Cassandra Schmidt started wrestling to overcome shyness when shewas little. now Schmidt, 18, has her sights set on wrestling at the2012 and 2016 Olympics.

The Big Sky High School graduate returned to Missoula for theThanksgiving holiday before heading back Sunday to NorthernMichigan University. In high school, she was the only female on thewrestling team. In Michigan, though, she’s on the women’s freestyleteam at the United States Olympic Education Center, and she wantsthe ranks of competitors to grow.

“I want to get more women out there,” Schmidt said Saturday.

As an ambassador for the sport, Schmidt has returned to Big SkyHigh to wrestle with the high-schoolers while she’s home. Theformer senior class president and valedictorian said the athletesdid well, but so far, the only girl on the team is another Schmidt,her little sister.

Schmidt’s father, Carl Schmidt, pushed her into wrestling when hisdaughter was young because he wanted to build her confidence andlikes individual sports.

“It was close, convenient, and I never knew a wrestler who wasn’tin great shape,” Carl Schmidt said.

The early years weren’t easy, though. Schmidt said his daughtercried after every match, and while tears are common in the youngathletes who take the poundings to heart, standing on the sidelineswas hard.

“You’re watching your little girl get beat up,” he said. “It wastough.”

Cassandra Schmidt said younger wrestlers haven’t yet learned tobrush off the intense physical bruisings as part of the game: “Ifsomeone takes you and slams your face into the ground, it’s hardnot to take that personally.”

Somewhere along the way, though, she fell in love with the sport.Schmidt said she likes working hard, drilling hard, and thediscipline that comes with training and competing.

In Michigan, she wakes up at 4 a.m. to start herfirst workout of the day at 5 a.m. no one’s walking in the door at5 a.m., either, she said. That’s when the 17 athletes have theirboots laced up and are ready to hit the mats.

NMU is one of just a handful of colleges in the United States thathas a female wrestling team. the Olympic Education Center Web sitenotes the program began on the heels of the 2004 Olympics, the yearfemale wrestling kicked off at the international level.

“Due to the small number of female wrestling programs in the UnitedStates, the resident athlete program at the USOEC has attractedOlympic-aspiring female wrestlers from across the country,” thesite reads.

The competitors work out until 7 a.m., then head to class. Schmidtis studying pre-law, and her interest in law is one thing she hasin common with one of her role models, Patricia Miranda. Mirandaholds a degree from Yale Law School and in 2004 was the firstAmerican woman to capture an Olympic medal in wrestling.

Another role model, Mary Kelly, is training with the team, and come1:45 in the afternoon, Schmidt is back for another workout. Shestays late after practice to lift weights or work ontechniques.

Schmidt lives with other athletes, weightlifters, speed skaters,boxers and fellow wrestlers. Being on a female wrestling team is ahuge change of pace, just being among athletes who hold the samecenter of balance as she does, for starters.

In the past, she’s had men nervous to take on a female, and othersdetermined not to get beat by a girl.

“I’ve had guys flat out tell me you shouldn’t be on the mat,”Schmidt said.

She’s shown some of them otherwise, too.

This school year, wrestling is taking Schmidt allover the world. She heads to Austria in December, then Japan comeMarch. A trip to Cuba may be around the corner, too. Competitors indifferent countries have different styles, and her program aims tocreate world champions.

“We’re not training to be the best in America. We’re training to bethe best in the world,” Schmidt said.

When she’s back in Michigan, she’ll share huckleberries withfriends who didn’t really believe they existed or hadn’t heard ofthem. She’ll work on her favorite moves, too, like the halfnelson.

“My favorite shot is the fireman’s carry,” Schmidt said.

Her father offers to let her demonstrate that one on him. In oneinstant, the two are standing, locked, and in another instant,Schmidt has rolled her father onto the ground.

“Next time, I get to throw you around,” her father jokes.

As she continues, Schmidt will do her part to encourage youngMontana women to give her favorite sport a go. Standing in theirliving room, her father wears a team shirt his daughter broughtback for him, and it seems the worry he felt those early years forthis particular young woman has been replaced by anothersentiment.

“I’m really proud of her,” Carl Schmidt said.

Reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at 523-5262,keila.szpaller@missoulian.com or on MissoulaRedTape.com.