By Ernad Minic
“I just want to be treated as competition-- not as a girl.”
Those are the words that define Chicopee High School sophomore Janiah Baez.
Most students and teachers at CHS might perceive sophomore Janiah Baez as a typical high school student. She comes to school, goes to class, socializes with friends and teachers and goes about her business.
Everyone knows Janiah, the student. However, few students or staff alike have ever gotten to know Janiah, the varsity wrestler.
Beneath her unpretentious exterior, a seed has been planted. This seed is nourished by excruciating physical effort, mental fortitude and a scorching desire to prove naysayers wrong. Within Janiah, this seed sprouts and flourishes wildly–– and she plans on a bountiful harvest.
Janiah Baez reveals the origins of this seed so deeply sowed.
Janiah’s athletic background is brief. “I used to play softball back when I was 5 years-old and I stopped around age 8,” said Baez of her athletic history. “I kind of took a break from sports after that,” she said.
“My desire to enter the world of wrestling began in 7th grade. I was talking to Destiny Cruz in science class and we were discussing the possibility of joining the wrestling team once we got to high school, since Destiny’s sister was on the team at the time. So we jumped into it together 2 years later when we got to our freshman year of high school,” reflected Janiah.
Janiah acknowledges the stigma surrounding female athletes in male-dominated sports and especially in combat sports like wrestling, but this only fuels her zeal for the sport.
However, that isn’t to say that she’s never felt like the odd-one-out upon stepping onto the mat.
“I was criticized by some of the people closest to me because I was a girl entering a boy’s sport,” said Baez throwing up air quotes around “boy’s sport.”
“I didn’t get why I got so much hate for it. It upset me at first, but I ate it and I turned it into motivation. The criticism gets worse as the days go by because I only get better and better at what I do and people don’t like to see me getting better. As I become a better wrestler, my critics become fans,” she said confidently.
Janiah’s coaches, on the other hand, were undaunted by her presence on the team, treating her as they would treat any male wrestler under their tutelage.
“My first year on the team, Coach Cruz was always on my back. He treated me like one of the guys. There were no excuses. Do it or don’t. Coach Cruz always made it a point to teach me how to match the aggression of the guys I’d be facing in this sport,” said Baez of her mentor.
Chicopee High’s varsity wrestling coach for the 2018-2019 season was Cruz Franco, who owns and operates Krazy Monkeys Wrestling (KMW) in Springfield, MA, which is where Janiah trains in the off-season along with fellow teammate Destiny Cruz and others.
KMW serves as a place of solace for Janiah and those who regularly attend classes there.
“Over last February break, I wrestled every day at KMW because the school wasn’t open. All the Chicopee High girls went. This is how we thrive. We work day-in and day-out even when we aren’t expected to,” disclosed Baez.
Last year was the first time that a girls high school wrestling State Championship was held. Janiah says Coach Cruz saw something special within her and he wanted to work her to her fullest potential.
“Coach Cruz knew that last year would be my chance to shine on the grandest stage of them all, so he pushed me because he knew what I was capable of,” she elaborated.
Like her coaches, Janiah’s male teammates thought nothing odd of having a female teammate join the squad.
“My teammates knew I was aggressive because they saw me go to work during practice, so they challenged me. They never said ‘she’s a girl so I’m gonna go easy on her’ or anything like that,” she said with a smile.
“The guys on the team knew I’d be facing off against male opponents out on the mat during matches, so they were just as competitive with me as they would be with another guy to prepare me. They knew the guys I’d face would have no mercy upon me just because of my gender, so why should they?” she expounded.
Janiah brought up the innately competitive nature of most male wrestlers, saying “guys don’t quit. They don’t like losing to a girl. So if anything, they’d take a match with me a little more seriously because of this.”
On the flipside of that coin, Baez explained her method of approaching matches against other female wrestlers.
“When I wrestle guys, I always think about doing the best that I can. Because when I do, that alone is validation for my performance. Win or lose,” she explained.
“When I wrestle girls, it’s a completely different story. It’s like ‘alright. This is competition. This is where it matters.’ If I’m a girl wrestling a guy, I can take a loss. But against a girl? It’s like ‘who are you to beat me up?’ I want to inflict damage. When I’m up against another girl, it’s personal,” Baez made clear.
