March 28, 2024

Newton Mat Maids are calm, collective and cool

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“Keep Calm I’m a Mat Maid.”

Staying true to the slogan on their Mat Maid shirts, there were young ladies calmly helping the officials on the mats during last Saturday’s Newton High Cardinal Classic. They were running wrestling bout sheets from mat-side tables to the head table and in reverse. And a variety of other tasks.

Who are the Mat Maids?

“The Mat Maids have been around many, many years,” said senior McKayla Schwabe.

Schwabe and senior Alli Hollinger-Stout are the captains of the 2014-15 NHS Mat Maids. Both have been involved with the volunteer group of NHS girls who help the Cardinal wrestling team each year since they were in seventh grade.

“Anyone can be a Mat Maid. We have 10 girls this year, which is great,” Hollinger-Stout said.

“They have a meeting before the season asking for volunteers. We have one girl who can’t do work standing up so she’s busy with things she can help with by sitting.”

What do the Mat Maids do for the NHS wrestling program?

“Anything and everything. Like today, we go out and tap the officials when the time is up in each period,” Schwabe said.

“We film matches, we get water, we run the mat sheets to the head table, clean the mat. We also help the coaches during the week.”

Hollinger-Stout said Mat Maids go to every single meet to help the team.

Newton’s middle school wrestling team also has Mat Maids.

“My brother was wrestling and I fell in love with the sport,” Hollinger-Stout said of how she became involved in the Mat Maids.

“I watched my older brother, who is 22 now, wrestle since he was 6” Schwabe said. “I just thought the Mat Maids were cool.”

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com