Girls wrestling became a high school sanctioned sport this year, and Jasmine Newman ‘25  a multi-sport athlete, was one of the first girls to join.

“I’ve always been open to trying every sport actually,” Newman said, “I’ve done at least seven sports in my life.” 

Even with it being her first year in wrestling, she came out with a bang, only losing two matches throughout the season and was ranked second in her conference. 

“My season was actually really good-I only lost to one person with a 18-2 record and I got invited to nationals and I was going to go to state- but I got injured.”

Only weeks before state, during a match with Bella Porcelli, an unforeseeable accident abruptly ended her season.

“I got injured during a finals match against the number 7th in the nation. I was wrestling Bella and she landed on top of me while my arm was posted out and my arm snapped-basically in the middle-dislocated. So it tore on both sides of my arm.”

Being at the height of the season, and only weeks before a promising performance at state, an injury is the fear of many athletes, and was the reality for Newman. While not uncommon in a sport as physical as wrestling, injuries are devastating nonetheless. 

“In a mental aspect it affected me quite negatively because I was ranked pretty high…I was projected to get at least 3rd in state so not being able to compete for the first year that wrestling’s even, like, a sport for woman was difficult as well cause, like, knowing that you can do better than what your given all the time is kind of aggravating,” Newman explained.

Getting injured near the end of a sports season is a disappointing finish, given that most seasons only last a few months, and losing that time deprives athletes from the chance to compete for possibly a year. Newman certainly isn’t a newcomer when it comes to being injured during the peak of the season, 

“I tend to get injured quite frequently…so this is probably the third year of being injured-third or fourth year of being injured during a season…It kind of sucks being injured all the time because you’re not really proving- the point of a sport isn’t to prove yourself but for me personally I need to prove myself to a lot of people-and I-I can’t do that injured.” Newman explained 

While the body clearly takes a toll while injured, the mind is affected as well.  Newman noted that she sees how easy it is to feel a decline in one’s self worth when facing an injury that causes performance failure, or puts an athlete out of the season altogether.

“Something that you shouldn’t do, but most athletes acquire their sense of self worth based on their performance in the sport they play,” Newman said, “so it brings down your sense of self worth because you’re not playing that sport…your mental health while being injured during your season-or even out of your season- it can be really depleting as an athlete.” 

No matter how earth shattering an injury may feel at the time, it rarely lasts forever. Newmans next step is getting on the road to recovery to improve for the next season.

“The first season was actually really good and I definitely will do it again” Newman said, “I have to do PT, but other than that I plan on getting better”

Despite the physical and mental toll that injury had put Newman through, hopes are high in recovering quickly and getting back out on the mat. “Hopefully I can just get my life together and not be injured,” Newman said, “maybe next year.”