Annika Lindberg '21 Recruiting Profile

I began wrestling in 2017 as a means of joining a community in my new school. I struggled at first to understand the moves, techniques, and agility needed for wrestling so I was unable to win matches throughout the entire season. My final post-season match ended with me pinning my opponent for the first time and the satisfaction from having my hand raised after a tiring match made me fall in love with the sport. I joined multiple clubs over the summer and practiced throughout the off season. My sophomore year, I became girls team captain and placed first at 2 of the tournaments my team was invited to. At the same time, I was able to maintain As and Bs in the AP and regular classes that I took on. Unfortunately, I ended with an injury to my chest and was not allowed to wrestle post-season. Pushing through my injury, I wrestled the entire year of 2019 by attending club practices and summer camps. The toughest summer camp I attended was JROB in Oregon and there, I was pushed to my limits, broken down and built back up again. I came back home from that camp with a new mindset. I took on more APs, wrestled whenever I had free time, began to lift and work on cardio. My junior season was the toughest season by far as I made boys varsity and continued to set an example as girls team captain. Many things were working against me such as struggling to cut extra pounds, coach favoritism towards the new girls, and constantly being bumped to wrestle in a higher weight class no matter my weight. Still, I went out there and gave it my all. I learned to leave everything on the mat, win or lose, and that's what I did. In my 32-man bracket at 125, I was not able to qualify for regionals but that only inspired me to wrestle harder in the off season. Although I had only 1 month of freestyle practices, I am continuing to work on my techniques at home with a training dummy and mats. Fortunately, I ended my junior year with all As and decided on majoring in either business or law when I get to college and I am continuing to take on AP classes.