Hanover Park girl wrestler grapples with success

All eighth-graders know the differences between girls and boys, but they generally don't have the perspective to put it as succinctly as 14-year-old Melissa Kempf of Jane Addams Junior High School in Schaumburg.

"The guys are more 'muscle you around' and the girls have more skill usually," says Melissa, a wrestler who mowed through 11 male opponents during the regular season before becoming the first girl to win a District 54 conference wrestling championship.

"She ended up going undefeated," says her coach Tom Pfeifer, a science teacher at Addams. "She was the best wrestler at her weight for both years."

To win the championship, Melissa had to defeat the boy who beat her in seventh grade. Melissa said she and her coaches figured out a strategy and worked on her technique.

"It's mostly using what I know," says the 80-pound Hanover Park girl.

"It's technique and speed and her wrestling style and flexibility, too," Pfeifer adds. "She's able to get out of situations not every boy could. She's all about doing the moves and getting the points on them."

Melissa started wrestling as a first-grader.

"I saw my brothers doing it and I thought it would be fun," Melissa remembers. Matt, 21, also won a conference championship in junior high. Adam, 20, wrestled for a year and decided it wasn't his thing. Brian, 17, used a pin in the finals to help win the conference championship for Hoffman Estates High School.

"When she first told us she wanted to wrestle, we said, 'Well, we'll see how you feel at the beginning of next season,'" remembers mom Irene Kempf. "Once she started, she got hooked. Of course, winning doesn't hurt."

While she convinced another girl to wrestle by junior high, Melissa was the trailblazer as the first (and often only) girl on the mat during her early career.

"I've never had a problem with it at all. It never even occurred to me to talk to parents because her family was a very strong wrestling family," Pfeifer says. "The boys on the team respected her from Day One. And opponents could tell she is a good wrestler."

Melissa says wrestlers treat her the same as the boys, even if some parents sometimes wonder why a girl is wrestling boys.

"Some people would be like, 'oh, that's great,' some people thought it was wrong, but most people thought it was pretty cool," Melissa says. "Most of them (her male opponents) are fine with it."

While teenagers often grapple with the issues surrounding physical contact and their body images, wrestlers are different.

"When you are wrestling, you aren't thinking about those things," Irene Kempf says.

Melissa, who also runs track, loves wrestling with her team.

"She's much better in a team atmosphere," says her father, John Kempf. Melissa finished sixth at a national tournament for girl wrestlers; losing several close matches.

Melissa isn't sure what the future will bring, but she plans on wrestling her freshman year at Hoffman Estates High School, which has had a girl wrestler before.

"I don't think I'll wrestle all four years," Melissa says, "but I'm leaving my options open."