With a resume of nearly three decades of experience, Tim Robb has been given a challenge that he’s never faced before as a coach of high school wrestling.

Jim Thorpe begins its inaugural season for a girls wrestling team, and Robb has accepted the head coaching position and the opportunity to build the program from the ground floor.

“I’ve also been involved with the Coal Cracker Wrestling Tournament which will be held at Jim Thorpe this year,” said Robb, who stepped down from coaching the Panther Valley boys team in 2018 and after some time off, became Dan Heaney’s assistant at Thorpe.

“That tournament was comprised of over 60 teams and included 500 girls,” he said. “As the popularity of girls wrestling grew at both the high school and college levels and is also an Olympic event, Jim Thorpe felt it was time for the Olympians to field a team.”

Robb will begin coaching his first season with a roster of eight girls.

“They have zero experience. They are totally green which is a good thing,” he said. “They have no bad habits. With boys, sometimes, they bring certain behaviors to the mat which are hard to change.”

Robb has already found that the girls on his team are receptive and very coachable.

“They are excited and so am I,” he said.

Girls wrestling programs are being established throughout the area. Their regular season matches begin in December and end in late February. Colonial League opponents include Palmerton, Catasauqua, Southern Lehigh, Northern Lehigh, Palisades, and Lehighton. The District 11 tournament is on Feb. 14-15, and the girls state championships will be held in Hershey in early March.

Robb has placed his girls into their weight classes. Junior Ashlyn Coffee will wrestle at 124 pounds. Freshman Taylor Jones will compete at 100 pounds. Sophomores Eliana Valdez Reed wrestles at 148, and Jordan Merriweather will fill in the 155-pound slot while freshman Rylynn Perez Homer competes at 170.

Wrestling at the heavier weight classes will be sophomores Yaliza Polanco Gomez, Peyton Milo Brown and Madison Baksalary.

There are no differences between girls or boys regarding the skills and techniques needed for competitive wrestling. Robb intends to teach the same fundamental moves as he did with his boys teams. In fact, he has his team watch boys practices at Thorpe to get a feel for what they will be learning.

“I begin the boys practices until Dan arrives, so the girls are with them before we will split into our own team,” said Robb. “It’s important that they see how they will prepare for practice. Once again, the sport is all new to them.”

Thorpe’s schedule this year includes seven dual meets and one tournament.

“We will be wrestling Panther Valley this year, and we’ll have a girl go up against three-time state champion, Brenda Banks. That will be fun and a great experience for all of us.”

Robb will set no team goals. Instead, he will stress technical improvement, and that each individual gets better each day.

“We have athleticism, but as far as any type of expectations, we just want to get out and compete. It is a long season, and our entire goal is to get better every day and be competitive by districts.

“We don’t have any girls with experience, but after just a few days of practice I see some potential, and they are sponges that want to learn this sport and are looking forward to competing.”