adminThe bruises were reminders that some boys would rather hurt her than compete with her. Instead of deterring Bonneville senior Samantha Bush (18), however, that reaction energised her. “Some (wrestlers) would just go real hard to try and hurt or discourage me,” she said after a recent meeting at Bonneville High. “You can definitely tell the difference. But it didn’t discourage me. It really just pushed me to work harder so I’d be able to beat them.”
The 120-pound wrestler, who earlier this month became just the second girl in Utah history to sign an academic scholarship that will allow her to wrestle in college, said she experienced three basic reactions her sophomore season — those who’d rather forfeit than wrestle a girl; those who tried to discourage her; and those who just competed against her. In just three years, she said she’s seen a major shift in attitude, reported the Deseret News.
“It’s gotten a lot better, and when it happens, the refs usually call it,” Bush said. “Women’s wrestling is growing in respect.”
Bush said she’s not sure the Olympics are in her future, but she celebrated signing a scholarship with MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, earlier this month at a post-meet ceremony that included her family, coaches, teammates and even some opponents.
For Bush, the decision to wrestle seems a natural one as her younger siblings — two boys and a girl — all wrestled from a young age.
“I was kind of on the fence about it,” she said of the sport. “I played volleyball and softball because I wanted to do my own thing.
Her parents said they’ve never doubted their daughter would achieve her goal of earning a scholarship in wrestling.
“From day one,” Bethanie Bush said she thought her daughter might have enough talent to earn a college scholarship through the sport. “When Sam makes a decision to do something, she jumps in (completely). She goes all in. It’s all or nothing with her.” — The News Tribune/Onlin.e
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