Photo By Saska Ball | Sgt. Sally Roberts, psychological operations specialist with the 324th Psychological...... read more read more
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—“In 7th grade I tried out for all the sports and I got cut from all the girl sports,” laughed Sgt. Sally Roberts, psychological operations specialist with the 324th Psychological Operations Company based in Aurora, Colo.
“I got cut from every single sport. The coaches were like, ‘she’s unathletic ’ but I really wanted to do something!”
A self-proclaimed “hoodlum” with a penchant for causing trouble in her younger years, Roberts saw an opportunity to alter her path and finally do something when luck intervened for her in 8th grade.
“I was looking at the fall line up of sports and it said, ‘wrestling—no cut’. I thought to myself, ‘I can wrestle. They aren’t going to cut me anyways. No problem!’”
She didn’t win a single match that year. However, the losing streak didn’t deter Roberts she kept on wrestling anyway, even as the lone female.
In high school she finally started to win. So much so that she made Team Washington for girls wrestling. From there she was offered and accepted a scholarship to wrestle for the University of Minnesota at Morris. She wrestled there for two years before transferring to Pacific University in Oregon.
The year Roberts transferred she competed at nationals and took 5th place. That same year, luck intervened yet again.
“The United States Olympics Committee and the International Olympic Committee made the announcement that they were going to add women’s wrestling to the Olympics in 2004. Since I got 5th at nationals, I got a spot to come down here, to train and to live. It was contingent upon me being successful. I started training like a son of a gun,” she grinned. “I ended up winning nationals, making the world team and placing 3rd at worlds that year.”
In 2004 and 2008 Roberts made the U.S. Olympic team for Women’s Wrestling as an alternate.
After two Olympic cycles as an alternate, Roberts said she was heartbroken, wore out and needed time to recover. She went back to school, earning a Bachelor of Art from the University of Colorado. Unsure if she’d ever return to the sport of wrestling, Roberts decided she still wanted to represent her country, so she enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in October 2010.
In 2012, Roberts deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan for a nine-month deployment with the 320th Psychological Operations Company, located in Clackamas, Oregon, where she served as the air operations noncommissioned officer.
On that deployment, Roberts had time to reflect on her wrestling career, she said she began to feel energized which lead to her making a decision.
“I decided, ‘you know what, I still have something to give, so I’m going to give it and see what happens,’ because one thing I can remember from 2008 is that I didn’t go out on my own terms. I lost and I just left. I went into my own sunset, which was kind of nice. This time I can rewrite the story and go out on my own terms.”
Her return to wrestling took place at the Dave Shultz Memorial International Wrestling Tournament on Feb. 1, 2014. A tournament where she took first place, three times before. It’s known for being the first big competition of the year and routinely draws competitors from more than 20 countries.
“It’s awesome to be back here! I shouldn’t be as happy as I am,” she exclaims. “I should be angry and mad but I’m so ecstatic to be here wrestling and doing what I love!”
After taking a break for so many years, Roberts needed time to work on her conditioning, technique and finding her mental focus. Her unit put her on orders for a month prior to the start of the tournament where her training consisted of two-a-day workouts for six days a week, along with weight lifting sessions three times a week with members of the World Class Athlete Program, and her own self-imposed three mile run before the morning workout session.
“I like the Iowa style of wrestling. Where it’s a hard tough grind and you go for six minutes, just wearing your opponent down,” she said passionately. “I have to realize I can still do that but I have to work harder to get there.
At 33, Roberts is aware that her age plays a factor, both negative and positive, into her training regime commenting that there are 22 year-old girls out there in the sport just as a hungry as she is and she doesn’t intent to lose to them.
“I have some experience and accomplishments under my belt that these young girls don’t have. They couldn’t even fathom of dealing with the hardships of being away on a deployment to Afghanistan,” she said. “Mental toughness really comes into play when you’re matched with someone equivalent with conditioning and technique.
Even though Roberts didn’t win, her tenacity to succeed was apparent.
“I’ve always been motivated by my failures. I live in a world where to be successful all the time is boring,” she said. “When you know you have flaws and gaps you need to work on and fill in, that’s exciting to me. We have nationals in April. I’ll be wrestling with the Army full time now. It’ll be my job.”
| Date Taken: | 02.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 01.09.2015 11:43 |
| Story ID: | 151599 |
| Location: | COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, US |
| Hometown: | AURORA, CO, US |
| Hometown: | CLACKAMAS, OR, US |
| Hometown: | FEDERAL WAY, WA, US |
| Hometown: | SEATTLE, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,410 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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