| I’m Mika Yoffee, daughter to Marianne and Jon Yoffee, and sister to Kenzo and Suri Yoffee. In 2017 I began my journey, and I’m not looking to stop anytime soon. When I had first stepped onto the mat for my very first tournament, I had felt something that I never had before–an odd feeling about not having anything to rely on anyone but myself, and I enjoyed it. To think that everything was on me, excited me! However, even though wrestling is an individual sport, my teammates are a huge portion of my success not only my teammates and coach, but the majority my family. I remember thinking, “If Kenzo, my brother, doesn’t go with me. I’m not stepping a foot on the mat.” Thankfully Kenzo is quite courageous because I may have never wrestled if it weren’t for him. |
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| I don’t come from a long chain of wrestlers so there were never any “family moves” that were exclusive to only my family. No tips or tricks that we knew, but my dad was a Varsity wrestler in his Freshmen year. He also only began wrestling in his Freshmen year, however he never took it any further after high school. My dad planned on sticking us in wrestling only for a couple years, so we could get some exposure to some sort of combat sport or way to defend ourselves. Kenzo, My little sister (Suri), and I were always athletic kids, however we never did any combat sports that would prepare us for wrestling. |
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| The three of us were never really stand-out athletes when it came to technique, but we did what we could to get that extra work in. Starting out in Pahrump as the Jr. Trojans, I had no idea about women’s wrestling, and even women’s cut singlets until the beginning of my third year! I’m currently training at Legends of Gold Las Vegas, and I’m in 7th grade attending SLAM Nevada. Although I may not have as many years of experience or background in wrestling, I still try my hardest and rely on my training in order to do everything I can to make the cards fall in my favor. |
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| Both mine and my siblings work ethic has brought us to LOG Las Vegas to train with some amazing coaches: Bill Sullivan, David Mackey, Tyler Perry, Zachariah Hocker, Joe Cannon, and more. I can’t thank them enough for all that they’ve done. Along with my parents, family, and wrestling family. I’ve met so many people along with some of my biggest idols such as, Sterling Dias, Tamyra Mensah-Scott, Helen Moroulis, Jacarra Winchester, and more. They’ve inspired me so much to keep pushing no matter what! I hope to inspire others also in the way that my idols have in me. I’ve been shown much love from the sport, and also the people from it. |
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Although many doubt me, especially when wrestling boys and the adversity grows to lengths that are overwhelming… I ignore them. I still hear it, but I pretend that I don’t. So I stick the anger in my stomach and let it out on my opponent. I stay true to myself always and think positive because negative energy will never do me any good.
-Mika Yoffee |
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