Eva Murphy ’25, Co-Captain of All-Gender Wrestling, is an interactive leader, and with energy and precision, she guides them through every step of the physically demanding sport. In her role, she has cultivated an encouraging environment where athletes work to improve their skills.
Wrestling has been in Murphy’s blood since childhood, thanks to her father, a coach who introduced her to the sport at a young age.
“I started wrestling around ten years ago when I was eight. What initially got me into [wrestling] was my dad being a coach. Even before I wrestled, I grew up going to meets, tournaments, and competitions all over the state and just sort of traveling with him to see the team. Wrestling was a big part of my upbringing, regardless of whether I was competing or not. When it was time for me to start wrestling, I just hit the ground running, and I really loved the sport from day one. I just stuck with it and it’s been something that has helped me grow as a person. I love it,” said Murphy.
Tasha Bohorad ’26 highlighted Murphy’s consistently positive attitude. She described Murphy as a captain who cares greatly for her teammates and is determined to help in every moment.
“She’s always the first one to step in and give me advice or even just listen to me voicing my thoughts. It’s a very unique thing about her that a lot of people do, but she does very well,” said Bohorad.
Murphy’s leadership philosophy includes an interactive approach, striving to directly help players improve upon moves and develop skills. She also provides demonstrations during drills, continuing to help her team learn visually.
“I’m a pretty hands-on captain. I like to get in with everybody and feel out the moves. Because wrestling is such a physical sport; just trying to explain it, you can’t really do it well. You have to really get in with the wrestlers and move around and do the technique. It’s so much about reaction and feel that if you’re not on the mat with them and wrestling, like actually performing the moves, it’s really difficult to get a sense for how it’s supposed to be done,” said Murphy.
But Murphy’s leadership does not end there. Off the mat, she constantly provides her teammates with extra resources to practice their wrestling by example. Additionally, Murphy checks in with teammates to make sure they are achieving their goals.
“I like to send my teammates videos of national tournaments and stuff like that. I like to talk to them about what they’re feeling about wrestling, try to feel out how everybody’s doing, and just [make] sure they’re doing well and that they’re progressing how they want to be in the sport and acknowledging their successes and working on their weak points together,” said Murphy.
According to Ophelia Lee ’26, Murphy’s friendly demeanor shines in her interactions with everyone. Her openness helps to support the team to perform better, get along, and make every teammate feel valued.
“She’ll go to see new people and veterans, people who she doesn’t know very well. She’ll go up to everyone and try to help them correct their technique or give them advice when we’re going live or drilling. She’s always a very friendly person, and she tries her best to help everyone. She’s always paying a lot of attention and she’s always engaged,” said Lee.
Murphy emphasized that her defining trait in wrestling is her mindset. She’s dedicated to never giving up, even during a high-stress moment; Murphy has the will to win.
“I’m really big on hard work. There [are] a lot of hard workers in our room, and there [are] a lot of hard workers in the sport in general, but I will never let myself get pinned if I don’t want to. If I can help it, I’m not gonna give up. I’m gonna wrestle to the last second. I’m gonna do anything that I can to win no matter what. I feel like it’s just a machine gun mindset where you just gotta be on all the time. I always have my will to win,” said Murphy.
As Murphy’s Andover tenure is coming to an end, she hopes that this will not be the end of her wrestling career. She mentioned that she always pictures herself involved in the sport as time goes on and will work to make that an opportunity.
“I’m definitely considering wrestling in college. It’s always been a dream of mine to stay involved with the sport in a long-term way. Whether that’s coaching or wrestling in college or teaching my kids to wrestle, whatever it may be, I always picture myself being involved in the sport in that way. So, I do want to wrestle in college, and if the opportunity presents itself, that would be great. And if it doesn’t, I’ll just make an opportunity,” said Murphy.
