Savannah Vold

Mayo grad Vold striving to be the female wrestling coach she never had

Vold was the first female to earn a varsity wrestling letter at Mayo, now she’s hoping to continue to be a trailblazer for girls in the sport at Chatfield.

CHATFIELD — As she looked across the mats during another Mayo wrestling practice, it dawned on Savannah Vold it was about time for her to stop holding a clipboard.

The then-Spartans’ sophomore wrestling manager already had the makeup for the sport, having grown up grappling and wrestling with her father — former UFC fighter and 1994 Mayo graduate Aaron Vold — on the tiny wrestling mat in the family’s basement. That’s where Aaron would also train with other fighters at times. Unbeknownst to her, Savannah was a sponge, soaking it all up.

“Just growing up with my dad being a fighter, I had that background,” Vold said. “Just being younger and getting thrown out with his fighters and stuff like that. I just always loved that aggression.”

She figured now, it was time to turn all those years of learning, into being a member of the Mayo wrestling team. Continue reading at postbulletin.com →

Breaking Barriers

Savannah Vold had a hunch she’d take to a sport formerly reserved for boys. But the Rochester Mayo senior had no idea it would consume her this much.

Vold went from dipping her toe into wrestling as a sophomore, when she got a close look at things as the Mayo High School wrestling student manager, to nervously slipping on a Spartans singlet for the first time as a junior.

“I was on the border about whether to go out for wrestling or not,” said Vold, who for the last two years has been the only girl who’s stuck with wrestling the entire season at Mayo, and is just one of two of them at the high school level in Rochester. “But going out for the wrestling team was the best decision I’ve made in my life. Wrestling is great for girls. It teaches you discipline and resilience, makes you stronger and gives you a great mindset. All the things I’ve learned from wrestling, I’ll take them with me for the rest of my life.”

Vold grew up appreciating the “tough-person” approach. That’s been in good part due to her attachment to her father, Aaron Vold, a former mixed martial arts fighter and coach, and a 1994 Mayo High graduate. Continue reading at www.postbulletin.com