There will be at least one local wrestler taking an active interest in how the Olympics play out over the next week or so.
After a trip to the Asics Junior National Freestyle Tournament in Fargo, N.D., last month, Alesha Zappitella, the daughter of Scott and Cori Zappitella might be on the fast track for a possible bid to the Olympics four years from now.
Zappitella finished third at 105 pounds in the Junior Women’s division.
“I was pretty pleased,” she said. “The girl who took first, I pinned in folkstyle.
“I was shooting for first, but this was my first freestyle tournament. I had the biggest bracket at one of the best freestyle tournaments you can find. I was pretty pleased to get third.”
Having won the United States Girls Wrestling Association Folkstyle Junior Nationals in Oklahoma City in March, Zappitella continued her development with her trip to Fargo.
Folkstyle is very similar to how Zappitella wrestles for the Spartans. Freestyle is the style she will be competing in if she continues on her march toward the college grappling and the Olympic team.
“With folkstyle and freestyle, basically everything is different,” she said. “You have to win two of the three periods or pin your girl (to win). A tech fall is only six points (instead of 15). The scoring is completely different and you can lock hands on top.
“It’s different, but I have to get used to it because that’s what girls wrestle in college.”
With the London Games getting ready to open, most of USA Wrestling’s representatives were otherwise occupied and were not on hand for the tournament, but that doesn’t mean Zappitella didn’t make some noise.
“I trained with Harry Lester (an Ohioan who was headed to London),” Zappitella said. “He put together a practice to raise money to get his parents out to the Olympics to watch him.
“I definitely think I opened some eyes. My coach wrestles for the University of Cumberland and her coach was there and coached me for a couple of matches. It was pretty nice to have that.”
All of the coaching paid off. For the weekend, Zappitella was 13-1 with 11 pins, one technical fall and one injury default, including both the individual tournament and the dual matches she wrestled in as part of Team Ohio.
A couple of matches through the tournament stand out for Zappitella. The first was a match she won the other was her only loss.
“One match against a girl from California I was doing pretty badly in the first period,” she said. “I got hurt in the first period but I came back and pinned her in the second. That sticks out pretty well.
“The one I lost, that was my semifinal match. I wrestled her really well, but I know, looking back, if I would’ve wrestled better, I could have won that match.”
There is also a bit of a sense of what could’ve been, but just a little bit, considering she had previously pinned the girl who claimed the championship.
“It does kind of make me wonder how it would have played out if she would have been on my side of the bracket instead,” Zappitella said.
“But keep in mind, it was a completely different style and it could have gone either way.”
The coaching Zappitella has received from men and women at the top levels of the sports has only helped her to develop and she understands that the path they are laying out for her is the right one.
“I know how well they’ve done,” Zappitella said. “I know everything they’re teaching me will be correct and will work. If they’re doing so well with it, I will, too.”
Along those lines, Zappitella took a trip with Team Ohio that was very educational.
“Before Fargo, I went with Team Ohio out to Wisconsin and trained with Kevin Black, who runs Victory School of Wrestling in River Falls, Wisc.
“It actually helps a lot (to train with other girls). I’m used to wrestling guys, who are a lot bigger. Wrestling girls my size lets me be able to see what I will be able to do on them.”
The trip to Fargo and the subse
quent success would not have been possible without a team full of sponsors in Conneaut and Ashtabula.
“I had a lot of sponsors around town,” Zappitella said. “I took letters around to various businesses. I lot of them sponsored me and they made it possible to go.
“First, I have to thank Reid Victor and Keith and Sarah Sherman and my coach, Matt Bidwell, for all of their support. Then there’s Conneaut Eagles, the Moose Lodge, Dairy Queen, American Legion Post 151, Watson’s Auto Tech, Lakeshore Auto in Ashtabula, Sports ’n Sports in Ashtabula, State Street Auto, D&D Paving, Marshall’s, Frank Wojtowicz, Sure Thing Wrestling Club, Lauren Louize, Iarocci Law Firm, Evergreen Campground and Conneaut Cougars Wrestling Club.”
Those sponsors were important to Zappitella.
“It really meant a lot (to have them),” she said. “Without their help, none of it would have been possible. I’m glad to know so many people are rooting for me and want to see me achieve my dream.”
The success she is having definitely has piqued Zappitella’s curiosity on what her competition will look like in four years. She will be watching the Olympic games with an eye toward what those women are doing and how they do it.
“That’s exactly right,” Zappitella said.
She won’t have to wait all that long to match skills with those women. Her finish in Fargo made it possible to see those women up close and personal.
“It did qualify me to be able to wrestle at the Olympic Training Center (in Colorado Springs., Colo.) next summer,” Zappitella said. “Hopefully, that’s next.
“That’s really exciting. That’s exactly where I want to be.”
With the Olympic Games going strong, Zappitella can only dream of the future.
“I know I can do so well in that style,” she said. “I know that can be a reality.”
Ettinger is a freelance writer from Ashtabula.
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