Nina Hamm took a tough loss, absorbed the setback and came out on the other side with a new outlook.
The Homewood-Flossmoor High School senior wrestler finished sixth at 110 pounds at the 2023 state meet as a sophomore. It was a bright start for someone who comes from a wrestling family but didn’t participate in the sport in any organized way until high school.
“My dad tried to get me into wrestling when I was little, but I was not having it,” she said.
Hamm failed to qualify for state as a junior, though. It was a difficult moment but it’s over. She boasts a 16-1 record this season, as of Dec. 17. She’s only four wins shy of 100 for her career, which would put her name on the wall forever inside the Vikings’ activity room.
Things are better.
“My mindset has really changed,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because it’s my last year, and I’m just trying to have fun out there. I still want to win but I feel like, now, doing my best is enough. I don’t have to win every single match. If I’m doing my best, that’s good enough for me.”
Things were going well for most of her junior season, too. She won the regional title, but then lost 9-7 in the state sectionals in sudden victory to Kelly’s Jaqueline Dimas, a wrestler Hamm had pinned in the regional.
“That took a really big blow to my confidence,” she said. “I don’t want to sound cocky, but I didn’t expect to lose that match.”
Dimas was good on top. Hamm prides herself on being able to escape from the bottom and the fact that she couldn’t took her out of the match. Hamm was in her own head, and that’s never a good place for a wrestler to be.
Losing in overtime made it hurt that much worse. Hamm records all her matches, but still can’t bring herself to look at that one.
“If you get pinned in the first period, you know there’s a skill gap. That’s not something you can do anything for except get more experience and get better,” Hamm said. “The fact that it went into overtime means I was that close to winning.”
Hamm went into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association about a month later with that Dimas loss on her mind. It was her first time competing since.
She won the 110-pound bracket. It was a turning point.
“You’ve just got to let go of your losses and learn what you did wrong,” she said. “I know I’m not going to wrestle in college. That sucks. You know you’re about to let go of something great and you just want to make the most of what you have. After every win or every loss, as long as you’re trying your hardest you can’t really be mad at yourself.”
That’s a lesson Hamm wishes she learned at a younger age. As the only senior in the Vikings’ room, she tries to help the underclassmen with things like that.
When she was a freshman, she didn’t feel part of the group. She was the shy girl off to the side at practice. Hamm wants to be available to that freshman now.
“I want to be the person (younger wrestlers) can come to and ask for help, ask for moves. If they’re struggling to make weight, I’d love to be that person that they can come to,” Hamm said.
That’s something she gets from her dad and her older brother Ricky, who wrestled at H-F before graduating in the spring. It can be annoying getting advice, especially right after a loss, but Hamm appreciates it and knows she’s better for it.
There’s an expiration date on those conversations, though. Hamm plans to begin training to become a firefighter after wrestling season. She’ll start EMT classes after school and do ride-alongs.
Her career on the mat is over in a couple months, no matter what. She said she’ll be ready, when the time comes.
“Walking away, knowing I’ve done everything that I can, (I’ll be happy). If I know I went to every practice, that I went to every tournament and tried my hardest, that’s enough,” she said. “I want the 100 wins, but even if I didn’t get that I feel like it’s still about the journey of it. I did it all four years and I didn’t quit.”
