When the 2024 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Women’s National Championship came around, Class of 2023 alumnus and wrestler Ariana Martinez was unable to have her family there to support her, yet she wasn’t alone. In the parent section of the stands was a friend and “family member” to Martinez, someone who traveled to North Dakota on her own dime to watch her wrestle: Student Education Assistant Jean Smith – more commonly known by wrestlers as Mama Jean.
“She recorded my matches and she was there when I won and when I lost,” Martinez said, “and she was just really comforting. I didn’t feel like I had to be alone.”
Smith found out about the National Championship as the two have continued to stay in touch over text since Martinez graduated from West. Though it was financially impossible for Smith to attend all her tournaments, she was there to watch Martinez compete at her first one in California as well. Emotionally, Smith says she’s proud that Martinez was able to make it to the National Championship as a college freshman – the same feeling that Martinez hoped Smith felt about her when she was in high school.
“I just wanted her to be proud of me,” Martinez said. “Not only of my accomplishments, but as a person.”
The introduction of the girls wrestling team in 2019 is what brought a new sense of excitement to an aging sport for Smith, who hopes she can offer support to female wrestlers. In difficult conversations between wrestlers and coaches, such as head wrestling coach Casey Horn, she’s known to offer an outsider’s perspective, consequently strengthening relationships, especially when it comes to the girls team.
“Like [how] boys need men,” Smith said, “some girls need women around, and I hope that I’m a mom or a grandma or just some female figure for them.”
Martinez met Smith her freshman year of high school and says talking to her came with ease, making the close relationship between the two of them come about. The two have gone hiking together, bonded over the video game “Animal Crossing,” and she even recalls one instance when Smith drove her to a tournament in Central Point, describing it as being similar to traveling with a family member.
“It’s a really chill, laid back atmosphere,” she said, describing what it’s like when Smith is around. “You can joke around and poke fun at her, and she doesn’t get upset.”
However, when Martinez faced problems, Smith was there as someone she could vent to and help her work through it, reminding her of her own self worth.
“I guess my senior year before districts, I had a problem and I was really going through it. Like, I went into the practice room and I couldn’t stop myself from crying because [of] my problem,” Martinez said, “and I went to her and talked to her and she really helped me feel a lot better.”
Coach Horn is said to have given Smith her nickname, Mama Jean, because of her desire to assist the wrestlers. He says she’s given them food, assisted with laundry, and even provided housing to members of the team. One of these wrestlers is now a police officer for the Albany Police Department.
Smith says this wrestler would go home with a group of boys that he hung out with, and with no place to go home to, he would wind up staying the night, time and time again. At first, she would take him in during the wrestling season and another family would take him during the baseball and football seasons, but as time went on other families helped out as well.
“And it just proved to me that it’s true. The old saying that it takes a village,” she said. “So I’m glad I was part of that. And I’m proud of him. He calls me a mother still.”
