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A Middle School Wrestling Novel (short preview)

Valeria has always wanted to be a wrestler. When she enters middle school, Val decides to join the team. Her coach appreciates her efforts in the sport, but often overlooks her in practices and pairs her with less experienced players instead of seeing her talent and pushing her to be better. To make matters worse, Jake the star wrestler on the team happens to be in her weight class and openly humiliates her every chance he can get. When he is chosen to go to the first meet as varsity and not her against a well known and highly respected wrestler, he makes an opening statement that states that Val doesn’t belong in the wrestling world and that girls should stick to safer sports. The local newspaper catches this and Val simply can’t stand it anymore, she challenges Jake to a match and says that she WILL win. Layla Val’s friend, heard the entire debate and has always been supportive of Val’s ambitions but thinks that she is going too far. Val, overwhelmed from all of the pressure and stress doesn’t know what to do. Follow her dreams, even though it seems as though everyone is trying to tear her away from it, or preserve the relationships and social status that she has had from the beginning but give up on wrestling?