ORLANDO. Fla.— Inside the Dr. Phillips wrestling room there are no off days.
“I would describe this program as a going machine. We never stop, we are always going,” said Julia Ferreira, a Junior on Dr. Phillips girls wrestling team.
That machine has a label complete with a warning sign.
“We are DP. We are the women’s wrestling and we are coming to win every single time,” said Skyy Gowan, a Senior on Dr. Phillips girls wrestling team.
They are recognized everywhere they go.
“When we walk in the competition when they look at DP they are like oh yeah they are coming to put in the work,” said Ferreira.
“It’s a good feeling when they know that DP is in the room and everybody is just staring you down,” said Gowan.
They have won four consecutive state titles but they are not satisfied.
“My team we put in the most work, we train the hardest and I just know that we will come and defend our title like how we have been doing the last four years,” said Gowan.
“Sometimes they say championship teams you’re the target, we like to keep hunting so we are still hunting,” said Kirwyn Adderley, the Dr. Phillips girls wrestling head coach.
On the hunt to stay ahead of the pack and make it a five-peat.
“Once you reach the top it’s just every body trying to get to you. Us, we just need to keep working and they won’t catch us,” said Ferreira.
For this team it’s about more than shiny rings and trophies.
“We talk about history and we talk about legacy all of the time,” said Coach Adderley.
“The people that already graduated in this school they already know. They always tells us you guys need to keep the legacy going and going and going,” said Ferreira.
A tradition that started five years ago when Coach Adderley was asked to build the girls wrestling program.
“I said if we are going to do it we are going to do it the right way and we are going to do it the right way all of the time,” said Coach Adderley.
Setting the tone while having fun.
“We’ve just grown together, we’ve laughed together, we joke around and we also dominate together, we celebrate every year,” said Gowan.