Kaiya Maggini CA: Make Friends, Vanquish Foes

Kaiya Maggini CA

Making Friends While Vanquishing Opponents

By Bill X. Barron 

“My teammates and opponents accept me as a wrestler, not as a girl. After practice or a match, we’re just really good friends.”

An ‘all-everything that’s active’ 13-year old girl from Penryn in northern California, Kaiya Maggini loves to compete but embraces the camaraderie that comes before, during, and after every athletic contest.

Maturely, Kaiya asserts: “To me, a person of character treats people with respect, helps others, and is focused on others before thinking of themselves.”

The first thing one notices when meeting Kaiya is her engaging smile stretching from one blond braid to the other. Not at all embarrassed to wear braces, one can sense that Kaiya is quite comfortable with the person she is and is becoming.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fulfilled Kaiya’s first competitive instincts. BJJ prepared her to be a wrestler, as “both require balanced attacks where you adjust in order not to get rolled. JJ and wrestling are all about the hips and knowing how to use that pressure to your advantage.”

A 5-year veteran competitor in Jiu-Jitsu, after just over two years as a wrestler, by winning the 12U girls 80-lb. crown at the 2021 RMN National Championships, Kaiya now owns her fifth RMN title in the 2021-22 season, earning her the World Championship Belt.

Winning RMN titles began at the October Freak Show in Idaho. Kaiya followed this feat with championship performances at Who’s Bad, Rumble in Arizona, and Terminator before capturing 1st place this July in Las Vegas.

Through accomplishing these milestones, she also brought home the Triple Crown and Golden Gear awards. For 2021-22, her goal is to earn the Ring of Fame, which is awarded to those who win six RMN championships in one calendar season.

Kaiya appreciates RMN Events for “holding exciting national events near where we live, with really tough competition and a really cool opening ceremony.” (If you hang out with Kaiya long enough, you’ll hear “really” at least a few times!)

As tough as she is, Kaiya at first rebuffed the invitation to wrestle. However, it took just one practice to convince her – and her all-boy team – that she belonged in the wrestling room. Her dad Gabriel attests that “the boys are not easy on her, but she has earned their respect by working hard.”

Adhering to the philosophy of the USA Gold Team (CA), Gabe willingly “hands Kaiya over to her high-level coaches. It’s key to separate the roles. That way there are no conflicts, confusion, or mixed messages. My job as dad is to support her, to console or congratulate Kaiya, win or lose.”

Kaiya maintains the high ambition to follow her role model Helen Maroulis and compete on the USA Olympic Team. “Helen is quick and fast, with great technique. It will take mental and physical toughness, determination, and focus to get there,” but Kaiya welcomes that opportunity and the challenge that it presents.

When not rolling on a wrestling mat, if you can keep up with her, Kaiya is competing in Jiu-Jitsu or dirt biking in the hills, playing softball or hunting deer in the wild, dribbling a basketball or deep-sea fishing and catching an 18-pound salmon. “While out in the woods, I love waiting for a coyote to cross my path, especially when it’s colder.”

In dad Gabe’s perspective, “if you familiarize yourself with difficult situations, you grow more confident in facing challenge when the time comes to respond. People who have not had the experience of a sport like wrestling go into ‘vapor lock.’ Wrestling builds invaluable life skills.”

For Kaiya, she “enjoys the fact that in wrestling, you are one-versus-one. There is no one there to hold your hand. It gets you in shape, gets you focused, pushes you to the limits, and prepares you mentally and physically. In the end result, it is evident who has really worked hard and prepared for the moment.”

At the same time, Kaiya appreciates “my peers for shaping my wrestling experience. They and my siblings are always rooting for my teammates and me. They push me hard, but truly they inspire me because of how kind and supportive they are.”