WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Williams was pioneer
By Gary Abbott Once upon a time, girls didn’t wrestle. But somebody forgot to
tell that to some of America’s women’s wrestling pioneers. Such was the case for Shannon Williams-Yancey, daughter of a wrestling coach and one of the early heroes of women’s freestyle wrestling in the United States. “I grew up with a lot of brothers, and my dad was a wrestler
and coach. I always wanted to do boys sports, but my dad wouldn’t let me,” said Shannon, who grew up in Ontario, Calif.. “In high school, I told the wrestling team captain, a guy
named Rex, that I was going out for wrestling. Every day for two weeks, he bugged me about it, so I went to practice. It was 1987, and hardly any girls wrestled. From the first practice, the coach ran me into the ground. But I loved it. I worked hard and continued to go. After a month, the coach was my biggest fan,” she said. After competing two years at Chaffey High School, she thought that her wrestling days had ended. She went to college and did not wrestle for a year. However, her dad heard about an all-girls tournament in Vallejo and encouraged her to attend. The event turned out to be the World Team Trials for women’s wrestling. “I won the tournament, and afterwards, they told me I had qualified to go to the World Championships,” said Shannon. For the next eight years, Shannon Williams was one of the
nation’s best women’s freestyle wrestlers. Shannon won four World silver medals (1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997). She also placed fourth in the World two times (1990, 1995) and was fifth in the 1996 Worlds. Shannon was a four-time U.S. Nationals champion and four-time U.S. Nationals runner-up. “My biggest achievement was wrestling Treeva Cohee in the
World Team Trials finals. I lost the first match, but came back to win the next two to make the U.S. World Team. The wrestling was fierce. That was one of my proudest moments,” she said. Just like any other competitive wrestler, it was difficult for her
to lose four World finals matches and never win a World gold medal. However, looking back, she is very satisfied with how she competed. “They were all different scenarios. I wrestled a different oppo-
nent each time,” said Shannon. “I am proud of all of them. I am not one to dwell on things. But the last one was the toughest to take. I let my nerves get the best of me that time. As I look back now, they were all happy times.” She faced many challenges and obstacles along the way to
being one of the true trailblazers for women’s wrestling. “The biggest challenge was not having other girls to train
with. It is different wrestling with a female at the same caliber as you. I had to go to local high schools, introduce myself and get training partners. The boys were always a little hesitant to help at first. The other challenge was the lack of funds, but that improved quickly with the stipends from the national team pro- gram,” said Shannon. Shannon decided to retire from competition in 1998. She had
started her career as a teacher, and was engaged to her future husband Mark Yancey. However, it also opened up new oppor- tunities for her as a coach.
12 USA Wrestler
Shannon Williams captured four World silver medals in women’s freestyle wrestling for the United States.
“It was the next step in my life, and the new life won,” said Shannon. “The travelling and training wasn’t fun anymore. I wrestled because it was so much fun. It was more like a job for me at that time.” The first year after retirement, she served as an assistant
coach for the 1999 U.S. Women’s World Team, which won the World Team title in Boden, Sweden. It was the first and only time the U.S. has been Women’s World Team Champions. “That was so exciting and being a part of it was amazing,”
she said. “We had a great staff with Rob Eiter and Mike Duroe as coaches. It was a good group of girls. They were very responsive to me. They were happy I was there to help them. We had tremendous dynamics on that team.” Her coaching career also included stints as an assistant
coach for a boys high school team, and a head coach for a girls high school team. Each offered their own challenges and rewards. “I really enjoyed working with the girls. One of my proudest
moments was the Thousand Oaks girls high school wrestling team. There were no girls wrestling at the school. I put out a notice. We ended up with 22 wrestlers. I did that for a few years. We travelled all over California and even went to Hawaii once. They were all good athletes. I told the team that because you are a girl in a boys sport, you don’t have to look or act like a boy. You can be a girl, and still be a tough wrestler,” she said. With the boys, she had to establish herself in order for them
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