At 13, young wrestler making her mark

A 13-year-old Columbia Falls girl is making her mark in the youth wrestling circuit as a member of the Ruis Wrestling Academy.

Bella Downing recently took third third in folkstyle wrestling at the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Las Vegas. She’s also has six tournament titles since March, including a title at the Aztec Warrior Championships in Casper, Wyoming.

Not bad for a young girl that’s only been grappling for two years now.

“A coach (in other program) told me I shouldn’t do it,” she said.

That’s all the motivation she needed to prove she could do it.

But Downing is no stranger to combat sports.

She’s been practicing Jiu Jitsu since she was 6.

At practice, she typically wrestles against boys and girls.

“The boys are stronger,” she said. “They’re not as muscular.”

The Academy is coached and run by Michael Hader, a former standout wrestler and state 2007 state A champion for the Wildcats. He graduated in 2008.

Hader was approached by Columbia Falls businessman Mick Ruis about starting the Academy about two years ago and Hader said they slowly just went with it.

Right now there’s about 50 wrestlers in the club, which runs pretty much year-round, save for a few weeks in the summer months.

They serve kids from first grade through high school and there’s no charge for families to participate and attend tournaments.

Ruis wanted it that way.

He said he wrestled as a kid and it kept him out of trouble. His own kids wrestled as well — he started a similar program when he owned the Glacier Mountain Shadows Resort in Columbia Heights more than 20 years ago.

“The more we put into kids, the more we get out life,” Ruis said. “They’re our future.”

Hader said the hope this year is to have girls wrestling approved as a school-sanctioned sports in Columbia Falls.

It was recently approved statewide by the Montana High School Association and several schools across the state have already approved girls programs. Girls wrestling wouldn’t cost the school district much, if anything, as the coaches would simply the coach the boys and girls teams, Hader noted.

Girls wrestling could very well save the sport, which has seen a reduced number of boys wrestling wrestling in recent years, Hader and Ruis agreed.

For Downing, the 109-pounder plans on to keep training and to keep wrestling. She encourages other girls to try it as well.

“Don’t be scared,” she said with a smile. “Just jump right in.”