Over 1,250 grapplers ready to compete Dec 20 & 21
Roseville, Calif. – More than 1,250 girls and women wrestlers, including some nationally ranked athletes, will compete Dec. 20-21 during the eighth annual Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions at the Roebbelen Center in Roseville.
About 150 college, high school and middle-school teams, from as far away as Indiana and North Carolina, will participate in the two-day tournament – the largest in the nation not connected to a national event. Many Sacramento-area high schools with girls’ wrestling teams are competing, from Davis to Del Oro of Loomis.
Schedule & Tickets
High school matches kick-off the tournament at 4 p.m. Friday (Dec. 20), with college and middle-school matches starting 9 a.m. Saturday (Dec. 21) at the Roebbelen Center, 700 Event Center Drive in Roseville. Tickets are $15 a day for adults and $10 for students, cash only. Parking is $10 per day @the Grounds.
“It’s getting bigger every year,” said tournament director Don Martinez, the men’s wrestling coach at Sierra College in Rocklin. “We will have some of the best female wrestlers in the country, with a lot of state champions and nationally ranked girls.”
About 2,500 people, from athletes and coaches to fans, will attend the tournament, generating more than $1 million to the Placer Valley economy.
“The tournament has become a huge success and helps fill hotel rooms during what is often a slower period for tourism,” said Kim Summers, CEO of Placer Valley Tourism and @the Grounds, the home of the Roebbelen Center. “We never dreamed the tournament would grow this fast, with so many schools and wrestlers.”
The Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions started in 2016 and was first held at the Hardwood Palace in Rocklin. The fast-expanding tournament moved to the larger Roebbelen Center – able to accommodate 12 full-length basketball courts – in 2021.
The Cliff Keen-sponsored tournament allows athletes to compete against some of the best wrestlers in the nation before the holiday break – and gives fans the chance to experience one of the fastest-growing sports.
“It’s exciting to see an all-girls tournament,” said Austin Bell, the second-year girls’ wrestling coach at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento. He has 30 girls on the team this season, compared to three wrestlers last year. “It’s a very tough tournament that helps with the rest of the season. It really helps develop the wrestlers and showcases the sport.”
A sport that has gained the interest of more girls, thanks to the exposure of women’s wrestling through the Summer Olympics and UFC.
Empowering women
“Wrestling gives girls an opportunity to do a very physical sport that they were told they shouldn’t do, something that was frowned upon,” Bell said. “It gives them an opportunity, makes them feel empowered.”
And more high school and middle-school girls are embracing the opportunity.
“It’s evolved so much,” Martinez said. “Girls are wrestling at such a young age.”
At least 30 middle-school teams will compete in the Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions, four times more than just two years ago. A few of the teams are coming from outside the state.
Soaring popularity
Female wrestling is just “exploding all over the place,” said former Del Oro wrestler Angela Vyborny, a coach for the California National Team and founder-coach of Golden Tribe, a 35-girls’ wrestling club in the Sacramento region. “There’s less of a bias against girls, less of a stigma.”
Many of the middle-school girls continue wrestling in high school and even college.
Today, about 8,000 girls compete in high school wrestling in California, double the number of wrestlers in 2016, when the Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions started, according to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). The state has about 1,050 girls’ high school wrestling teams, 400 more than in 2016.
Nationwide, more than 50,000 high school girls participate in the sport, a dramatic increase from the 800 wrestlers in 1994, when girls often wrestled against boys, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
While there are about five times more boys that compete in high school wrestling nationwide – only about three times more in California – the sport is the same, regardless of gender. The demanding practices for girl wrestlers, where building endurance is just as important as learning powerful moves, and the matches mirror those of boy wrestlers.
Discipline, competitiveness and toughness
“They have every bit the same discipline, competitiveness and toughness as the boys,” said Tom Gonzalez, girls’ wrestling coach at Rocklin High School. He has a 12-girl team this season, three times more than just a few years ago. “You will be surprisingly shocked at the skill level. They are athletes.”
Some of those athletes are attracting the attention of college coaches and recruiters, including those attending the Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions.
More than 150 colleges and universities have women’s wrestling teams, with the NCAA planning a national championship tournament for the sport in the next few years.
“The girls get to see high-end wrestling and talk to some of the coaches at the tournament,” Gonzalez said. “It opens their eyes to opportunities through wrestling.”
Gonzalez coached Rocklin High graduate Gemma Templeman, who won the CIF state title in her weight category in 2024 and had multiple scholarship offers from colleges. Last year, a Rio Americano senior wrestler had dozens of scholarships, including some full-ride opportunities.
“They get to see some of the best college wrestlers up close and personal during the tournament,” said Bell of Rio Americano. “They start to think that this is possible for them, too.”