Mallory Velte moves forward in her wrestling career with new confidence

Mallory Velte wrestles Erin Clodgo at 63 kg in the semifinals at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. (Photo by Tony Rotundo)

Throughout women’s wrestling you often see a number of college students making World and National Teams. Two-time WCWA champion Mallory Velte is no exception to that.

Velte’s interest in the sport of wrestling begin when she was in middle school in her home state of California. Unfortunately, at that time coaches turned her away. It wasn’t until she was in high school that she was able to fully embrace the sport of wrestling and discover her true potential. Although, Velte had a later start to the sport than most National Team members, her perseverance in the sport has led her to become one of the top U.S. women in her weight class.

California is one of very few states that offer women’s wrestling as a stand-alone in high school. It wasn’t until 2011 that the California Interscholastic Federation brought girl’s wrestling together as a state. The Girls Wrestling State Championship was previously held as two separate tournaments split between Northern California and Southern California.

Velte was fortunate enough to attend a high school that offered women’s wrestling. It was a small program at first that consisted of just Velte and one other girl on the team, but during her high school career, the team expanded and grew in numbers.  Her high school experience was complimented with competition against both boys and girls and she would regularly compete against boys in practice and in dual meets as a varsity wrestler.

Velte was able to add to her high school wrestling program and has been able to watch it grow during her time in college. Unfortunately, even through the years of progression in the program, her high school has decided to cut the entire program, for girls and boys.

“Seeing how many girl wrestlers have since come from my high school is one of the most rewarding feelings, and I’m disappointed about recent news that my high school is cutting the wrestling program and future girls and boys will not be able to benefit from the sport as I have,” she said.

Velte hopes to encourage coaches and schools to support the sport and athletes through her own success.  Going through her own line of misfortunes of not having a program and moving forward she celebrates the opportunity that she was given in high school to move forward in wrestling.

“As a female wrestler, I have the responsibility of portraying myself in the best light, celebrating alongside programs that have invested in me, and I hope that this is enough encouragement for coaches and schools to support the sport and the athletes in wrestling,” she said.

Throughout Velte’s career she has had numerous influences that have added to her success as an athlete. Having key role models in her life to encourage her along the way have made all the difference in her career.

“I have had wonderful coaching influences, notably my high school coaches at Christian Brothers: Bernie Eckle, Byron Miller and Mario Moreno. Many SAWA (Sacramento Area Wrestling Association) clubs who invited me in and all my phenomenally inspiring coaches and teammates at [Simon Fraser University] continue to influence me and model what it takes to achieve at the highest level of sport,” she said.  

Not only has Velte been persistent while growing up in a male-dominant sport and overcoming those challenges, but she has also been overcoming the challenges of being a full-time student, college athlete, and National Team member. With the help of both the National Team coach Terry Steiner and the SFU head coach Mike Jones Velte has been able to press through the challenges.

“It’s very difficult to balance the demands of a full-time course load at my university while meeting demands of National Team camps and competitions. I’m very fortunate to have both Mike Jones and Terry Steiner, who accommodate my competition and camp schedule to allow me to balance my training and student life,” she said.

Attending SFU as a U.S. wrestler has helped to give Velte a feel for wrestling international opponents, but she is still limited to just Canadian. Competing overseas at tournaments with Team USA has been invaluable experiences helping her to grow as a wrestler.

“I have increased confidence in my ability to compete at this level; however, I’m still fairly new to the senior international wrestling scene.  Placing at the Klippan Lady Open confirmed what I have been trying to convince myself- that I’m ready to be medaling at these tough senior level tournaments against world ranked wrestlers,” she said.

Earlier this month, Velte attended the Klippan Lady Open in Sweden, where she took fifth place at 63 kg/138 lbs. It was then that she began to have an increase in self-confidence. Constantly striving to medal at tournaments, she now believes more than ever that medaling is in reach.

“Experiences like the Klippan Lady Open are invaluable in my development and have been crucial in helping not only my technical and tactical areas of wrestling but also my psychological approach to match readiness and refocusing during competition. And I’d like to thank Andy Barth at [Titan Mercury Wrestling Club] for giving me the opportunity to do so,” she said.

Velte strives to continue her success as she prepares for the Women’s University Nationals in Oklahoma City, Okla., March 23-26 and onto the U.S. World Team Trials in Las Vegas, April 28.

“I have University Nationals, which I anticipate competing in late-March as a tune up tournament prior to World Team Trials. Aside from those two competitions, I’ll be finishing up the semester at SFU and looking forward to putting everything together on the mat in Las Vegas to compete to the best of my ability,” she said.