They bounce around the mat, energized and eager to learn.

The interest and excitement in girls wrestling has always been evident.

The school district approved a girls wrestling team for this season as the sport continues to flourish across the nation.

But the foundation for that enthusiasm starts well before the varsity level.

That becomes especially apparent when the school’s youth girls wrestlers on the Pleasant Valley Bruins hit the mat for practice.

“It felt like we were almost a couple years late to the game compared to the Lehigh Valley and Stroudsburg area,” coach Vinny Rufo said of the varsity girls program. “But we’re the first one in the area that has a youth-only program. This is actually our second year. Last year we kind of wanted to just see if it would work out. We had six girls that were on the co-ed team two years ago, and then last year we had a girls-only program and we had 24 girls come out. So there is definitely a need, whether it be in any of the areas for a youth program around here.

“If you build it, they will definitely come.”

And they have flocked to it.

Rufo also praised Amy Davidson, who is a coach with the high school team, and spends a significant amount of time working with each of the girls during practices.

“We could not do this without Amy,” said Rufo. “Not even close. And it’s also really important that they’ve got a female role model in the room.”

The girls practice three days a week for about two hours, with anywhere from 14 to 17 girls taking part, with Rufo estimating around half are new to the team.

“And the cool thing is, we didn’t just lose people from last year because the number is about the same,” he said. “We actually have now four girls that moved up to the middle school.

“Now the middle school has six girls on that team, and we have again our high school-only program. But we have four all girls that wrestled last year that are now in the high school program.”

And the high school program has already seen tremendous success. Lily Decker has been a staple in the Bears’ lineup. Two years ago, she placed third at the non-PIAA regional tournament and qualified for states.

Last season, the first the sport was sanctioned by the PIAA, Decker was third at districts and fifth at regionals. She has also competed for Team PA USA Junior National tournaments.

Decker comes to practices, eager to work with the next generation of wrestlers at Pleasant Valley.

“It’s been so cool. I love these girls so much. They’re the reason I continue to wrestle,” she said. “I started in eighth grade, and I didn’t want to join the middle school team because it was only boys. That was very scary. But to be able to see that they (girls) have a middle school team, where we have almost half girls on our middle school team, it’s huge.

“I’m very excited that we have a (high school) girls team this year, for both the little girls and the big girls. Because, I don’t know, by freshman year, I had to wrestle at clubs, and I traveled over an hour to get to practice, but now I can travel five minutes from my house, and that’s what these girls get. We’re so excited for them.”

A year ago, Juliette Trout put together a stellar freshman campaign, placing second at both districts and regionals to advance to states.

“I hope they can see it as an option, the way little girls can try volleyball, they can try basketball but now they can try wrestling,” said Decker. “They don’t have to commit to it because someone told them, ‘Oh you did it, now you have to stick with it. And I really hope that they see it as a motivation, because at the high school we have to keep good grades, we have to keep good attendance and I want that for them. I want to see them become good people.”

And what drives each of the girls in and out of the room will always be different.

Junior Emily Fox is another varsity wrestler who works with the younger girls on a regular basis, and recently came to wrestling after watching her younger twin sisters, who are in third grade, take to the sport.

“They’ve done this for quite a few years, when it first became popular,” said Fox. “And I would just sit and watch them and support them. But I wanted to do it as well, and as a girls-only sport, I wanted to be part of it. I feel like now that the three of us wrestle, it’s become something important in our family, too.

“I guess it’s kind of ironic how it went from me idolizing them wrestling, and now they kind of idolize me on the high school team wrestling. At our first match, we did Bruins Night, and they got to be part of that with me, and that was really cool.”

In addition to the interest of her sisters, Fox also credited Pleasant Valley varsity head coach James Weiss, who took over the program last year, as a major reason she joined the team.

“I would come and sit with my mom at these practices, and every single time he’d see me, he’d say, ‘Are you going to wrestle for me?’ Every single time,” Fox said with a laugh. “He would always ask me about it, and I just wanted to be part of it for him, because I know how much he cares about it. He’s really involved with the sport.

“He really dedicates his time to us, he really focuses on us, and he helps us.”

Weiss, Rufo and Davidson are all deeply invested in wrestling at Pleasant Valley, and each has children - boys and girls - in the Bruins program.

