Athlete of the Month |
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| Serenity Durham Goree |
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| Pictures and Content courtesy of Serenity Durham Goree |
| My years of wrestling began when I was just a Sophomore in high school. I joined the Mission San Jose wrestling team in Fremont, California. For as long as I can remember, I have always participated in some sort of sport, predominantly competitive cheerleading. However, I have never participated in a combat sport until I started wrestling. I remember my Freshman year, the cheerleaders had to help host the Mission San Jose Invitational which was considered a big wrestling tournament in California. Watching the guys slam each other on the mat really caught my interest, but I had no idea that women were allowed to wrestle, until two girls on the team invited me to join the following year. The first practice that I ever attended was November 6th, 2017. The second that I tied my wrestling shoes and stepped on the mat, I immediately fell in love with the sport. I showed up to practice every day, ready to learn more. |
| The day of my first tournament arrived, and I had no idea what to expect. My first match was against a Senior named Sophia Mercado, who pinned me in the second period. The tournament continued, and I went on to win the rest of my matches with my record being 3-1. As my first season continued, my passion for wrestling grew. In fact, it grew so much that my entire family moved to Las Vegas Nevada, and I decided to stay in California for three months to finish my season. I even stayed with my parents’ co-workers who were complete strangers to me at the time. This was in-fact a very difficult experience because I had never been away from my parents for so long. |
| My most memorable moment of my first season was wrestling a boy for the first time, and I remember it like it was yesterday. It was our Senior Night against Newark Memorial High school. Our 106 was sick that day and didn’t show up, so I asked my coach if I could wrestle, and he said “NO” without hesitation. I begged and pleaded, and he kept responding with “NO Serenity, I’m not going to let you wrestle a boy.” Duals were my favorite; I loved wrestling in front of a crowd, and in front of my teammates. I walked back to the women’s locker room, extremely saddened as I texted my mom, “ sorry, I’m not wrestling today.” Just as I clicked send, my teammate ran into the wrestling room and yelled “Serenity go weigh-in! Coach said the dual is going to be close so you can wrestle at 106.” I ran back into the wrestling room, filled with half-naked hungry boys who just weighed-in. “ Can you make weight with your clothes on?” My coach asked. I replied with “heck yeah!” I weighed in at 102.6 with all of my clothes on, and I was ready to wrestle. |
| We started the dual at 156. Loss after loss as we went through the lineup, on our Senior Night. Then my weight class came up. Every one of the boys were cheering me on and telling me “Just don’t get pinned!” I went out, shook his hand, and the whistle blew. The entire time I just kept thinking to myself, holy crap why does he feel so heavy if we are the same weight class. He was beating me 6 to 2. The second period started, and he chose bottom. I couldn’t move him even an inch. I made a mistake and he got the reversal, but at this point I was sitting on my butt, and he was slowly starting to climb up. My back was getting closer and closer to the mat. I could hear everyone yelling “belly out!” But suddenly I got my hips out, and I had him on his back. I looked up and could see the crowd going crazy as I heard the ref blow his whistle, and slap the mat. I stood up and looked at my team, and they were ecstatic. The ref raised my hand, and I was the first person of the line-up to win my match. We went on to win that dual as everyone after me won their match. |
| While I was still in California, my mom was looking for high schools that I could go to when I moved to Nevada. The house that we moved into was close to Liberty High school, so I was convinced that I would be going to that school. One day my mom called me and told me that she found a school with a pretty big women’s wrestling team that travels a lot. Actually as she was telling me this, Team Nevada was competing in Amsterdam. She told me that she had been in contact with Coach Bill, and that I would be able to attend SLAM Academy. |
| I came to SLAM Academy at the end of my Sophomore year, which was Freestyle-Greco season. I had never heard of either style. The first practice that I went to was a Greco practice where my first ever partner was Jenavi Alejandro. She tried her best to teach me the basics of Greco-Roman, but I just couldn’t understand it. The next practice was a regular Freestyle practice. This is where I met the rest of the women’s team. At this practice, all of the girls sort of tested my skills when we went live. I remember thinking to myself, there is no way that I will make varsity. |
| My first weeks of wrestling were rough. I was beginning to think that I didn’t belong. I became unmotivated and was close to giving up. This was until I met Sterling Dias. She finally came into practice, and she was my partner and motivated me. I continued to go to practice day after day until my first-ever Freestyle National Tournament arrived–World Team Trials. I had only practiced Freestyle for a month prior to this tournament, but it didn’t stop me from trying. I went 1-2, but I had the opportunity to witness Sterling Dias and Morgan Norris earn their spots on the 2018 World Team. Two girls from Nevada! At that point, I became motivated to be an All- American. Coach Bill said to me, “Next year you’ll be on the podium.” |
| As I finally started my Junior year, my first Folkstyle tournament was Freakshow. This was the first tournament that coach Richard Rios was in my corner. Coach Rios was also my Psychology teacher. Coach Rios and his coaching style is most definitely unmatched. He has taught me how to perform both on and off the mat. My Junior year went by, and I finished with a record of 33-14 and placing 4th at State; then World Team Trials came back around. This time I went 2-2, failing to reach my goal of becoming an All-American. I told my mom Junior year that I would miss out on Fargo and Amsterdam, so I could do it all my Senior year. |
