Banner Staff: Who is the toughest competitor on the team?
Senior D’Mysha James: I say myself, but I don’t want to sound biased. I finished undefeated. I haven’t come across much competition on the mat. Runner up, next to me, I would definitely say Kyra Looney; she’s a sophomore on our team. She’s been wrestling for two years, but she gives me more of a run and challenge in practice than a live game.
Banner Staff: Who is your most avid personal fan?
D’Mysha: Definitely my mom, dad, and brothers. Every tournament, every match they will be there to support when they can. My dad is a truck driver, so it’s hard for him to show up, but when he is home, he’s definitely going to be there.
Banner Staff: Who is your biggest rival?
D’Mysha: It was Searcy for a while, but we haven’t competed against them in a long time. Last year’s state, they were first in state, and we came runner up. But now we’re going head to head against Little Rock Central more. We won their tournament at their school, and they came back and won our Sylvan Hills tournament. At this year’s state, Searcy won again, but we were close, only a few points behind them.
Banner Staff: Who is your wrestling hero?
D’Mysha: Before they graduated, I looked up to Ivana Elliott and Jidayia Parker. They taught me a lot of what I know now. They helped me when I was new to the team. They were my practice partners and they got me to where I am right now, as far as being a great wrestler.
Banner Staff: Who takes care of your uniforms?
D’Mysha: Managers and coaches.
Banner Staff: What is the toughest part of an actual match?
D’Mysha: I’d say it is winning the Battle of Mind. It’ll be times where you may want to give up. You’re tired and you feel defeated, probably before you even step on the mat. You get tired “going for six.” So in wrestling there are three 2 minute periods. Your matches could be as quick as 5-10 seconds if you get a pin. But, you can go up to 6 minutes long if they’re pretty decent. Sometimes, even overtime.
Banner Staff: Did you go six minutes with anyone this year? Or do overtime?
D’Mysha: No.
Banner Staff: What do you do to get your head in the game?
D’Mysha: After warm up with the team, we do our stretches and things like that afterwards. I’m the type of athlete who listens to music. I zone out, put my headphones on and isolate up until my match. Afterwords, I go back over to socialize with the team, and then I get right back into my zone waiting for my next match.
Banner Staff: Do you think there are certain kinds of injuries that are more prevalent than others?
D’Mysha: There’s a lot of contact obviously and typically the most occurring injury is dislocated knees, shoulders, a busted lip or fingers being jammed. But wrestling is very notorious for having you walking around in a shoulder or knee brace. I see that the most.
Banner Staff: What’s your favorite move?
D’Mysha: For a while it was the hip toss; it’s very basic, but it was just very fun to see in action. Now that I’m a little more advanced, I would say either an alligator roll or a snake, any move where you have control of their head and arm simultaneously so you can roll with them on the mat. You have to work it to where you’re pinning them and not pinning yourself, because your back will touch the mat in the midst of the move, but you have momentum and quickness that keeps you up.
Banner Staff: How do you score points during a match?
D’Mysha: You score points by completing certain moves. For example, a reversal, a takedown, just standing up and getting out of the referee’s top/bottom position, or Doing a “tech fall”. There’s multiple different ways to score points. You just have to learn, and pick it up as you wrestle
Banner Staff: In what ways do you hope to contribute the most to the overall team?
D’Mysha: I hope to contribute by being a guide for my younger teammates. A lot of the team consists of 9th graders and sophomores right now. There’s not a lot of sophomores or juniors. I hope to be there as a mentor and help guide them, because I know they’re still learning, and I want to be there as an attribute to teach them as much as I can before I leave.
Banner Staff: Where do you feel like you’re at in your wrestling career?
D’Mysha: This is my third year wrestling. I started my sophomore year a little late, but this is my third season now wrestling in a row, and I fell in love with this sport I’m doing very good I start off 10th grade years decent I was doing good as a beginner junior year I feel is when I really prevailed and excelled. I went on and had a 56-6 record last season and won first place in the state championship. I was the first female to ever do that in Sylvan Hills history. I won freestyle State first place, and I was also invited to attend a banquet honoring the top 100 athletes of Arkansas. I was there representing the female wrestlers. This year, I finished 60-0. First place again. I’m looking to wrestle in college at the next level.
