SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — The family band didn't work out, so the Brendlinger sisters started working out.

All three sisters — Kayla, 17, Kelsey, 13 and Kandice, 11 — are making their mark in wrestling and judo as a result.

"I wanted something our family could do together, so I figured we'd all learn how to play different musical instruments," Ron Brendlinger said of he and his children. "I'm talking banjos, violins, everything.

"We got together for one fanmily concert ... It was one of those one-and-done kind of deals."

But Brendlinger has a background as a wrestler and a coach. He took oldest daughter Kayla to a couple of college matches, she loved it, her sisters followed suit and the rest is history.

And they're still making history.

"My older brother Kyle wrestled in junior high and two years of high school," Kayla said. "That's when I got into it. I decided to join the (wrestling team) in junior high."

She failed to win a match in seventh grade, then posted a winning record in eighth. She's been successful in girls mat tournaments ever since, finishing second in the nation at the USA Wrestling freestyle tournament last year.

Kelsey, nicknamed Blondie, and Kandice, nicknamed Red, took up wrestling in elementary school and have succeeded at the national level as well.

"None of them have placed lower than sixth in any (girls) tournament they've been in," their father said.

Wrestling at 112 pounds for the Slippery Rock High School wrestling team, Kayla was 13-10 as a sophomore and is 24-7 so far this year.

She doesn't expect to get past the district meet, however, as six of the top 112-pounders in the state compete in District 10.

"It's been so helpful to me wrestling against boys, though," Kayla said. "They're more aggressive, stronger, faster. Girls are slower and not as strong."

Kelsey is 11-0 as an eighth-grader on the Slippery Rock Middle School team. Kandice competes in the Grove City Elementary wrestling program and rarely loses. She's already won national tournaments.

"They're so much more intense than I was when I started," Kayla admitted.

Kelsey gets up at 5 a.m. every day and runs three miles, along with doing sit-ups and push-ups, before going to school.

Out for five weeks with an ankle injury, she felt healthy enough to compete in the USA Girls folkstyle tournament in Oklahoma City last March. The family barely got her there in time to compete.

"She practiced for 20 minutes, entered the tournament and placed third in the nation," Ron Brendlinger said. "That's the kind of condition Blondie keeps herself in."

The Brendlinger girls took up judo last year as a means to enhance their wrestling skills.

In November, the sisters competed in the International Women's Judo and United States Judo Association-sanctioned tournament in Cleveland and left the event decorated in medals.

Kandice won two silvers and a bronze, Kelsey two golds and Kayla three golds.

"The throwing and ground work in judo was similar to wrestling. It came naturally to us," Kayla said.

"I fell in love with it," Kelsey said of judo. "You can pretty much just have at it."

The Brendlingers travel to Clarion each Tuesday and Thursday to practice judo from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. That's after they get out of wrestling practice at 5:30 p.m.

When they're not at practice or a competition somewhere, the girls can be found in the family basement — better known as the dungeon — tossing each other around on a makeshift mat.

"Wrestling is our family glue," Mr. Brendlinger said. "It's the bond that holds us together. Long after I'm dead and gone, these girls will be tied to each other though this sport."

Kandice is hopeful of competing in the Olympics one day.

"Keep competing, keep winning and get there," she said.

Kelsey wants to reinforce the point that "girls can do what guys can do."

Kayla just wants to continue enjoying the sport.

"When you step on the mat, boy, girl, black, white, it doesn't matter. You're a wrestler and it's a challenge every time," she said.

The junior high and elementary nationals take place in Tallahassee, Fla. in May. The Junior Nationals are in Fargo, N.D., in July.

The Brendlingers will take to the road for those events and more.

"Our dad is the best support we could ever have," Kayla said. "Whatever equipment we need, he gets it. When we want to run, he'll run with us. When we want to lift, he'll lift with us.

"He's had our backs every step of the way."