The Girls’ Varsity Wrestling Team has finished this season as one of the leading teams in the Bronx, just behind Truman High School. With a 3-4 record, they were ranked in the top ten teams in the PSAL championships, even making it into playoffs. However, this is just based on the team’s dual meets during the weekdays. On the weekends, the girls don their headgear and go off to their own battles in the individual wrestling tournaments.

Tournaments are different from dual meets in that each wrestler can focus on herself. Whereas matches in dual meets affect the team’s score and rankings, tournaments only affect each individual wrestler and her own ranking. These tournaments are a great way to improve upon and to reflect on new wrestling performances and strategies. A special tournament that takes place every season is the Gotham Cities tournament, one of the biggest of the city.

The Gotham Cities Girls’ Tournament was hosted at PRATT Institute during the weekend of April 21st to April 22nd, 2018.  Cadets wrestled on Saturday, and both Cadets and Juniors wrestled on Sunday. Cadets are wrestlers who were born before or in 2000, while Juniors are those who were born in 2001 or after. This was the fifth Gotham Cities, and its popularity has increased with each passing year. The whole tournament is organized and headed by ‘BEAT THE STREETS’ and the head coach Jacque Davis. ‘BEAT THE STREETS’ is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children K-12 and up in wrestling by hosting free clinics and practice, as well as staging international dual meets.

“I was able to feel how diverse wrestling really is, and what an honor it was to exchange gear with a wrestler from another country,” said Rachel Chen ’20.

Gotham Cities is not only open to PSAL teams, but to out of state and international teams as well. In state-wide and international tournaments, there is a custom in which wrestlers exchange gear (such as singlets, shirts, and shorts), to express respect. Gotham is one of the tournaments in which this custom is frequently observed, often between wrestlers who have competed against each other in a match. Rachel Chen ’20, who wrestled in the 138 pound bracket this year, was one of the wrestlers who partook in this tradition, “I traded shirts with a wrestler from Mexico. Even though she only spoke Spanish and we didn’t verse each other in a match, it was still an amazing experience because I was able to feel how diverse wrestling really is, and what an honor it was to exchange gear with a wrestler from another country,” Chen said.

This year, the Bronx Science Girls’ Varsity wrestling team thoroughly enjoyed themselves at Gotham Cities. Fatema Biswas ’19, who wrestled in the 138 pound bracket commented, “What was special about Gotham was that you didn’t know what to expect. Since there were so many different people who came from different backgrounds, they incorporated many new techniques into their matches. Usually in a PSAL tournament you expect the same moves being used in the same fashion. At Gotham you truly didn’t know what was going to happen next.” Paige Linzo ’20, who wrestled in the 132 pound bracket added, “Wrestling at Gotham Cities was so exciting for me, especially because I was able to win my first match there with a pin. I definitely look forward to attending Gotham again next year, as I will have more experience, and hopefully, I will last longer in my bracket.” The location of the 2020 Gotham Cities has yet to be announced. However, it can be guaranteed that it will be just as exciting and full of the best women’s freestyle wrestlers that the city, state, country, and world have to offer.