by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
Ageya Neadeau is Eastern Cherokee and Ojibwe from the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, MN and lives in Cherokee, NC. Her full name is Tasia Ikwe, but she is called ‘Ageya’ (pronounced Ah Gay Yah). Her middle name in Ojibwe means woman/lady, and in Cherokee ‘Ageya’ means woman, so this is why she is called Ageya.
Ageya is a seventh grader at Swain Middle School. She is 5-4, weighs 138 lbs. and wrestles for Swain Middle School, Bryson City, North Carolina.
“My dad is Roger Neadeau from Oxnard, California, and Red Lake Minnesota,” said Ageya. “My mother is Carla Pheasant Neadeau from Big Cove Community, Cherokee, NC. My late Grandmother Olivia liked to watch her grandchildren wrestle.”
“I remember when my dad took me to one of my brothers wrestling practices when I was six years old,” said Ageya. “I got on the mat with the boys and there was a boy about 9 years old there, and they made me roll with him. He was good and he kept shooting in on me and taking me down during takedown drills. Me not knowing any better and it being my first time I got mad because he kept taking me down, I got up and kicked the boy. My dad comes over to me asking me what I was doing and telling me that I couldn’t be kicking him, that wasn’t allowed in wrestling. My dad told me I had to learn to defend that it wasn’t MMA.”
“I wrestle to represent my tribes, my school, girls, and to honor the women of our tribe and my grandmothers,” said Ageya. “Even though I don’t win all my matches I learn to get better from every match. My mom and dad always tell me that I better not ever be a sore loser, but to take the reasons I lost and learn from them to get better. They always tell me to work hard, and practice with the heavier, experienced kids so I can get better. They always tell me to push myself and always remember that I have to believe in myself, and to always have it in my heart and mind that I can do anything I put my mind to. They always tell me just because I am wrestling boys don’t mean that they can push me around. They always tell me to never give up that it don’t matter whom my competitor is or how good they may be, that I need to fight to the end. I always tell myself when I go on the mat, ‘I got this,’ and that I am a winner no matter if I win or lose because I can take what I’ve learned and gain from my experiences. My mom and dad always tell me and my brother when we aren’t working hard there is someone else out there that is working hard to become better than us, and one day we may have to face them on the mat.”
The women of the Cherokee tribe are sacred and powerful because they are the Givers of Life. They are known as the Seven Clan Mothers. The ‘Little Brother of War’ included the stickball games that were played only to settle important disputes between the townships and before the arrival of the Europeans. The Stickball games were played to decide important territory disputes with the neighboring tribes. Because the women are Givers of Life, the woman’s medicine is powerful and the men could not be around the women during ceremony or before a game because they could lose medicine and could get hurt badly or maimed for life or even killed. Many of the traditional ways are used in modern games. The stickball game involves a lot of wrestling, running, and coordination with the stickball sticks.
“I became interested in wrestling after attending many of my brothers, and dad’s stickball, and wrestling practices,” said Ageya. “My dad was a wrestling state qualifier in California. My brother wrestles for Swain High School, and we both wrestle for Kolanvyi Wrestling Club.”
“I think I enjoy wrestling because I know that I can’t play in the Little Brother of War games,” said Ageya. “My mom always tells me that our elders would scold them if they even mentioned a woman playing stickball.”
“By having a strong heart and mind helps me focus and makes me believe that Unetlanv (Creator) will give me the strength to face any of my competitors, because without Unetlanv I am nothing, and with Unetlanv anything is possible,” said Ageya.
“I practice Monday to Friday two hours a day after school and when we don’t have a match my mom and dad take me and my brother to wrestling tournaments on the weekends,” said Ageya. “This is where I gained a lot of my experience last year and from my brother and dad wrestling with me at home and going over drills with me. I go to wrestling camps when they are available.”
“I enjoy wrestling and learning from my brother and dad because we get to spend time together doing something we enjoy,” said Ageya. “I always wrestle boys, and it’s very rare that I get to wrestle another girl. I usually wrestle girls at state. I wrestled four girls last year and two were high schoolers and way older than me. I was only elementary then. I lost to both, but I never give up. I lost by points. The other two girls I beat, one was at a state tournament and I placed first in the State girls tournament and fifth in the State boys tournament.”
Last year Ageya had an elementary record of 19-18 with 18 pins. “This year so far I have only had exhibition matches, and I have had one conference match this year and I beat the boy by pin.”
Mom Carla Neadeau talked about Ageya and wrestling: “Ageya has come a long way since last year. She didn’t get a lot of matches while wrestling for middle school because it was her first year really wrestling and she had a lot to learn. She had a match or two when she was six and did really good. But from last year to this year she has improved a whole lot, her coaches push her and we push her. We tell her she can’t be as good as she wants to be, but she has to work hard. We have high expectations for our kids and we always push them to do their best. We tell her that everyday she is laying in her room watching TV, that she better go run or do some push ups and squats, because when she isn’t working hard someone else is. We always tell her that when she doesn’t give full effort at workouts and drills that she is only hurting herself and no one else. We also tell her not to play any sport if she really doesn’t want to do it because she is wasting the coach’s time, and another child could be in her sport learning what she doesn’t want to.”
“She has really good grades and she pushes herself to work hard. If she makes a lower grade she pushes herself to do better the next time. She makes us proud, we’re ok with her losing every once and a while, because it makes her learn and realize that she has to work harder. Makes her realize she will not always win and that it’s ok to lose because it helps her grow. We let her watch her videos, and she realizes what she done wrong during the match and works on it. Wrestling teaches her discipline, makes her self-confidence higher, and makes her realize that she has to work hard and pay attention to become better. She always gets to meet new kids at the matches. She helped encourage two young men from her brother’s stickball team to wrestle this year. Even though she picks on one of them telling him they have to wrestle her, with the young man telling her ‘no,’” said mom Carla.
“She is a great example for women wrestlers because she doesn’t shy down from a match against a boy,” said brother Hayden. “She also had a never ending will to try to get better and understands that work has to be done everyday because there is always going to be someone working just as hard or harder.”
“Ageya is a wonderful addition to our Middle School Wrestling Program,” said Adam Jaimez, Swain Co. Wrestling. “She has been with us since the 6th grade, and she wrestled for her father, Roger Neadeau, before she got to us. So she came to us some knowledge of what wrestling was and how she needed to carry herself. Ageya comes to practice every day ready to work and she tries her best to be the best that she can be day in and day out. The other girls on our team see that type of work ethic and they are starting to believe that they can be better just as she is. Wrestling is tough, and yet I believe it’s one of the most beneficial things our kids can do. They learn that we can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in just a moment, and we need to develop a mindset of there won’t be any failures in wrestling … there is only instant feedback on what we can do better. She is learning to embody this type of mindset and I believe she will continue to grow both as student-athlete and most of all as a person.”
“Ageya is competing everyday and is wrestling off for a spot on our Middle School Wrestling team. We were fortunate to win our Conference last year and we have the potential to do it again if we can continue to work hard and better everyday. She is one of the best kids on our team at 138 this year, and she is pushing to become a fixture in our lineup. She comes to compete every time for wrestle-offs and she understands that no matter the outcome of that moment, there will be another opportunity just around the corner and she will be ready for it,” added Adam.
Photo and Video Credit: Carla Neadeau
