Interview with BTSDC wrestler Margaret Goletiani
Going through your senior year of high school during a global pandemic would be a challenge
for anyone. Former Wrestling to Beat The Streets DC intern Margaret Goletiani also endured
injuries and even surgery on top of it all in the Spring of 2020. Yet the grit and resilience she
helped build through her time wrestling helped her to endure and even to thrive.
Goletiani spoke with us from campus at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she is currently
a sophomore on a ROTC scholarship.
She reflected on her journey through wrestling and her perspective on the importance of
Wrestling to Beat The Streets DC (WBTSDC) in her life. Below is some of her story.
Q: Margaret, what has been your wrestling journey, in your own words?
A: I started wrestling in high school. I also ran track and cross country all four years in high
school. I’ve always been super competitive. I also swam and played softball. Then I got into
wrestling because I had a friend on the wrestling team and thought it was cool. It was so
different from anything I ever did but I knew I wanted something different, another challenge. I
was definitely given that challenge through wrestling. I was the first female wrestler in 5 years at
Wilson. It was a co-ed team but the environment was really great. It is such a difficult sport.
Physically, mentally, emotionally, but I learned a lot. Since Wilson was the only DCPS school
with a wrestling team at the time, our opponents were schools from all over the DMV. Other kids
from other public high schools joined us, and we had so many different obstacles than others
but we made it work.
Then I did get injured during my junior year of high school for the first time. I went to an
offseason wrestling camp - dislocating my kneecap and injuring my MCL. I had two surgeries
and I couldn’t run or wrestle. It was a large roadblock in my path but I looked at is as another
challenge. In Fall of 2019 I went to wrestling practice the start of my senior year but could only
do so much. By Spring of 2020 during my senior year, I was on my road back but then my knee
popped out and instead served as the team manager. When the pandemic hit, I was the last
non-essential surgery at the hospital I was in on March 18, 2020.
All of that time spent wrestling and enduring injuries made me more resilient. In August 2020, I
started college and I’m now a sophomore at Indiana University's Hamilton Lugar School, Army
ROTC, and while there is no wrestling club at my college at the moment, I am still really proud
of my journey with where wrestling has brought me to date.
Q: Can you tell us about your connection to Wrestling to Beat The Streets DC?
A: My old wrestling coach at Wilson High School, Coach Archie, he told me about the
internship at WBTSDC. It was an Americorps VISTA position for student athletes and I jumped
at the opportunity. So I connected with Geary (WBTSDC president) and helped out as an intern
from May - September of 2021. Given the pandemic it was a half-virtual, half in-person role but
I learned a lot. I did a lot of outreach, planning, engaging WBTSDC supporters and whatever
office support work was needed.
Q: What was your reaction to hearing the news that WBTSDC + DCPS are now bringing
wrestling to 8 public high schools in DC?
A: Honestly, you can’t really put into words what a big deal this new partnership is! It’s going to
give so many kids in DC an opportunity who wouldn’t have otherwise had it. I remember when I
wrestled in high school we had wanted more schools involved for so long. This partnership with
the DC Public Schools is just so huge!
Q: What do you see in the future now that wrestling is coming back to the District in this
way?
A: I see it as a chance for the DC community to grow. The whole point is to give kids another
option in life and expose them to life characteristics that will help them down the line. Wrestling
has made me tougher as a person. I developed aspects of myself that I wouldn’t have known
otherwise. As a female I’m also thinking how exciting this is because women’s wrestling is the
#1 growing sport in America right now and to have this momentum happening in DC?! That’s
just crazy exciting. I personally gained resilience but also confidence to go to college and to see
the army as a career for me. Wrestling gives character development that keeps you motivated,
in school, and provides a path for growth. Who knows what the future holds?! Starting with
these eight high schools - there will be so many more opportunities for kids to go to college and
to have a bright future thanks to WBTSDC.
Q: Lastly, any parting words to people reading this on why they should get involved and
support Wrestling to Beat the Streets DC?
A: The way I see it, it’s not a wrestling thing. It’s a social change thing. It’s about providing
opportunity. It’s about the power of sport. It’s about what you can do to support your community.
Be a proud Washingtonian. DC has produced some of the best wrestlers in the country! Hello,
Olympian Helen Maroulis is from here (she also serves on the WBTSDC Board of Directors).
This DCPS and WBTSDC partnership is only going to elevate those kind of future stars with this
expansion to 8 DCPS high schools. Help give that opportunity to other young people like me
who had their lives changed for the better because of this sport. Support history in the making.
Join us. Believe in Washington to Beat The Streets DC. I know I do.