia.

Agostini entered the foreign exchange student program to help her expand her confidence and maturity and gain new life experiences. She arrived in September in time to start high school. She is a senior here, but will have one more year of high school next year in Italy.

"I mainly wanted to do it to grow up in mentality and to learn the language," she explained. "My English has improved a lot. I also wanted to come to the United States to see a different country and its culture, and to make new experiences.

"I wanted to meet new friends and make the experience of seeing how things work here. It has been a very good experience. Everybody is very, very nice."

Wrestling on a whim

Agostini is staying with 15-year old BNL student Salyn White among her host family. Agostini has thoroughly enjoyed her stay with the Whites, and in fact a fun, light-hearted moment led her to try her hand at wrestling.

"It actually started as a joke with my host dad," she revealed. "Shortly after I arrived we were all in the car driving around looking at different things around the city and a little bit in the country, and he took us by the high school to see it.

"I was talking about different activities I should think about trying (she is an accomplished hurdler in track and will compete for the Stars in that sport during the spring), and he said, 'Why don't you give wrestling a try?'

"I said, 'Oh, I didn't know girls could wrestle on the high school team.' He said they absolutely can, but he was kidding me telling me he didn't think there was any way I could do it.

"So now I'm laughing because I know when he says it that way that I am going to go try it just to try to prove him wrong."

Agostini summoned the ample courage it takes for anyone to wrestle, much less a foreign girl with absolutely zero experience in the sport, and she went out to see head coach Chris Branam on opening day of practice, along with the other three young ladies. It was an instantaneous hit with Agostini.

"In Italy we don't have it at youth levels, so I don't know what to expect when I go to practice the first time," she recalled. "But I tried it and I like it a lot. It's very hard, but I think I like the physical test, building strength, and learning the techniques of wrestling.

"It's a big challenge, and I like that part of it."

Joining the team also helped Agostini assimilate into school life and overcome the unavoidable pangs of longing to see her family that come early on during a separation. It's easy to see during matches that she has been accepted by all the wrestlers, male and female.

"I got homesick a lot in the first part of my time here, in the first semester," Agostini admitted. "But with wrestling I found an activity and I found friends to help occupy my mind and my time in a great way.

"As soon as I did the first day of practice I felt so good. You are so tired and your body hurts, but you feel you have done something very energizing.  And I love the friendship I have found with all of the wrestlers.

"I feel like the wrestling team are my family here away from home, and I feel like I am accomplishing something I never would have done if I hadn't come here. That's a big part of why I came here."

Agostini, other girls so courageous

This tiny Italian tangles with all her heart on the mat. She has several wins, though she admits many have come via forfeit. But not all, and she also had a win at the Girls Regional, where she finished sixth at 126. Biel also notched a win there.

Winning or losing is not the issue nor the goal here. She and the other girls are incredibly courageous to even step onto the mat and wrestle guys, most of whom have years of experience and the strength factor advantages on them. Crane is the only BNL girl with any wrestling experience, but she's a rookie.

Agostini's only guarantee — and she speaks for the other gals here — is that she'll do all she can to help the Stars to a strong finish Saturday in Huntingburg.

"I look at it as it's going to be very tough, but I'll try my best and it is what it is," she said. "In sports that's my goal, to do my best and to have fun with my friends. The other girls are great, and I love them.

"Actually, they have made it so much better for me, and our friendships have gotten much stronger because we're all willing to try this and go through it together."

Branam admires bravery, toughness

Branam, in his second year as BNL's head coach, has been wowed by the bravery and positive attitudes of his four girls, particularly Agostini as one from foreign soil with obvious barriers to overcome.

He is going to start the season with four female wrestlers and finish it that way, which is quite encouraging.

"Alessia represents this wonderful group of girls I've gotten to coach this season, and I've never had this many girls on a wrestling team, and girls who have tried out in the past have quit before season starts," Branam noted. "They have great attitudes and they just go out each day in practice with positive outlooks and they give all they have to improve and learn.

"Alessia's attitude is unreal, really. She's always encouraging others and smiling, just upbeat and a great person to have on the team. And she is tough and gotten so much better. It's really amazing how much she has improved after having no experience whatsoever."

There have been two matches this season where Branam needed Agostini to simply hang in against a superior male opponent and not get pinned in order to give the Stars a shot a team victory. She succeeded both times.

"Alessia may not have as many notches in the win column as she would like, but she has quickly shown herself to possess unbelievable tenacity and an undefeatable spirit," Branam said. "I am so proud of her."

Agostini is exceedingly pleased to make her coach happy with her effort.

"Our coaches are great, another big reason I wanted to stay with it," she said. "Coach Branam is a great person. He's kind of a father for me over here away from home, and I know he's proud of me for how I fight. That's a big, proud thing for me."

Wrestling, Italian style

Agostini knows her wrestling time in the U.S. will be brief, but she hopes to get to continue in the sport when she returns home next fall.

"The coaches have been helping me, trying to look up any places that have wrestling clubs for girls in Italy," she said. "We do have men's wrestling, and I'm sure there are some women involved, but over there it's almost all Greco-Roman style, not like the freestyle wrestling here.

"But I definitely hope to stay with it somehow when I get back home. I'll do my last year of high school back home, and then when I pick a university that I want to attend I will try very hard to find one that offers women's wrestling. I'm sure I will find one somewhere."

Until then she is going to take tremendous pride in what she, Biel, Crane and Sites have established at BNL.

"I am very proud of the other girls and myself for what we have started with the wrestling team," Agostini said. "I feel that we have done a good thing and that we're going to make it so many more girls will want to come out and wrestle in the future.

"Samantha, Alivia and Katie will all be back next season. I wish I was going to be here next year to be a part of it."

Contact Times-Mail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.