Lexie Basham is ready to start the next chapter of her wrestling career.
The highly decorated wrestler won state championships for Trophy Club Byron Nelson and won national titles at Texas Wesleyan.
Then, she added placing at world tournaments to her impressive resume.
Now, Basham is ready to be called Coach Lexie and embark on a full-time coaching career.
She plans to coach high school wrestling after taking her alternative certification test and hopes to carry on the task of being a role model for the next generation of female wrestlers in Texas.
“My biggest thing is I want to give them a good role model,” she said. “I think it’s awesome. I got some of the high school girls here getting lessons but you have me and Samara Chavez back giving lessons in the summer. I never had that older generation above me to come back and coach … that just wasn’t a thing. Like you had to figure it out yourself. And I was always wrestling with my coaches and I never got to experience of an older wrestler coming back and helping. I think having good role models that are actually from your state and local is huge. I’m here for people to come talk to me if they have questions. I’m here to help them during practice. And so I think my biggest thing is I want to give them a really strong female role model and be able to come back and help everybody.”
Basham spent time during the past two weekends at Spartan Mat Club in Fort Worth working with wrestlers as they prepare for the 2024 U.S. Marine Corps Junior & 16U Nationals Fargo in North Dakota.
She remembers her trips to Fargo and is looking to help prepare first-time travelers for what that tournament is like.
“I tried to tell them like Fargo is a different beast; like you’re not ready for it and they think they are, but I remember walking in my first time looking at the arena and be like what the heck,” Basham said. “I think it’s cool to come in and try to talk to the girls I work with and be like ‘Okay, guys, like I promise is not the same as any other tournament you know.’ I tried to help them mentally because that’s…