The interest has always been there. And Weiss, along with his wife Nicole, President of the Bruins, have identified it and invested in it.

“We’ve had girls like Morgan Hyland (a runner-up at 105 pounds in the girls 13-14 competition at the Keystone State Wrestling Championships last year), and Jules Trout come through our program, and we’ve always thought, ‘Why don’t we have a girls team for them?’” said Nicole. “So we made it a point to create an environment for them that they can wrestle girls, they can come in and be comfortable, they can have their own space. It’s been amazing.

“They have an opportunity, and it’s a fast-growing sport, and I like that the girls have their own space. And it’s right at home. There are a lot of clubs that have girls teams, but it’s nice to have it at home, especially with the youth program. We’ve spent so many years growing our co-ed program to be able to funnel up to middle and high school to grow that. And if you look at most of the kids that are on our high school team, they were Bruins. Almost all of them. So we’ve watched them grow there, and now I’m really excited to watch our older girls, our middle school girls, go into high school. It’s been really nice to have that support from K-through-12 with the girls team.”

With the Bruins celebrating their 50th year this season, it’s easy to see why the program has been so successful. And why it will continue to be for both boys and girls in the future.

“I’ve been saying it since Morgan Hyland was little. I remember watching her when she was in first or second grade, and you could see that she just knows it,” said Nicole. “And now I see it with these girls. They pay attention, they want to get better and learn so they can go out and execute it.”

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ON THE HORIZON ... This will be a busy weekend for both boys and girls wrestling around the area. The Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Palmerton, Panther Valley and Pleasant Valley girls teams will travel to Jim Thorpe Friday and Saturday for the Coal Cracker Tournament, which will be some of the best competition and nearly 50 teams for two days of great competition. The varsity finals are tentatively scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. The boys Schuylkill League Tournament will take place Saturday at Blue Mountain High School, with finals scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The Colonial League Tournament will be held Sunday at Catasauqua and will begin at 10:30 a.m.

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CENTURY MARK ... Northwestern’s Luke Fugazzotto has enjoyed a sensational junior season, one that continued this past weekend at the Great Valley Duals, where he went 5-0, with each victory a pin in under one minute, to claim his 100th- career victory. Fugazzotto, who advanced to the state final a year ago, is 26-0 this season, with 20s victories coming by way of pinfall.

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COMING SOON ... Look for the first edition of the Times News Mat Rankings to appear with next week’s Winter Sports Notebook.

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PANTHER STREAK INTACT ... The Panther Valley boys managed just one three-pointer — by Brody Breiner — in Tuesday’s victory over North Schuylkill, but that one shot from distance allowed the Panthers to continue a lengthy streak.

PV has now gone 339 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer made. The last time Panther Valley failed to hit on a trey was Feb. 13, 2010 against Tamaqua.

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SPREADING THE WEALTH ... Marian has had six different players finish as the sole leader in scoring during a game this season. That’s the most among Times News area boys teams.

The Colts who have been a leading scorer in a game this season include Justin DeLa Cruz, Jacob DeLa Cruz, Yaniel Nunez, Dominic Catrone and Rocco Griguoli.

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TIGER PRIDE ... Northwestern’s Cara Thomas, the Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Athlete of the Week, became the all-time leading girls scorer in school history when she scored a team-high 26 points in a 72-33 win over Pen Argyl on Jan. 9, passing the mark previously held by Paige Sevrain. It was also her 13th time scoring in double figures this season.

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DIETZ FOR THREE ... Cole Dietz set a Lehighton record for career three-pointers as the Indians rolled to a 63-35 Colonial League victory over Moravian Academy Jan. 6. Dietz hit six threes against the Lions to give him 164 all-time, breaking the old mark of 163 which was held by Jordan Knappenberger. Dietz finished with 21 points.

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DAY OF THE WRECKERS … For the first time in 19 years, the Weatherly boys’ basketball team posted a victory over Schuylkill League nemesis Marian on Jan. 14. Junior guard Ian McKeegan was nothing short of spectacular throughout the contest. The 5-7 McKeegan tallied a game-high 22 points as the Wreckers posted a 54-52 win over the Colts.