Girls' Wrestler of the Year: M-A's Folashade Akinola

These high-energy virtues translate into intensity on the mat, something that makes Akinola — “Fola” to all in the M-A ranks — very difficult to match up with, according to M-A head coach Phil Hoang.

“Fola definitely came in with a very different mentality than other kids in the sport,” Hoang said. “She’s very aggressive. She only has one speed. So it’s tough to keep up with her.”

But Akinola’s quest for a third straight CCS individual championship looked in doubt when, at the start of the 2017-18 season, she was thrust into unchartered territory. After gaining 30 pounds in the offseason, she moved up from the 160-pound division to 189s.

Then, at the Roger Briones Girls’ Wrestling Tournament in San Leandro, she and teammate Abby Erickson each weighed in at 189s. With only one wrestler per team allowed to compete in a specific weight class, Akinola opted to wrestle up, pitting her against the heavyweights of the 285-pound division.

As a result, Akinola suffered an ACL injury, getting rushed to the hospital straight from the tournament. The injury almost cost Akinola her junior season. But the junior returned just weeks prior to the CCS championships and, in dominant fashion, celebrated a three-peat as CCS champ, including her first at 189s.

Akinola went on to earn runner-up honors at the CIF Girls’ Wrestling Championship Tournament. She has also been named Daily Journal Girls’ Wrestler of the Year.

Not bad for an abbreviated season.

“I can’t complain with how my season went,” Akinola said. “I was very lucky to come off an ACL injury to win CCS and place second in state.”

The tribulations Akinola has faced throughout her life are well documented. Coming from a broken home in East Palo Alto, the junior has previously faced homelessness and suicide attempts, but has turned her life around in inspirational fashion.

She lights up when she recalls her childhood, the big family get-togethers on Easter and for Fourth of July with aunts, uncles and cousins, along with her mother, her brothers and her grandfather

That has all changed since 2014, when her grandfather died. Her older brother then ran away from home. Now, it is just Akinola, her mother Eunice Martin, her 7-year-old brother Jayden.

Although she is one of the kindest and most congenial 17-year-olds you’ll ever meet, it is admittedly painful for Akinola to talk about her troubled past — a past that pushed her to excel at wrestling. She does acknowledge one other silver lining, which is how her story has inspired other troubled teens to strive to improve their lives — to strive for happiness.

“I’m walking around tournaments and moms will tell me how their daughters have read my story and it’s inspired them,” Akinola said.

Now, the buzz from the M-A camp is Akinola may someday have a chance to inspire on a national level.

“She has the athletic ability to be an Olympian,” Hoang said. “The question is if she has the resources to get there. You need resources. ... If you ask any great Olympian, they all have a great story, but they all have … something like parents who got them to where they needed to go. ... Fola just is not going to have that kind of support.”

In the meantime, Akinola has reveled in finding teenage normalcy in high school. One of her joys is wrestling: the camaraderie with teammates and the bond of what she calls the Menlo-Atherton “sisterhood.”

“It’s just super awesome,” Akinola said. “I get depressed if I’m not in practice or in class. They’re always there for me.”

And during the summer of 2017, she was selected by a local organization that sponsors educational trips abroad to travel outside of the United States for the first time in her life. Akinola spent two weeks in Guatemala, which she said is the source of the weight gain that bumped her up to 189s. This, she points out, is because of one Guatemalan delicacy in particular, “Dobladas,” a type of fried tortilla shell stuffed with mashed potatoes.

“I was just eating,” Akinola said. “I had an awesome summer basically.”

Playtime is something the vibrant Akinola embraces every chance she gets. When she talks about her future in wrestling, though, she doesn’t shy away from stressing her desire for longevity in the sport. And just as she revels in having good, down-to-earth teenage fun, she also revels in the hard work and dedication she knows it will take to get her to the next level — and beyond.

“It’s definitely something that I’ve thought about,” Akinola said of the Olympic potential cited by her coach. “Junior year, I’m starting to think more about my future and what I’m doing with wrestling. … But now when I’m going on those 6 a.m. runs, I know my competitors are probably still home sleeping. So it’s definitely a motivator to get ahead.”