Arden Heckman (‘26) is an athlete at Westerville North. She obtained 100 takedowns in wrestling, made it to States and placed fifth overall. She started her wrestling career in sixth grade at The United Program at North. A big reason for Arden wanting to start her wrestling career was her sister, a year older, who wrestled at Walnut Springs Middle School, inspiring her to try out the sport.
Heckman talks about the difficulties she faced when it comes to her sport including self-confidence. Heckman describes wrestling as “a very vulnerable sport. You are in your singlet and very sweaty.” But in moments when she is feeling down, she reminds herself to “simply not overthink everything.” She also shares that in difficult matches, she has found “focusing on her breathing” has helped her tremendously.
Arden Heckman shares advice to kids that want to wrestle someday, “Wrestling is a challenging sport and not for everyone, but you have to stay consistent, show up every day and give your all, and everything will come together eventually.” She also shares a helpful trait to build within yourself if you want to be a wrestler: “self-discipline and consistency.”
Arden Heckman’s teammate, Izzy Farrow (‘26) met Arden in sixth grade at The United Program, and they still wrestle together to this day. The difference in Arden’s personality on the mat and off the mat shows her determination in her sport. Izzy Farrow described Arden as “Mean, aggressive and very strong on the mat,” but Farrow also said, “Arden is the biggest sweetheart off the mat.” Arden is a very determined girl who puts a lot of effort into her wrestling career. Farrow said, “Arden has a positive impact on the whole team. She makes sure to include everybody, she is always making everyone laugh and she’s always helping her teammates when she’s able.”
Wrestling has been one of the most rapidly growing sports for women in the last decade. Some people say there is a clear difference between boys’ and girls’ wrestling. Heckman disagrees, having said, “Girl wrestlers show up every day and put their all into the sport, just like the guys do.” On the other side, WNHS boys wrestler D’nilyeon Taylor disagrees and claims that there is a difference between the two.
D’nilyeon (‘26) expressed, “Definitely a difference. The main thing is physicality; in high school, there is more testosterone flowing through the boys. Guys are more physical whereas girls are more flexible.” He suggested that he does not believe one is better than the other simply because of gender. D’nilyeon believes that “girls that take wrestling very seriously at WNHS can compete at the same level as the boy wrestlers.”
