It’s a wrestling media website I created where I write about girls and women’s wrestling. Sometimes I highlight men’s wrestling, but it mainly focuses on women’s wrestling because there is a very big gap in media coverage of what the girls get compared to what the boys get, especially because it’s a nontraditional female sport. But it’s growing, so I created this website to help bridge that gap.

News Years Eve, so it’s very, very new, and a lot has happened in the fourth months since I did it.

My brother has been wresting since before I was even born and now he’s a freshman at Columbia and wrestling there. My whole life I was exposed to the sport, but not girls wrestling until I was about 14, and so I think I would have wrestled myself if I knew I could. Now, it’s growing so much and I’m trying to be at the end of helping promote girl’s exposure in the sport, so they know it’s possible to wrestle as a woman. To be honest, I used to hate it. Like, you’d have to bribe me to go to all my brother’s matches and then I eventually just accepted it as a part of my life, so I stopped complaining and found a way to do something about it that turned into a passion. During (the) COVID (pandemic) I grew a bigger appreciation for it and had nothing better to do, so I started watching it more and ever since then, it has become a bigger part of my life.

To inspire other women to get into wrestling and just to spread the message.

Some of my big articles is an interview with the COO of the PIAA about girls wrestling getting sanctioned and how long that would take. We really talked about it a lot. I also talked with Kylie Welker, who was the first woman to commit to wrestling in the Big 10 (Conference). She’s the No. 1 ranked (female) wrestler in the country and I was able to talk to her. The biggest thing with connecting with people to make these stories possible is just to find their contact information like an email, and then people have been pretty responsive and willing to work with me.

*Witmer has also been able to connect with Columbia women’s wrestling coach Emma Randall, in addition to other Pennsylvania female high school wrestlers such as Grace Stem from Bald Eagle Area School District and Ava Bayless, of Greenville, PA, to learn about all aspects of the sport.

Because of this website, I also have made other opportunities out of it. I’m a SanctionPA ambassador and we’re constantly in contact with the PIAA and have regular meetings. I was also able to get into the girl’s state championship to write more about the subject, and wrote in the PA Wrestling News magazine and was able to share my story about why to support the movement.

*SanctionPA is an organization aimed at advocating for girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport in the commonwealth. Witmer was also featured on various national wrestling podcasts and other media platforms. You may see more about Witmer in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame – Pennsylvania Chapter: Annaliese Witmer

Because why not? All wrestling is wrestling. In my lifetime, I have seen it grow from virtually nothing to one of the fastest growing sports in the nation, if not the fastest growing sport. We have over 400 high school girls competing and when I was growing up, there were only a handful. There is a lot of stigmatization to it because it’s not a traditional women’s sport, but why can’t it be? The other cool thing is the difference in the fan base of the sport from just a few years ago. A lot of people are supporting this, and hearing the fans in the stands getting into it was so cool to see the EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wresting Association) where they had four girls featured for the first time in history.

I can’t just choose one. So many I talk to on a daily basis are incredible, but people from FloWrestling, the biggest wrestling media company in the country, has been pretty incredible. I talk to a lot of people who work there and work closely with the content creator. It’s just crazy that I have this opportunity to be a part of the sport without being one of the athletes.

Well, I’m working on a big project now that I hope will be ready by the end of the year – working on making products that basically support the movement with items that say things like, “All wresting is wrestling.” My hope would be to sell the products and all profits made will go back into the sport. I’m just working to find the method that will make the biggest impact.

There is a lot of support and it’s been really cool. When I went to the girl’s state tournament, they all knew who I was and excited that someone else was advocating for them. It’s really encouraging to keep doing what I’m doing. But things have really blown up since I started, especially in the wrestling world. People have been Tweeting at me that I never would have even thought they would see or read what I do.

It’s such a tightknit community. There is nothing like it. It’s so special, and just being able to make friends with so many people from different schools and different states has been really rewarding. From the athletes, to the fans and journalists, it’s a really close group of people and one of the things I also like about wrestling is the camaraderie that goes with it. You can watch two wrestlers go at it on the mat, but at the end they hug and then are out getting pizza together. It teaches you a huge life lesson.