For three school years, the state of Wyoming has sanctioned girls wrestling at the high school level. For those three years, the Lady Braves have set the bar. Jeff Anderson, who was approved by the school board as the new head coach of the program expects to continue that trend. He spoke with SVI about his background in a recent interview.

“I’m a teacher at the middle school and coach wrestling and football,” he said. I’ve always been involved with wrestling. I spent time coaching at Rigby High School and wrestled through college on some national teams and it’s a sport I love and I want to give back.”

Anderson believes, like most Star Valley residents, that wrestling can be a tremendous way to teach life lessons.

“I think sports are great for all kids,” he said. “It helps them get good grades, helps them stay out of trouble and b successful in life. But I feel like wrestling gives kids the biggest challenge. They learn so many valuable lessons from it. It provides the biggest reward.”

The Lady Braves scored over 200 points en route to their most recent championship and had ten placers, three all-state finishers and two individual champions. A big part of that group is back and Anderson believes the sport and the program will continue to grow.

“There’s a culture of success in Star Valley and it starts at home,” he continued. “Their older brothers and sisters succeed and we want to help keep that going so they can be the best they can possibly be. Remi [Aullman] and Cara [Andrews] have been in the finals six times together and they will be part of this incoming senior class who have been with us all four years. Veil Foreman lost one match in her whole high school career. We just want to continue that going. We want to start a chapter of girls with USA Wrestling and we want those kids to coming up through and add to that culture.”

Part of that growth is continuing to foster opportunities for younger athletes.

“These young ladies have a chance to give it a try and realize they really like it and want to make it part of their lives,” he said. Winston Patterson and Whitey Gardner have done a fantastic job at the middle school and we hope to keep that going. We face tougher competition each year as number increase. The culture is to develop these great athletes. The titles will come as we try and create great people who go out there and lay it on the line.”

Anderson also noted the satisfaction of seeing the growth over the period of time the girls spend in the program.

“From when they come in to when they leave is night and day,” he added. “They come out of the program with such great confidence. My favorite thing is I had a girl turn to me at this last state tournament and tell me hey I can win this and I told her she absolutely could.”

Anderson invites girls to continue to give the sport a chance.

“I think they all should have a chance to take on that challenge,” he continued. “It’s something that will serve them throughout their whole life. If anybody is on the fence, I would say come out and give it a try. You’ll find no better group to help you try and become great.”