Wichita North girls wrestler Xitlaly Meraz spoke with VYPE and shared that “my sport has taught me to keep on pushing even when it gets hard and when you feel like you wanna give up. It’s taught me to stay focused on my goals. This sport has taught me to be disciplined by waking up early and working out”.

Meraz went on to say that “my personal goals for this year would be to work hard with wrestling and find ways to get better and improve with this sport. I would also like to work even harder academically to have the best grades. Having less screen time so I could be more productive throughout the day. I also want to be more involved with my community. Being more positive with myself even when I feel like giving up would be another goal for me. In general I want to create good and healthy habits for myself”. 

In keeping with this, Meraz signs up every year for “my schools blood drive. I’ve also gotten to volunteer at exploration place with their gingerbread village event. This year my team donated gifts during Christmas break to the children home. it feels good being able to contribute my time and volunteering to help others out”. She also participates “in my schools student council. I like that I can be apart of something at my school and being able to help out as I mentioned before with the school’s blood drive, and homecoming etc. I try my best to be apart and involve with my school”.

Meraz explained “I honestly have several people (family, teachers,and friends) around me who inspire and motivate me to be a better version of myself and who push me forward to achieve success. My father and mother are two people who I would like to mention. They both have contributed to my success one way or another. My dad is someone who gives me good advice and helps me before my matches and as for my mother she has supported my decision to continue with this sport. I am glad to say that I have several good role models around me who inspire me”.