Maddie Kubicki is a four-time Missouri state champion.
At the age of 5, Maddie Kubicki accompanied her brother to his wrestling practice to have some fun watching all the kids. It was then that she decided she wanted to learn to wrestle, and the recent Park Hill South High School graduate has come a long way since that day.
She is a four-time Missouri state champion, the top-ranked wrestler at 144 pounds and the ninth ranked wrestler in the pound-for-pound rankings in the National Girls High School Rankings.
She began wrestling folkstyle, which is the most common type of wrestling for youth and high school. She began learning freestyle wrestling in middle school.
“Many of the elements of freestyle and folkstyle are similar, but there are many differences,” Kubicki said. “With freestyle, you can throw, lock hands, there’s no top and bottom and points are awarded differently. It’s complicated at first, but you get used to it after some time. I prefer freestyle over folkstyle and I’m more than happy to be completely done with folkstyle. In college and big national tournaments, I will be only wrestling freestyle.”
Freestyle is the main type of wrestling around the world. In the U.S., folkstyle is used at the high school level and the men’s college level. For women, college wrestling is only freestyle.
Freestyle wrestling is an international wrestling style; it’s also an Olympic sport. Folkstyle wrestling isn’t allowed in the Olympics.
“I’m not sure why we are the only country that had folkstyle as the main style, but I’m curious if the United States will switch over to freestyle on the high school and men’s college level,” Kubicki said.
She has also wrestled on the international level in Oaxtepec, Mexico.
Originally, she was only supposed to wrestle cadets who were 136 lbs, but she was also asked to wrestle juniors who were 143 lbs. She won a silver medal in cadets and fifth place in juniors.
She has also recently won the 2023 Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award, which recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior female wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.
“It was a great experience that exposed me to an abundance of new people and coaches,” Kubicki said.
Her entry into international freestyle wrestling has been an exciting venture and since making the Pan-American team, she has a very different perspective on things.
“I have had multiple opportunities to meet new teammates, coaches, etc. and see how the high-level athletes train and prepare their bodies to wrestle internationally,” Kubicki said. “It’s been exciting and a privilege to learn from the best in the U.S. I’m grateful for everything that Team USA has given me, and I can’t wait to train and compete with them more this summer. I’m thrilled for the new opportunities it will bring me.”
Since high school level girls’ wrestling has only been sanctioned for about five years, 39 states with girls’ wrestling state championships have now been recognized by a state high school executive association.
“Women have had the opportunity to wrestle for decades, but it wasn’t necessarily considered ethical or normal for girls to wrestle,” Kubicki said. “It just took some determined and strong-willed women to enter the sport, and a coach to support them along the way. I feel like women’s wrestling has grown tremendously over the years all around the world. More and more young girls are being influenced by the women who are in the wrestling world, which increases the amount of female wrestlers. It’s amazing to see how much it’s grown just over a short period of time, and I’m excited to see where it will be in future years.”
Years of hard work and fierce determination have led to Kubicki being a four-time state champion.
“As humble and stubborn as I am, it’s still pretty cool to be a 4x state champ. You don’t see a lot of people who go out and win state all four years in high school, let alone be undefeated every year. It just shows how all of the hard work and effort I’ve put in is paying off, and it just gives me more motivation to be better and do bigger things. I’ve never really thought that winning high school girl’s state was that impressive, and maybe it’s just because I never had a big pool of competition to fight through, but I think it’s because I’ve always had my mentality on the bigger things - making a world team and having the opportunity to represent Team USA again,” Kubicki said.
Becoming a champion wrestler takes time and Kubicki believes that being good at something takes desire, dedication and the right mentality to succeed.
“You have to train a lot, eat good food that fuels your body, watch films, etc. You can have all of these things, but if you don’t have the right mentality and desire to be good and get better then you can’t grow as an athlete. It takes a certain mentality to be able to push through the grueling practices and continue to work harder, not to mention you have to learn to deal with losses and realize that failing is the best way to learn and grow as an athlete. You can’t be excellent if you have no desire to be excellent,” Kubicki said.
For young people interested in wrestling, Kubicki would advise them to just go and try it and have fun. While it’s impossible to know what they will get out of the experience, she believes it could be the best decision they ever made.”
Along with her brother, her dad also was a wrestler in high school before he joined the military.
“He says he was good, but I haven’t heard any impressive stories,” Kubicki said. “My dad helped show me the ropes and would always try to help me on improving my technique or showing me something new. He’s always been there for me, on and off the mat. If I needed a coach, he would be in my corner. My dad is part of the reason why I started wrestling, and over the years I see how no matter what, he will be supporting me and cheering me on.”
This summer she will be traveling to the Grand Prix of Spain in Madrid, and the United World Wrestling U20 World Championships in Warsaw, Poland to compete, and to represent Team USA. Her win in the U20 143 lbs bracket in Spokane, Wash. resulted in her getting a spot on Team USA. She is very excited to begin all of the traveling she will do this summer and to see new parts of the world.
Throughout all her years of wrestling, her coaches have been extremely helpful and had a huge impact on her. They helped her learn not only the technique, but proved that she could go further and push herself in ways she didn’t know she was capable of.
“Not to mention, they became my family and a big part of my support,” Kubicki said. “Through all the good and bad times, they were there for me. I don’t know what I would do without my coaches and I’m thankful for everything that they have done for me.”
One of the biggest rewards of her wrestling years has been seeing that all of her hard work has finally paid off, and just knowing that all the effort and time she’s putting in is showing results in her matches.
When she begins the next chapter of her life at Presbyterian College in August, her plan is to not only wrestle for the college, but also to major in biology and minor in athletic coaching.
As an enrollee at the Northland Center for Advanced Professional Studies Medicine and Health Career Program she spent half of each school day assisting the nursing staff at North Kansas City Hospital.
She wants to do something in the medical field, but she’s not 100% sure what that will be yet.
“No matter what, I want to have wrestling in my life,” Kubicki said. “It has given me so much over these years, and I don’t know what I would do without it. It gave me friends, coaches, new adventures, valuable lessons, and much more. My goal is to try and go as far as I can with competing, and end up becoming a coach/mentor for the sport. I will forever want to be involved with the sport of wrestling in some way just so I can give back anything at all for how much this sport has given me.”