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Liberty University Club Sports
Limestone University
Women’s wrestling coach prepped team until well after her due date, plans to return to mat soon
10/21/2022 3:32:25 PM | Women's Wrestling
Third-year Liberty University women’s wrestling Head Coach Charisse (Manley) McIlhenny, and her husband, men’s wrestling Assistant Coach Josh McIlhenny, welcomed their first son into their wrestling world on Saturday, 10 days after the expected due date.
A devoted coach, the former 143-pound NCWA Grand National women’s champion in 2019 and 155-pound runner-up in 2020, who also served as a graduate assistant for those seasons, worked with her current team up until last Wednesday morning.
“Coach Risse is the only woman in the world who is coaching at 7 a.m. on her due date, showing technique,” Flames men’s wrestling Head Coach Jesse Castro said on Oct. 5, one week before she led her final practice with the team.
She enlisted her younger sister, Assistant Coach Cendall (Manley) Murphy, who matched Castro (’81) as Liberty's only four-time national champions, to demonstrate most of the moves on the mat while she talked her wrestlers through them.
“We kept practices as regular as possible,” Charisse said. “Up until that last two days, I did things that were not invasive to the baby, like shooting, and I relied on Coach Cendall, Claudia (Keanini), and our other returning wrestlers to step in for me as I was coaching from a teaching standpoint, instead of alongside of the wrestlers.”
She said the pre-labor exercise, which incorporated some Lamaze-like motions, has helped her return to full health faster than many mothers do.
“Just being able to stay active, and stay with the team, to stay purposeful, was beneficial,” Charisse said. “On the flip side, it enabled my body to get up and move around quicker. I believe it was a contributing factor to my recovery, that I kept moving around.”
She and Josh returned from Lynchburg’s Virginia Baptist Hospital on Monday and visited the team at Thursday’s practice with their newborn son, Zain, who was 9 pounds 6 ounces at birth.
“It's such a blessing,” Charisse said. “We love being parents and he’s such a good baby. We are thankful, and the fact that we can incorporate him into our wrestling careers is really special. We took him in to meet Coach Castro and (Liberty Wrestling) is kind of like a big family.”
As for their son, they may teach him to crawl and roll over on the mat, but they won’t force him to follow their lead into the sport they love.
“Starting him off this young, he could be great someday,” Charisse said. “But obviously, if he wants to do something else, we’re supportive of that too.”
Charisse leaned on her sister — a Liberty graduate student who married Flames graduate wrestler Josiah Murphy in July and will finish her licensure and M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in December — to take over coaching the Lady Flames at last season’s NCWA Grand Nationals in Allen, Texas, held in late March.
“I was pregnant at nationals with him last year and was really sick,” Charisse said. “I ended up in the hospital in Texas, throwing up, and missed a day of nationals in the hospital with him. It was definitely not an easy start.”
But all is well that ends well, and she is eager to return to the team to continue to serve as head coach throughout the 2022-23 season.
“I’m coming back, coaching by leading but not by participating alongside them, as Zain sits close by in his car seat,” Charisse said. “I am learning how to balance it all and give my best in both areas. It is a challenge to learn how to better my coaching skills when I’m not allowed to demonstrate or practice next to them. I have to be very good at articulating how to be a better wrestler without showing them. Baby Zain has forced the issue, but it can be a positive challenge to hone in on those skills.”
Charisse has expanded not only her nuclear family this fall, but also Liberty’s wrestling ranks, with nine newcomers on the 12-member women’s team this season.
“We’ll have all but three of our weight classes covered,” Charisse said. “It is a great group of girls so far. A bunch of them walked on, and we went out and recruited once school started, with flyers and from hearing through friends on the team or social media. Probably more than half of the new girls don’t have wrestling experience but have played other sports in high school. We have a full competition schedule and 12 ladies, and we’re really excited about what the season has in store for us.”
Led by Keanini and fellow junior captain Maile Ka’ahauni, from the same Hawaiian island as the Manley sisters, and senior Maria Ferello, the Lady Flames are gearing up for a Nov. 5 dual-squad practice with Ferrum (Va.) College and Nov. 12 season-opening match against Limestone (S.C.) University at the LaHaye Multipurpose Center.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Kylee Lilge/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator
