Brittany David’s wrestling career got its start when she was tagging along with her older brother Andrew at his practices. It was there she discovered that girls could wrestle.

Once she began wrestling at Liberty, David realized that she not only enjoyed the sport, but was good at it. Her accomplishments in high school allowed her to wrestle for Lindenwood University in Missouri.

This summer, David will be wrestling for the United States at the Junior Pan-Am Games in Guatemala. If all goes according to plan, she’ll represent her country four years from now at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

“I’m very confident in her ability,” said Lindenwood head coach Tocarra Montgomery. “I made an Olympic team myself (2004), so I know what goes into it with the training.”

More immediate hopes are focused on David on both an international level and in college. She’ll be one of nine wrestlers at the Junior Pan-Am games. Montgomery expects that she’ll advance to the final, while her own goals are more ambitious.

“I expect to win the whole thing,” David said. “I have high expectations about placing pretty well there. I expect to have a good upcoming college season. I want to win a National Title, individual and team, because we have a lot of really good wrestlers. Then I’ll take it from there.”

David’s high school coach, Greg Chappel, saw something special in her. As the only girl on the team, she wasn’t on the receiving end of a lot of personal coaching, but picked up a lot in practice.

Chappel recalled when David was kicked in the mouth in a morning practice, chipping a tooth. He was surprised to see her come back at the afternoon’s practice, tooth fixed, noting that most boys would have taken a few weeks to recover. He also remembered her as a freshman, unable to beat a particular senior.

When David found out that the senior swimmer competed in the spring, she tried out for Liberty’s swim team and committed herself to improving – just like her rival.

“She’s just a great role model,” Chappel said. “She’s done everything that she can do to become a better athlete. Brittany’s right at that age and could probably go another eight years if she wanted to. Most people start peaking at about 27-28.”

One of David’s favorite activities is watching old film from high school to see how much things have changed. “Overall, I like seeing that I have made improvements, and that I kept stepping up on the ladders,” David said. “I’m already a double All-American. Reaching my goals later on will hopefully be more of a success for me.”