You may be sitting around your house these days, thinking, “UFV had a wrestling team, didn’t they? Where did they go?” Good news: you’re correct. The Cascades’ wrestling program was highly successful, winning multiple national medals and championships. However, after it was paused by UFV Athletics, wrestlers had to persevere through the season with a smaller team. Then, COVID-19 changed everything for the program. A full-contact, combat sport such as wrestling is nearly impossible to facilitate considering commonly mandated practices to fight the pandemic. For Calista Espinosa, a winner of conference medals and even national podium spots, the pandemic hasn’t been easy for her and her wrestling career.
“When COVID-19 hit, we had just come back home with four U Sports medals, so around that time we were getting prepared for junior nationals, and just as we started training, that’s when COVID-19 hit. So then Wrestling Canada actually postponed the nationals to next year [2021], but obviously that was cancelled because the COVID-19 situation in Ontario was pretty bad. It’s still pretty bad right now, so obviously that’s not happening anymore,” said Espinosa.
The cancellation was especially hard for Espinosa, as she had hoped to finish her last year as a junior national champion after winning two national gold medals at the cadet level. The pandemic ushered in a new era for athletes, and many could not train together or play competitive matches. Espinosa followed up on her goal to get stronger by continuing to lift weights, but she had to wait till the summertime to train again with her local wrestling team, the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club.
After the summer, COVID-19 cases began to rise significantly. Wrestling could not continue for the fall, so again the Cascades wrestlers missed a number of tournaments across Western Canada.
Espinosa explained that in the meantime, she is lifting weights and doing one-on-one training with a teammate. “If there’s any chance that nationals will happen again, then obviously I’m still going to try and win that national medal,” Espinosa said. “I don’t know how Wrestling Canada is going to deal with this, but I wasn’t the only one who had their shot taken away at the last minute, because there’s other last year juniors like me. So, I’m sure, if possible, they would give us that redshirt year and give us a chance to compete at the junior level, rather than going straight to the senior level. I’m sure that was everyone else’s goal too, so I’m really hoping they give us that chance.”
With COVID-19 vaccines arriving in Canada, it’s unclear if or when university wrestling will be able to return to normal this year. Complicated travel and training restrictions could sideline the sport for months, and that’s not taking into consideration the state of varsity programs, as many could suffer from a lack of competition — both from fewer events and from athletes leaving the program to pursue other avenues for competition.
