Four San Diego County high school students qualified for this year’s world championship of sumo wrestling: Jaheim Galeana, Maily Lo, Malik Benmoussa, and Melody Brodowski.
It will be the first time there are enough qualifying youth women for a U.S. junior women’s team to compete, said coach Christina Griffin-Jones.
Galeana and Lo are from Lincoln High. It’s an exciting kick-off for a sumo club that started this year.
There’s just one obstacle: The championship is in Poland in September. For the Lincoln wrestlers and their coaches and chaperones to go, they need to raise a little more than $10,000.
Griffin-Jones said the other two wrestlers, from Canyon Hills High School and Valhalla High School – located in higher-income areas than Lincoln – are able to attend without additional financial help.
She said that’s the thing about competitive sports: They’re not just about skill. They’re also about access to resources.
A 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found a significant divide in youth sports. Participation levels were lower for children from a racial minority group, children whose parents had lower education or income levels, and children who lived in areas with higher social vulnerability.
When those children did participate, it was more likely to be in sports commonly offered at public schools, like football and basketball.
Griffin-Jones grew up bouncing between neighborhoods in the areas near Lincoln High. She said before she turned 18, rising rents caused her family to move more than a dozen times within the county.
Back then, there was no sumo club.
“To be able to bring a gift like this to our community is everything because I know for sure I would have been a champ if something like this was happening at my high school,” she said.
She and her husband help run a foundation to make martial arts accessible to people from marginalized communities.
She’s the first African American woman to medal in international sumo.
“And I’m really happy that I won’t be the last,” she said.
She’s hopeful this club will pave the way for more diversity in sumo. She described Lincoln’s team as fearless.
They could attend the U.S. national championship because Lincoln High hosted it.
Galeana won his division, and said he was “just really happy.”
“I didn’t expect it,” he said. “But I went out there and competed and tried my hardest and I got first.”
Freshman Lo, another national champion, was stunned.
“I thought it was a joke at first because they were like, ‘Oh, you're going to go to Poland.’ And I was like, ‘What?’” she said, laughing.
Lo’s older brother, Lex Lon Lo, helps train her in wrestling.
She said financial issues kept her brother from going as far as he could in high school sports. So it’s an honor, she said, for her to get the opportunity to compete at such a high level.
She’s hoping to raise enough money to bring him to Poland with her.
“My parents don't want me to go alone, obviously,” Lo said. “So raising money for my brother to go with me is pretty important.”
The money would cover fees and travel for the two wrestlers, coaches and chaperones.
They’ve raised less than $1,400 so far, said Griffin-Jones.
They’re planning a fundraiser gala for August 24 at 3 p.m. at the Skyline Hills Branch Library.
Griffin-Jones is optimistic — and not just for this year.
“I feel like this isn't the last time we're going to see Lincoln Hornets competing on the world stage in sumo,” she said.
