Britten finds new path within wrestling

WAVERLY — Partway through her sophomore wrestling season at Wartburg College, Grace Britten found herself participating in the sport in an entirely different way.

She decided to step away from competition around Christmastime, though she remained with her team for practices through the late stages of the season. She logged about 10 matches with the Knights before making the change.

That’s when she learned about opportunities to officiate the sport.

“I’m getting older, my priorities are changing, but I still love wrestling,” Britten said. “A man from this area contacted my coaching staff and said he would come in, hold a meeting and help all of us who wanted to get certified to officiate wrestling, and also pay for our certification.”

Britten jumped on the opportunity, and the rest is history.

“There’s a ref shortage, and he just wants to get young people into reffing,” Britten said. “He’s willing to do whatever it takes and lots of us showed up to his meeting. We keep each other updated with tournaments and things we can do, and it has worked pretty well.”

In early December, Britten was on the whistle for the first time at a youth tournament hosted at Waverly-Shell Rock High School. Each young official was paired with a more experienced referee who could offer support and feedback when needed.

“The first tournament I had on my own was in late December, a couple days after Christmas,” Britten said. She’s also officiated a few junior high meets.

Britten has quickly learned that confidence in herself goes a long way in being a successful referee.

“I had to trust that I know a lot about the sport and trust my knowledge. I’ve watched refs all the years I wrestled, of course. I picked that up pretty easily by being an observant learner. There were a few things I wasn’t sure about, like some hand signals, but that was corrected by the veteran officials helping us out,” Britten said. “I also had to be confident in my calls. It can be very intense with coaches and parents yelling and doing their parts, but I’ve had to realize the match can’t happen without me. I need to be sure of what I’m doing. I can take my time on certain calls, but some things are certainly time-sensitive.”

Britten feels she has grown in these areas and looks forward to continuing to improve as an official.

“All the veteran officials told me that I’ve been doing a good job,” Britten said. “Seeing the same people and the same refs at different tournaments widens my social circle with people I know and can talk to and hang out with during the day.”