The aggression and combativeness that Janiah’s male teammates showed against her during their practices, her reciprocation of that same energy, and the matches she won as a result watered the seed within her and it grew exponentially, rooting itself deeply in a foundation of sheer will and conviction.
It was harvesting time, and Baez wasn’t embarking on this endeavor alone.
“Every time I have a meet or a tournament, I hold my necklace that contains my Grandmother’s ashes. Before my matches, I warm up with the necklace wrapped around my hands and I pray to my Grandmother. I feel her soul supporting me in my matches. She’s always by side,” divulged Baez about her pre-match ritual.
Baez’s determination to prove naysayers wrong, her passion for wrestling, the hard work she put in day-in and day-out, and, of course, her guardian angel’s aid culminated in the proudest moment of Janiah’s high school wrestling career.
“I won the first ever girls State Championship last year in my weight bracket which was 105 Lbs. against a girl from St. John’s Prep in Danvers, MA. I was tall and skinny but she was a shorter, stalker junior, meaning she had two more years of wrestling experience than I had. I think she was nervous, which was something I exploited and capitalized on. All is fair in love and war, and I was fighting a battle in a war that I ultimately won,” Baez reminisced.
Janiah had exceeded the expectations, or lack thereof, of those who had doubted her upon her entry into the wrestling world. This, however, didn’t mean that more criticism wasn’t to come her way.
“Western Mass championships don’t exist for girls because the guys wrestle as aggressively and competitively as possible. The people in charge of the MIAA must think we girls will get injured. So girls just get put into states immediately as a result. Technically, I skipped a step to my win at states because I didn’t wrestle at Western Mass, but how could I have? I had no other option,” said Baez.
CHS wrestling Coaches Fenton and Burger are in the process of trying to create a girls wrestling Western Mass Championship Tournament.
Again, Janiah’s gender became a point of discussion and controversy after her win at States.
“I was criticized for being a female wrestler and it just got worse after my win at States. People said my girls State title ‘didn’t count.’ They said that if I had wrestled against guys, I wouldn’t have won. People think that to win a title that ‘counts,’ I have to wrestle guys in the process,” she recollected.
“The criticism still gets worse as the days move on because I’m about to take part in yet another State Championship this season. There are only two ways this can end. Either someone takes that title away from me or I keep it. And I don’t plan on getting anything taken away from me,” foreshadowed Baez.
“If I were a guy winning the State Championship, I’d get high fives all around and be the life of the party. But just because I’m a girl wrestling against other girls in my weight bracket, it’s different? I’m a female, so it must not count, I guess. I just want to be treated as competition-- not as a girl,” she explained.
Along with winning her Championship title in her first year of high school wrestling, Janiah cites her ability to shut out the negativity others throw her way as one of her proudest accomplishments in her wrestling career.
“I think the critics are trying to compensate for their own inability to do what I did. I just tell them to go out there and do it better, then back to me to tell me how easy it was. That shuts them up,” she said.
“Part of being a student athlete is surpassing the struggle. I deal with severe anxiety and a massive load of schoolwork. I hadn’t participated in sports up until I began wrestling, so time management was tough at first. I’m proud of my ability to surpass my struggle. Instead of letting the negativity weigh me down, I just do what I do best-- I fight back,” clarified Baez.
Janiah is prepared to do it all over again this season. Her win last year only created more room for the seed within her to prosper, and she nurtured it year-round.
“Over the summer, I would practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2-3 hours each day. Because I had a summer job, I would work out at home where I would do cardio and lift weights. I would do 20 minutes of jogging which I super-set with weightlifting. My first practice as a freshman created an appetite that cannot be suppressed, even in the off-season when everyone else is just chilling,” she detailed.
A strict training regimen reaps more rewards when combined with an equally strict diet. “You get out what you put in,” as Janiah puts it.
“I don’t drink sugary juices, soda or coffee. I don’t eat any foods that contain a lot of fat. I don’t even put mayonnaise on my bread! I substitute it with avocado,” said Baez of her diet.
