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SARATOGA SPRINGS — At a national championship wrestling tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Losa and Line Nau Rarick, of Saratoga Springs, began their match with a hug.
The 7-year-old twin sisters circled each other, and in a move only a sister could make, Losa, who was last year's champion, let Line win. Line then won the final match to claim the championship and an eagle trophy like her sister's.
According to the girls' mom Finehika Nau, who also helps coach them, the love for the sport of wrestling runs deep.
"Both my brothers wrestled, and I grew up as the dummy bag for them," she recalled. "I played basketball and ran track, but never wrestled; it was never an option for me."
When she and her husband started having kids, Finehika Nau said they both decided that they wanted to give their girls a chance to try wrestling.
"We just said, 'Let's throw our girls in it!'" she said. "They didn't care if they were wrestling boys or girls; they just wanted to get out there on the mat."
Line and Losa are not the only girls in the Nau Rarick family, however, and this was not the family's first championship experience.
In fact, Line and Losa are the youngest of seven children — who all wrestle. The eldest, Kelikki Nau Rarick is a two-time 6-A girls state wrestling champion, having snagged her second state title on Thursday at Utah Valley University. Finehika Nau said all her children, including her sons, have followed in the footsteps of their older sister.
"The reason the boys wrestle is because they're trying to go after what Likki has accomplished," she said.
And what Kelikki has accomplished is a lot. As a 15-year-old sophomore at Westlake High School, she has had many wins at the state and national levels.
According to Kelikki, wrestling is the sport she just knew was for her.
I want to prove that girls can do it, too.
–Kelikki Nau Rarick, Westlake High wrestler
"I have played almost every sport from rugby to basketball, track, soccer and volleyball, but I love how physically and mentally challenging wrestling is," Kelikki said. "People think they are in shape until they get to wrestling ... you might be in football shape or basketball shape, but not wrestling shape.
"When I first started wrestling, my mom took me to practice, but I was beating up on all the boys, so the coach asked me not to go back, 'cause it made the parents of the boys uncomfortable," she said. "Ever since then, I knew that this was my sport. Seeing that this sport has been seen as a 'boy' sport has definitely motivated me to become one of the greatest. I want to prove that girls can do it, too."
The girls Kelikki said she wants most to be an example to are her sisters.
"I just wanna be the best role model and example for my younger siblings," she said. "I hope to set goals and accomplishments that they can look forward to. They all are 'hammahz' (a Hawaiian term meaning hard workers), so I know they will meet their goals and set even greater ones. … My advice for my siblings would be to not give up, even when you feel like it, and to keep pushing through like a hammah!"
Finehika Nau said that as much as she loves watching her kids wrestle, wrestling is part of a bigger picture.
"Watching my kids and how they treat each other, whether they're competing on the mat, or not, makes me realize what's most important," she said. "We're really competitive and we train really hard to win, but when it comes down to it, family is the bigger picture for me."
