Leaving It All on the Mat

Junior wrestler Melissa Soep achieves All-American status.

When Melissa Soep ’27 arrived at The Governor’s Academy as a ninth-grade boarding student, she knew she wanted to commit to a team sport for all three seasons of the afternoon program. Unfortunately, she wasn’t interested in most of the winter athletic offerings. Then, she noticed wrestling. “My three older brothers and my dad were all interested in the World Wrestling Entertainment, so I thought, you know what? Maybe I’ll give that a try,” she says. When another student working out in the Govs gym commented on Soep’s obvious strength and suggested she go out for wrestling, Soep’s decision became final.

Governor's wrestling team is a co-ed varsity team that welcomes athletes of all backgrounds, many of whom, like Soep, have no prior experience. “I thought, coming in, that just because I was strong, it would come easy to me,” Soep says. “It definitely did not.” The team practices five days a week, with workouts a lot harder than Soep initially expected. The intense warmup includes cartwheels, somersaults, and walking on hands. From there, the athletes practice drills before finishing by running sprints. 

The hard workouts brought Soep closer to her teammates and served as a lens through which to view all other aspects of her Govs experience. “Even though I wasn’t very good my freshman year, I found that I really liked the difficult practices,” Soep says. “There’s something about working that hard that makes other aspects of your day seem so much easier. If practice is the hardest part of my day, then I’m having a pretty good day.”

While the world of wrestling is historically male, the Govs coaching staff shares a passion for
growing the sport—even when it can be harder to find competitive opportunities for the team’s girls. Luckily, women’s wrestling is the fastest-growing high school sport in the country, and has recently gained traction in the Independent School League (ISL), in which Govs competes. “Right now at school, my drilling partner is a guy, and I almost don’t notice it,” Soep says. “When I go to club practices, and I’m the only girl in the room, I notice it more, but being on the team, it doesn’t affect me as much.”

While team practices are co-ed, competition is not. Instead, Soep either competes against other girls in dual Varsity meets or tournaments. “A lot of the girls who compete at the varsity level at dual meets are in lower weight classes,” she says. “Because I am not, the majority of my competitions are tournaments.” But Soep doesn’t let the fact that she gets fewer matches than her male teammates deter her from continuing. “I think it just makes the matches I do have count so much more,” she says.

This year, Soep had the opportunity to compete on the national level for the very first time and finished with a third-place ranking in her weight class. “Last year I broke my foot at the state tournament,” she says. “So, this was the first time I’ve ever placed at a big tournament on any level.” The accomplishment earned her an All-American title. “Winning All-American was the best part of my season,” she says.

Soep did the hard work to earn her All-American designation, but knows she couldn’t have done it without the support of the adults in her life, including her coaches and parents. “My parents have been especially supportive of me during this process,” Soep says. “They wake up early on Sundays to drive me to club practices and support me in my matches. They weren’t super thrilled when I told them I wanted to wrestle, but they decided to support my decision and have helped me so much.”

One benefit of the rigorous wrestling workouts is how they help Soep stay strong for her other athletic seasons. As a ninth- and tenth-grader, Soep ran track in the spring. In the fall, Soep competes on the volleyball team, a sport she started in seventh grade. This year, Soep earned an All-New England title in volleyball. Unlike wrestling, where such designations are based on specific tournament results, in volleyball, the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) chooses based on coach voting, team nominations, and overall season performance. Soep found out the news at the Academy's end-of-season athletic banquet. “I really had no idea,” she says. “I didn’t expect anything, so it was a real surprise to me.” Next fall, she will serve as one of Governor's volleyball team captains.

Outside of her athletic endeavors, Soep co-chairs a poetry club she first learned about from a wrestling teammate. “I got into it because, my freshman year, one of the girls I really looked up to on the team ran the poetry club,” she says. “I went to one of the meetings just to support her. I did not know I’d continue going, and later have a larger role in it.” In academics, Soep most enjoys history and science, but has not yet figured out what she would like to study in college. Even with her packed schedule, Soep also manages to work as a lifeguard at the Newburyport YWCA.

Looking ahead to life after Govs, Soep plans to continue wrestling, but is not sure she will continue to compete. One reason is that the colleges known for their women’s wrestling programs don’t overlap with the schools she is interested in. Another is that women’s wrestling at the collegiate level and above competes freestyle, while high school wrestling is folkstyle. “Making that switch would be like learning English and then needing to perfect a Southern accent,” Soep says.

Instead, Soep hopes to continue club wrestling—even if only for the unmatched level of workout. “For me, wrestling is not necessarily about the matches,” she says. “I really think the best aspects of wrestling are training and practices. That’s when you realize how much you love the sport.” Soep’s coaches like to remind the team that not everyone can walk out to the middle of a wrestling circle. It’s a lesson Soep takes to heart and will apply to any future challenges she faces. “Putting your foot on that line takes a lot of courage, and it’s difficult,” Soep says. “But growth is uncomfortable; you just get used to it.”