To say she put up a fight is an understatement.
Haley Heffel competed in a total of six wrestling matches at the Butterdome high school wrestling tournament in Edmonton last Saturday, Feb. 2, and brought home a gold medal.
When asked about the atmosphere of the competition, the 16-year-old wrestler from R.F. Staples Secondary School began describing a flurry of faces. She added that while some of her competitors looked familiar, there were a lot of new faces too.
“The wrestling community is pretty small,” Heffel said. “Usually once you see somebody at a competition, you see them at every other tournament.”
The day-long competition attracted junior high and high school athletes from across Western Canada. But this competition was different, Heffel explained.
“It was the first time that I’ve attended as a coach too,” she said with a smirk.
Being part of a team — as both a competitor and coach — with many of her high-school peers resonated deeply with Heffel, but her passion for the sport stemmed from the individuality and hard-work it required.
“My sister got me into it and after I went to one of her practices, I was hooked,” she said. “I really like that it’s all on you … you can’t blame anybody on your team if you win or lose because it was all work that you did.
“With other sports you have a lot more time to do well, but in wrestling you only have six minutes, if that.”
Heffel applauded the R.F. Staples club and confidently attributed its success to “working hard.”
And it doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that she leads the group by example. Heffel spends roughly 15 hours a week training with wrestling clubs at the University of Alberta and R.F. Staples.
In addition to regular practices, she does regular weight training and school work too. In the spring Heffel hopes to compete in the Alberta Open and gain a berth at the national finals.
And Heffel’s experience has helped the rest of the club, said R. F. Staples wrestling coach Kirsten Brinks, since it was the first time she — and many of her students — had been to a wrestling competition.
“I’ve never wrestled before so we’ve been relying pretty heavily on Haley’s knowledge,” Brinks said. “Nobody on this team has ever wrestled before, and that was their first tournament so they performed really well.”
Over the last month Brinks began utilizing Heffel’s wrestling experience for the rookie team. The gym at R.F. Staples has mats stretching a mere four-feet by four-feet so the team can watch the action and learn.
“It’s really nice for me to work one-on-one with them,” Heffel said. “If you go to a big club in (Edmonton), you’ll have maybe two coaches with 40 kids and you don’t really get the same thing.”
While the R.F. Staples wrestling club are slated to attend rural provincials Feb. 21-23 in High River.
Grappling with time-management for sports and school was never an issue for Haley Heffel, but when the Westlock wrestling club closed its door this season she began pursuing other avenues to progress.
Heffel began attending wrestling practices at the University of Alberta before the local club closed this season and she says it wasn’t an easy transition.
“I was going to Edmonton before the Westlock club closed because there were only a few people in it and they were all beginners so I needed more time and more competition,” she said. “At first the girls at the university were very stand offish and they didn’t really want to associate with me, but I think after some time they started to realize that I could compete.”
She described the wrestling community at the university as “overwhelming.”
“At first, I wasn’t much competition to them but now I can put up a fight,” Heffel said, while laughing. “I mean they still pin me, but I think I’m putting up a little bit more of a fight. Plus I went to a competition in Phoenix with them so I think that really tied me to the group.”
But she said there are aspects of the local club that she longs for. Instead of getting home from wrestling practices at 9:30 p.m. she arrives from Edmonton around 11 p.m. “And I really miss the coaches,” Heffel said. “I really appreciated the coaching because they did it all in their free time and a lot of them didn’t even have kids doing it.”
Having a full school load and playing so many sports — wrestling, volleyball and baseball — helped her learn how to stay organized. The 16-year-old wrestler said it’s all about learning how to “prioritize.”
