Watsonville High’s Emily Kalka shakes the hand of Monte Vista Christian coach Brendan Leathem after winning her match Dec. 16 during a Monterey Bay League dual meet.

When Emily Kalka learned that there would be separate Central Coast Section and state wrestling championships for girls this season, it came as a surprise, a wonderful surprise.

“I just thought, ‘Wow, it’s so cool how far the girls have come in this sport,’ she said. “I’m so lucky they are having it in my senior year.”

More and more girls are getting involved in high school wrestling, and with it the level of competition is rising. And Kalka is one of the best around.

She’s not just a member of the Watsonville High wrestling team. Wildcatz coach Gary Garcia named her one of the team’s two captains.

“She’ll tell the guys stuff and they’ll respond,” Garcia said. “They know she’s one of the team leaders.”

Kalka isn’t making Garcia regret naming her captain. She’s a hard worker in practice and that work is paying off in her results. She pinned her male opponent in the first period of Watsonville’s only Monterey Bay League match so far, and has won her last two girls tournaments, getting named MVP in Terra Nova, where she pinned all of her opponents.

The key to her success? She’s strong technically, and knows when to use which of her variety of moves.

“She probably the most skillful wrestler we have on the team,” Garcia said. “First, she has a lot of experience. Two, she understands the strategy of the game. Her application of skills is probably the biggest strength she has.”

Kalka is in her third season on Watsonville’s wrestling team. After winning the Northern California regional title as a freshman, she played basketball as a sophomore, before returning to wrestling as a junior.

The increasing number of female competitors has been a bonus for many high school programs that have seen a drop in the number of male wrestlers. Kalka (130 pounds) and freshman Maria Magayon (103), for example, are both in Watsonville’s starting lineup.

“I think it’s fabulous,” Garcia said. “We’ve got some girls here who are doing the job that boys can’t do. It just continues to grow every year.”

Kalka said she didn’t have a great season last year, but she’s off to a 23-5 start this season. Most of her matches have come against girls — she’s 2-2 against boys — but she said she’s become more comfortable taking on male competitors this season.

“I just see it as a match,” she said. “I just work my moves and if I come out victorious, all the better.”

“She impresses me a lot,” said Abel Rascon, who graduated last year but is working with Watsonville’s wrestlers this season. “She has lots of heart. She’s gotten a lot better and a lot faster.”

Kalka even has hopes of earning a spot in the overall CCS tournament. While all girls automatically qualify for the girls tournament, which takes place Feb. 20, she could also qualify through the MBL tournament for the overall tournament, which begins Feb. 19.

Kalka, who wrestled one year in middle school, said wrestling was attractive to her because she’s always been aggressive and loved one-on-one competition. She said the key for her, especially against stronger boys, is to get the jump on opponents, get them on the defensive, and then use her technical skills to earn points or a pin.

It doesn’t always result in a victory, but Kalka has learned that a loss doesn’t mean she wrestled poorly. One of the highlights of her season was when the coaching staff credited her with a strong performance for using her array of moves well in a loss last week during the Sierra Nevada Classic, a prestigious tournament in Reno, Nev.

“That was exciting for them to say that to me even though I lost,” she said.

Kalka is already serving as a role model for Magayon — who compared Kalka to a “big sister” — and said she hopes she can inspire other girls to try wrestling.

“I did it,” she said. “I’m aggressive, but I’m not the most violent person. You don’t have to be super buff or really fast. That’s what you work on in practice.”



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