Lacing up her shoes and stepping onto the mats, Natalie Corona stares down her next opponent. Being one of the first female wrestlers for MCHS, Corona has inspired many girls in her school and in her community with a smile on her face.
Corona is one of MCHS’s first female wrestlers. Starting her career in 6th grade, Corona was a big reason why so many girls feel comfortable and confident to try something new and lace up those wrestling shoes.
“I started in middle school,” Corona said. “In sixth grade and then my coach, Mr. Mullen, he took me to his little wrestling club, and I started wrestling with him and his club.”
With Corona having such a different sport from the average middle schooler, pressure was surely on from her peers and her teammates who supported her on the side. But she never lets what others say get into her head and affect her performance.
“People always have their comments” Corona said, “and I just kind of take it, I try to take it with a grain of salt. Sometimes it does get to me, and I try to show it on the mat a little bit and just get it out. Like, when I make a mistake, I’m worried about what people think if I lose a match. Like, I know people saw it, and I know people have their critiques on it, but at the end of the day, like, as long as I give my everything on the mat and I come off, and I know I did my best, I can sleep at night.”
Club wrestling and school have been pretty different in regards to training. School wrestling focuses on conditioning and teaching girls who may be new to the sport, as in Coronas club, she is able to focus on herself and wrestling with some old friends.
“In the club, I kind of just get pushed by my older wrestling partners who graduated from high school,” Corona says, “and I focus on new techniques, some cool moves, and wrestling live a lot. So I get a lot more experience with harder competition. And I like that a lot. It really drains me.”
Even with clubs being year round Corona explains how competing in the school matches being just as important as club matches.
“For the school season more important tournaments are in February and March,” Corona said. “Like the state series, but that kind of leads into nationals for club, and then pre-season nationals. The best tournament I traveled to is Fargo, North Dakota, so you have to qualify for Team Illinois. So you wrestle at freestyle state, or a second chance tournament to qualify, and you verse the best from around the country. And it’s really fun. Every year you stay in a dorm and train with Team Illinois. You meet so many new people.”
Even with meeting famous coaches and wrestlers Corona keeps her friendships above everything else by saying the best person she’s met in wrestling is her best friend.
“Maddie Sima,” Corona said. “Wrestling in sixth year together, and it just brought us a lot closer. And like we push each other a lot, and we just built a really good friendship.”
Even with such an intense sport, Corona’s coach explains how she keeps herself humble and just enjoys her time with her team, on and off mats.
“She’s kind of the same on and off the mat,” girls wrestling coach James Buss said. “Like, when she’s out there, like she’s enjoying the time. She’s obviously going to be a competitor, and she wants to win the match, right? But, if someone gets hurt, she’s very sincere, the same way she would be like in practice. If she wins the match, she wins it with grace. If she loses it, she loses it with grace. It’s kind of one of those things where you gotta take the good with the bad and she does it during practice or on a mat.”
Sports can teach athletes a lot about themselves and the world around them, but for Corona wrestling taught her how to maintain friendships and push through hard times.
“It’s taught me to keep going,” Corona said. “I mean, a lot of the times there’s moments that I just want to give up and my body can’t do this anymore like I’m tired, but you gotta push through those moments, and it really makes you a bigger and better person. And I found it makes me better at building relationships with people and like getting through tougher times even in life.”
Even girls wrestling is brand new to MCHS not a lot is different on the mats from boys wrestling, the difference is within the teammates and their support for one another.
“So from what I’ve seen girls wrestling is I would say that they care more,” Buss said. “When I talk about that, I don’t mean they care more about the wins or the losses or things like that. They care more for their teammates. They care more about cheering on everyone, making sure that everyone’s doing okay. They care more about not letting you down.”
Corona is an upcoming senior at MCHS, and even though she would like to wrestle in college she talks about how she needs to find the perfect team before committing.
“I’m really exploring my options right now,” Corona said “ I have a few college visits set up, and I’m really excited for those to meet new coaches. I’m just kind of looking for a program that feels like a family. I’m not really focused on the division it’s in, but I just want a good program with good coaches that really like to focus on their athletes.”
Corona likes to keep close contact with her coach that started it all, she explains how he is her biggest supporter.
“Sean Mullen,” Corona said. “He’s always been in my corner. He’s always hyping me up and making sure that I know I’m ready for the tournament. He always watches my matches, tells me what I did wrong, tells me what we need to work on. He’s always just been there, even if he can’t be at the tournament. He’s always watching videos that I send.”
Sports provide an athlete with memories that will last them a lifetime. But for Buss, watching Corona excel in what she loves has been the best memory of all.
“It was probably her freshman year when she qualified for state,” Buss said.
“We’re going in there kind of blind. We didn’t know what to expect or anything like that because it was her first year wrestling, my first year coaching girls wrestling, and she qualified for state, and it was kind of a shocker to everyone, except for Natalie. So it was kind of great to see that, and she did really well,” Corona said.
Just like Buss, Corona’s favorite memories come from exciting moments on and off the mats.
“The first one is when I wrestled my first match in middle school,” Corona said. “It was only against boys, and that was really fun. And just seeing the crowd, moments that my coach had, and how proud he was and actually seeing hope in my wrestling. And not see me as another girl that’s gonna quit. And then my other one is when I made the semi finals at state securing my placing spot. And there’s like a picture of, like, Buss hugging me and stuff. That was a really good memory, kind of. It was a full circle moment, because I didn’t place freshman year and placed sophomore year. It paid off.”
Square one is something that every athlete experiences, the starting point of their career. Just like Corona many girls from MCHS are starting their first years as wrestlers this season.
“Natalie started at one point, everyone started to square one,” Buss said. “So it’d be nice to have more kids that are like Natalie, that want to come out and try wrestling, because you never know where that square one’s going to be right. I would love to see more people want to come out and try something new. I encouraged it because we saw this year with flag football, and how many new girls did that, and it took off. So try something new, whether it’s a new sport on campus or an old sport that you haven’t done before.”
The comfort zone is a limiting space for many athletes, getting out and trying new things can be overwhelming, but being stuck in the comfort zone means not knowing what could happen, what accomplishments can be made.
“Always try something out of your comfort zone,” Corona said. “If you never try anything out of your comfort zone, you’re never gonna succeed at bigger things, I guess. And it builds your character a lot. And I’ve seen it in myself. I’ve seen it in other girls, and it just makes you a better person.”
Athletes in MCHS go above and beyond every season, hard work will always pay off for those who work hard enough for it. Corona’s story inspires many girls to come out to the mats and wrestle with her and her teammates this season.
