If you ever need to find Coppell High School senior wrestling co-captains Karissa Godhia and Ava Payne, try the wrestling room. After all, they spend four out of eight school periods practicing there.

Three and a half hours a day may seem like overkill, but for Payne and Godhia, the sport is everything.

To both girls, wrestling was initially just a stand-in, replacing band for Godhia and boxing for Payne. To say they struggled at the beginning may be an understatement, the girls jumping into a new sport neither of them had experience in. Yet, it was as thrilling as it was difficult.

“I had never committed to a sport like that,” Godhia said. “I didn’t expect to take it so seriously and find that I could get somewhere in it. Being able to overcome that and meet with all these other freshmen who also didn’t know what they were doing was pretty cool.”

By the end of their freshman year, both girls signed themselves up for another year of wrestling, one of the biggest factors being their fellow teammates.

“It’s a community that you want to keep being with,” Payne said. “You walk in and there are all these great people that are good at wrestling that you look up to. I was like ‘I want to be like them.’”

Godhia and Payne toiled away and practiced endlessly over the next few years to sharpen their expertise. From additional practice to wrestling camps, both poured their efforts into improvement.

The hours of struggle only made it even more shattering when Godhia failed to advance past the Class 6A Region I meet, and Payne beyond District 6-6A in their junior year. But, rather than dulling out, the failure only lit their passion stronger.

“Instead of it pushing them away from wrestling, it actually made them even more determined to step up,” girls wrestling assistant Maxine Lisot said. “It showed that they were ready to take on more responsibility.”

After last year’s regional meet, Payne and Godhia were named co-captains for the upcoming school year and the leaders were ready to step into their new roles.

“It meant a lot to me,” Godhia said. “Right then and there, we locked in. Once the seniors were gone, it was up to us to run it and we kicked it off pretty good.”

Both captains worked together to make their team stronger as wrestlers but also to create a more tight-knit bond. Through team trips and holiday parties, Godhia and Payne emphasize working and playing hard.

“We want someone who shows the drive and the work ethic, but they’ve gone a step further and learned how to manage leadership,” Lisot said. “They have a mission to improve not just as competitors but also as human beings.”

Whether it be winning tournaments or tightening the team bond, the co-captains are determined to lead their teammates to success both on and off the mat.

“As a captain, you have to be consistently confident,” Payne said. “Even if you lose, you can’t pout and cry on the sidelines. You have to show that you’re ready for your next match and lead by example.”

Leading by example is exactly what they do.

At December’s Santa Slam, an annual Coppell tournament with competitors from around the nation, all eyes were on the prize: a special, wearable golden buckle. The trinket was especially desired by Godhia and Payne, who only had one more chance to win themselves another buckle for their collection.

The stakes were high.

“Everyone’s ultimate goal is to get that gold buckle,” Godhia said. “You usually get medals at tournaments like it but to have a gold buckle is completely different.”

Payne had an additional barrier between her and the prize. Just weeks before, she had popped her bursa sac, her arm swollen from her elbow to her wrist. Coming off an injury, she had no idea how effective her wrestling would be against a state placer.

For the first two periods of three, Payne was trailing behind. Down by one point until the last 30 seconds, she put in all her energy into a reversal, winning her two points, one above her competition.

“Those last 20 seconds, I was just squeezing in hope she wouldn’t escape and try to continue wrestling,” Payne said. “Beating talented girls really shows you how much you’ve improved.”

While neither plan to wrestle professionally, both Godhia and Payne will take the values they learned forward.

“It’s my second life,” Godhia said. “When I’m not at school, home or out with my friends, I’m at wrestling. It’s prepared me so much in life to become the person I am today.”

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