Since the school’s opening in 2006, wrestling has been an option for student athletes to compete in.

This year though, the school hired its first female wrestling coach.

First it was Los Fresnos, then it was Lovejoy. Now, assistant coach Vivan Espinoza is here with the Redhawks.

At her previous stops, she was tasked with coaching other sports like track, volleyball, and basketball.

But here on campus, Espinoza is happy to coach just wrestling.

“It’s a different sport, so it’s just, I mean, I love the sport because it’s completely different, it’s not like any other sport,” Espinoza said. “I just like the uniqueness of it, like how every wrestler can have their own style on the mat.”

Finding out that she was the team’s first female coach was a bit of a surprise to Espinoza.

“Well, I didn’t know that until Koons had hired me that I was the first female so it kind of like, made me a little bit nervous, but I’m excited,” Espinoza said.

“So when I became head coach, one of the first things I knew was that I wanted to hire was a female coach,” wrestling head coach Justin Koons said. “I think it’s important to help grow the sport of girls wrestling and to do that you need a female coach in a male-driven sport.”

Sophomore Dani Banks feels that Espinoza adds a new element to the Redhawks wrestling program.  

“For one, she is a female, so it’s a new type of energy,” Banks said. “She understands more than our male coaches do like coach Koons, he understands a lot, but she understands, like the difficulty of being a female and then on the team with a lot of boys.”

After going through six coaches in just four years, senior captain Taylor Clapp loves having a female coach and believes she will help expand the team.

“I love having a female coach, it helps a lot during wrestling,” Clapp said. “She understands what we need to do and what helps us. I think that she has definitely already grown the girls team.”

Wanting to put more focus on the girls’ team, Koons knew hiring a female coach was a necessity. 

“I think the first step to grow this program was to hire a female coach,” Koons said. “I think the diversity of it is key, and I think having that will grow the team. it’s not guaranteed, but i think it’s a step in the right direction.”

“I just want our team to grow,” Espinoza said. “I want to fill out maybe one or two at every single weight class and have our options. then, start winning more tournaments with all of the girls that we may have.”

This story was originally published on Wingspan on December 15, 2023.