“I mainly drink water and I make it a point to eat vegetables with every meal. Sometimes, I’ll have late night meals if I’m underweight and even when I’m trying to gain, I focus on getting in more protein than anything else. I’ll usually eat carbohydrates in moderation, but I definitely load up on carbs before a match for energy,” she explained.
Being that she is in her second year of wrestling for the high school, Janiah is not only molding her life outside of school to cater to her performance in the sport, but she is becoming accustomed to the structure and frequency of wrestling practices.
“We always kick things off with cardio, and then we get into hands-on drills, live, and then 6 minute sprints. Practice is all about pushing your body to the point where you can’t go on but you can’t stop, if that makes sense,” said Janiah when laying out what a typical wrestling practice involves.
“In the middle of cardio, we’ll do rounds of 20 push-ups and 20 sit-ups until we reach 100. If one wrestler stops in the middle of it all, Coach has the whole team restart. You’re only as strong as your weakest link,” she said.
Janiah’s favorite part of practice is “live,” which is when teammates wrestle competitively against one another. She prefers to wrestle against the guys in the 120 Lb. weight class so she can get used to heavier, built guys, that way she’s ready for it in competition.
“I get to work on my physical and mental game wrestling the 120 Lb. guys. I get to figure out the best methods for taking bigger opponents down so that I’m ready for my matches,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, Janiah’s least favorite part of practice is… the end of practice.
“I just do not get tired. Even if I’m getting beaten up, thrown around, and they were to say ‘let’s do it again,’ guess what? I’m doing exactly that,” said Baez with a smile.
The 2019-2020 high school wrestling season in the city of Chicopee saw the unification of the CHS team with their cross-town rival, Chicopee Comprehensive High School. Janiah, however, is unfazed by this new team dynamic.
“Last year I didn’t get to wrestle against Comp since I was concussed. I was mad because it would’ve been my first time wrestling our rivals,” said Baez.
“There was no bad blood when our team unified with theirs this season. The vibe was positive because we all get it. We know what we’re in this sport for. We either work together to win or we work against each other to lose,” she remarked.
“The Comp kids aren’t cliquey. Everyone hangs with everyone. Our rivalry has evolved into a comradery,” she said.
Janiah’s goals for this season are simple: “The goal is always to win States, but I always said my other goal for this season would be to have more wins over guys than wins over girls because I feel like winning the State Championship wouldn’t excite me as much if I were to win it a second time around. It’s okay to be like ‘I’m a State Champ’ and impress people but deep down it’s whatever. Yeah, I can beat up girls, but to win against a guy? That’s the ultimate goal. Because if I can do that, female opponents become a joke. Let’s see what the haters have to say about that,” asserted Baez.
Looking ahead, Janiah has set goals for her future that are challenging but doable with enough hard work.
“My long term goal is an extremely difficult one. I want to become Chicopee High School’s first ever 4 time state champ. It has never been done at Chicopee High School by a guy or a girl,” she stated.
Wrestling is a sport divided according to the weight of those facing off against one another. Currently, Janiah is the 105 Lb. weight class, but she plans on moving up and conquering heavier opponents.
“I don’t like how light I am. I tried bulking up this summer by eating a ton and I’d gain like 1.5 Lbs. a day, but I’d always be 2-3 Lbs. lighter after practice, so my body isn’t taking that extra step with me right now. Hopefully my junior or senior years, I can move up to the 113 Lbs. weight class,” she affirmed.
Janiah’s success last season and her State title win has garnered antagonism from critics, but the positive attention that her performance has amassed heavily outweighs the negativity.
“Ever since I won my title, I’ve had a lot of wrestling pages follow me on my social media. There was one in particular called PC (Presbyterian College) Womens wrestling that followed me on Instagram. PC is the first NCAA Division I college that created a womens wrestling program. That’s the school I want to go to. They liked my pics, and they watch all of my stories. They’re keeping up with me lowkey. But they don’t need to worry about staying lowkey with it. They’ll be much more familiar when I make my way there,” she declared.
When looking beyond the mat, Janiah concluded by saying, “I want to do well academically and I’m trying to paint a vision of the future for myself because right now, it’s unclear what I want to do outside of wrestling. I want to do something positive with my life because, male or female, we’re all capable of greatness.
I want to be proof of that.”
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