Dix Hills girl, 9, goes to the mat for wrestling title

BY BARBARA BARKER | barbara.barker@newsday.com

8:38 AM EDT, April 4, 2008

Kayla Brown, 9, poses next to her first place wrestling plaque in her home in Dix Hills (Newsday / Ana P. Gutierrez)

There are pink sandals on the floor, a Disney Princess comforter on the bed and a shelf of soccer trophies in the corner. In every way, Kayla Brown's bedroom screams average-third-grade girl. Make that every way but one.

Off in another corner is a small collection of wrestling dolls surrounding the newest addition to Kayla's room: a plaque declaring her a New York State wrestling champion.

That's right. Wrestling. With about 500 spectators cheering her every move, the 9-year-old from Dix Hills pinned two boys from upstate to win the Midget 120-pound division at the New York State Kids Folkstyle Championships in Loch Sheldrake last month.

"Kayla's best move is the headlock," says Ed Fiorvanti, one of her coaches on the Commack Claw Club team.

Kayla, according to Fiorvanti, was one of only two girls competing in the youth state championship that featured approximately 700 children and was sanctioned by USA Wrestling. No formal records are kept, so it is not known how many girls have won New York State titles.

Since women's wrestling became an Olympic sport in 2004, more and more girls have become interested in the sport. According to the National Federation of High School Associations, 5,048 girls competed on high school teams last season -- up from only 217 participants just 10 years ago.

Though there are some all-girls high school wrestling teams -- almost all are in Texas and Hawaii, with a few in California -- on the pre-high school level, girls' teams are virtually nonexistent. That means girls like Kayla who are interested in the sport must practice and compete with boys.

Since the whole point of wrestling is physical contact, it can be disconcerting for spectators to see boys and girls trying to flip, pin and straddle each other. And the process of breaking into a team that has no other girls can be intimidating.

"At first, I was against the whole idea," says Tara Ryan, Kayla's mother. "I kept saying what about dance? What about cheerleading? I seriously didn't even think they'd let her sign up."

Kayla told her parents she wanted to join the Commack team three years ago when her brother, Nicholas, 10, brought home a flier from school. Nicholas wrestled one year and then quit. Kayla stuck with the program and finished this year's season, her third, with a 15-2 record.

"Wrestling is fun, and I get to be with my friends," she said with a shrug when asked what in particular about the sport appealed to her.

Kayla's stepfather, Brendan Ryan, had competed in wrestling at Kings Park High School and has become her biggest fan. He said the key to Kayla's success is that her teammates and coaches have accepted and encouraged her from the start.

At 4-foot-7, 116 pounds, Kayla is a big girl -- she competes in the 120-pound division -- so in dual meets she often finds herself matched against boys who are two and three years older because she outweighs most of the boys in her age group. While her teammates have been supportive and respectful, the same cannot be said of some of her opponents.

Often, says her mother, boys from other teams will roll their eyes and snicker when they first see they have drawn "the girl." That quickly changes once the match begins.

"She's very strong and very aggressive, and she likes to go for the headlock," Fiorvanti said. "When you have someone beating on your head, it's pretty intimidating. She intimidates the boys, which is pretty unique."

So is the reaction she gets from some of her opponents' parents.

"Some of the mothers get very upset," Tara Ryan said. "After Kayla beat one boy, his mother actually came up and started yelling 'What kind of mother are you?' '"

Tara Ryan believes she is the kind of mother who has learned you need to let children follow their own dreams even though you may not initially understand them.

Said Brendan Ryan: "Wrestling has helped Kayla in school. It's taught her about discipline and goals and confidence. We tried to talk her out of it, but now we see it's the best thing that could have happened to her... . she's happy."