SACKVILLE, N.B. – She may be just 14 years old – “turning 15 soon” – but her dad is already contemplating when he will have to begin working on a new trophy case for Kara Steeves.
Kara, who continues to collect hardware a wrestler, will be carrying the red and blue of the Titans into national competition.
Kara is a feisty 106-pound bundle of determination who has already made her mark on the wrestling world as far away as Ontario and will be competing in the New Brunswick high school championships in February in Bathurst and then will be with the provincial team at nationals in Fredericton in April.
Little is known about it, but there has been a wrestling program at Marshview Middle School for some time and it was there she dove into the sport in Grade 5 under the leadership of coach Chris Faulkner.
Because Kara showed an immediate talent, she competed in her first tournament shortly after and continued to dominate at the middle school competitions. She is the first and only female to continue in the sport at the high school level, where she is currently in Grade 9.
Since there is no wrestling program at Tantramar, she was invited to join the Harrison Trimble High School training program.
Demonstrating support for her daughter, mom Lysianne drives her to Moncton four times a week for regular training and then is called upon to take her to any matches and tournaments that may be organized.
Always, Kara carries the Titan colours.
Coaches Lorne Carter and Jeff Jones of HTHS are pleased to have Kara in their training program, as it offers them an opportunity to test their own wrestlers against what they consider to be the best in her age group.
In tournaments where Kara will be facing a Harrison Trimble wrester the two coaches each take a corner and offer support.
Already during the past school term, Kara, along with her Moncton teammates, have wrestled in tournaments in Hamilton and Kitchener on the same weekend. Wrestling against some of the top young women in Canada, she returned home with two bronze medals and a heightened spirit and dreams of making the Canada Games team in 2021.
As for awards, they are already piling up, one after another. She was named female wrestler of the year in 2018 in Anglophone East School District and is due shortly to collect the 2019 youth female wrestler of the year award from the body that controls wrestling at all levels in New Brunswick.
But this young lady is anything but a one-sport athlete. For two years she played peewee football, first as a receiver and later as a defensive lineman “where the opposing big linemen would knock me down not once but twice only to see me rise up for another block.”
She will be joining the Titan rugby team later this year, but it is wrestling that brings out the best in her.
TRHS recreation director Ben Brown has handled details in entering as the school’s lone competitor in the NBIAA competition and believes she will well represent Titan Pride.
Meanwhile, Kara is hoping those still wrestling at Marshview will join her when they move to the high school level so a team may become a reality.
Lysianne describes her daughter as a “thinking” competitor who sizes up her opponent and then goes for the finish using a combination of strength and guile to complete the task. She says she will always be there to support her daughter in every way possible and, during an interview, it came through just how proud she is of her athletic daughter and how she is conducting herself, both inside and outside the ring.
Father James says his role is mainly to offer support and encouragement, but he just may have to call on his carpentry skills soon if the wins and awards continue to flow Kara’s way.
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