| Senior year came, and I started to see a lot of improvement in my wrestling. However at this point, I did not want to continue to wrestle in college. I just wanted to focus on my career and stay close to home. However Coach Bill said that was unacceptable, and he continued to talk to multiple college coaches. Freakshow came again, and I performed my best. This is where our Ex-Head Coach Matt Atwood saw me and recruited me. Shortly after that, I went on my first college visit to Midland University where I committed. I finished my Senior year as a State champ, and I started to work towards becoming an All-American. Sadly, all of the tournaments that I was working towards got cancelled, due to Covid. College came sooner than later. Although I was sad to leave my friends and family behind, I was excited to finally live the college life and be independent. |
| My first semester of college was extremely rough. Our team was huge, and it was hard to stand out. I wasn’t as close to everyone like a family–like back home. Our first tournament as a team was Junior Nationals and U23s. I went 1-2 for Juniors and 2-2 for U23s, being 0-4 in my chances of becoming an All-American. As the end of the semester came, I started to think about transferring to somewhere that was closer to home. I didn’t care if I continued to wrestle or not. But then my coach said he was leaving to coach another school, and that some of the girls were going with him. This meant our team would be smaller, so I decided to stay at Midland. |
| Winter break came and I went home. I instantly started training at Aniciete Training Club, as they welcomed me with opened-arms into their club. This made me feel ready to go back and compete in college. Alex, Nappy, and Val all separately gave me their wisdom of not only being a wrestler, but also a college student. I came back to Midland and our new Head Coach, Daviaire Dickerson, was ready to turn our team around. I cannot say this enough; Coach D is most definitely a blessing in disguise. Everyone from back home helped shape me into the athlete that I am today, but coach D put the cherry on top. He brought forth the confidence that I was lacking all throughout high school. |
| My Freshman season came. Our first time competing as a true team, and as a family, was at our first college dual. I was the only person that went home with a loss. I was devastated because I felt like I let everyone down, but this only motivated me to work harder. I went through my Freshman season placing Second at most tournaments. Then I placed third at the Grandview Open. The following week was our Home Tournament. This tournament I most definitely performed my best. I beat the woman that teched me previously at the Grandview Open, who also happened to be a Fargo finalist. I took First at our Home Tournament which created me to be named KCAC and NAIA wrestler of the week. This was the first time that I was recognized at the National Level. |
| I went on and placed Second at our Conference Tournament and had two weeks to train for Nationals. The day before we were going to leave for Nationals my stomach was in a lot of pain (that is another story to tell another time). But I ended up having to go to the hospital the night before we left. I didn’t think I was going to make it to Nationals. I hadn’t even packed my bags, and we were going to be gone for five days. However, the doctors gave me something that instantly made me feel better, and I spent the rest of the night packing my bags. Throughout the whole season I kept telling coach D that I always wrestle bad at National Tournaments. I was convinced that I was going to wrestle bad at this one as well, but I fixed my mentality and began wrestling as if every match was going to be my last one. |
| I lost in the Quarters, which I thought meant that I had to wrestle two more matches in order to All-American. I wrestled my Blood Round and was down 8-0, but I kept my head up and pinned my opponent. I ran off the mat ready to cool down and get ready for what I thought was going to be my Blood Round, but Coach D looked at me and said “ Hey Ren, you’re an All American.” I was in such disbelief. I said shut up no way, I still have one more match to wrestle. I asked him to give me my phone so I could check the bracket, and he was right. I finally became an All-American my Freshman year of college. I immediately dropped all of my stuff and started doing sprints while crying my eyes out. When I was done, I ran into Coach D’s arms and thanked him for helping me reach my goal. |
| Second day of Nationals came, and I placed 7th. It felt good to All-American, but it made me realize that I was hungry for more. That is my story. Now I would like to thank everyone who has helped me reach my goals. Highschool: ● Coach Bill Sullivan ● Coach David Mackey ● Coach Jake Rollans ● Coach Zach Hocker ● Coach Fabian Martinez ● Coach Richard Rios ● Coach Ben Triana ● Coach Tyler Perry ● All of the girls and boys that I was lucky enough to have on my team College: ● Coach Daviaire Dickerson ● Coach Julian Gaytan ● Coach Abel Avila ● Coach Greg Kabul ● Coach Larry Nugent ● Every single one of my teammates on both the women’s and men’s team ● My peers in my major for helping me with assignments while I was at tournaments |
| Special Thanks ● To my mom and dad and entire family (especially on Facebook) for every single thing that they do for me, for their unconditional love, and for being my number one supporters. ● To the Aniciete family, Loida and Joey Aniciete for making me a part of their family and helping me so much with my wrestling career ● To David Mackey for checking up on me in college and being the person I could go to when I was in high school ● To Bill Sullivan for not accepting that I didn’t want to wrestle in college, I now enjoy wrestling in college. ● To Coach Richard Rios for teaching me things about myself and wrestling that I will always remember, and for being the type of coach that I aspire to be ● To the Van Ordens for supporting me ● To Alex Aniciete, Napoleon Aniciete, Val Rauser, and Antonio Jauregui for being such fenomenal coaches of a club that I got to see grow into what it is today. Every single one of these coaches from ATC has put in their individual time to help me become a better wrestler and to prepare me for college wrestling. ● To Sterling Dias for helping me find my love for wrestling once again, and for being my best friend ● To Melaya, my little sister, for keeping me motivated ● Any advocate for women’s wrestling And finally, All Glory to God. |
