The Rollie Lane Invitational at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa has become one of the premier high school wrestling tournaments in the western U.S. The Rollie Lane Wrestling Tournament is named after Rollie Lane, the Hall of Fame Wrestling Coach who spent 28 years coaching in Colorado, New Mexico, and Idaho. The tournament was founded in 2001. This tournament is so important to Idaho because Rollie Lane is the first Idaho tournament to add a separate division for girls and grows every year. The Rollie Lane Tournament is one of the biggest tournaments in the state. Tiger-Grizz followed right after being the second-biggest tournament.

This year’s tournament, being the sixth edition of the Rollie Lane girls tournament broke yet another participation record. The tournament weekend drew 491 girls from 74 teams, besting last year’s mark of 366 girls from 66 schools. Overall, 1,384 boys and girls wrestlers competed at the Idaho Center, also a record. 94 teams from 6 states engaged in this tournament. Schools from Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California had arrived. There were at least 150 more wrestlers than there had ever been. 

I was able to be a part of this experience. I have only been wrestling since a few days before Christmas Break and I had to memorize a ton of names, moves, and rules before wrestling. I have never wrestled before and my first match ever took place at the Rollie Lane Tournament. Though I have much to understand and learn, and joining in the middle of the season, I still surprised the coaches and most of the pros around me. Being in the tournament is such a memorable experience and being an adrenaline junkie, I succeeded.