More Girls Take Part in High School Wrestling

[Doondoo]

The takedown came after all of 12 seconds. Jessica Bennett, Montville High School’s 103-pound wrestler, waited until Rich Wood went down to try to grab her leg, then launched herself onto his back, and got him down to his knees. After a brief stalemate later in the match, Jessica, 15, lifted him off the ground and took him back to the mat, for more points.

At that, several of Rich’s teammates, from St. Bernard High School here, looked down at their feet. There is still some pain in watching a teammate being beaten by a girl — even a girl like Jessica, who has won 23 of her 35 matches this season.

Wrestling may be the ultimate contact sport, and it can be a startling sight, teenage boys grabbing girls’ thighs, girls straddling boys, boys riding girls’ backs and trying to flip them onto their backs. For the most part, girls who want to wrestle — and they are slowly moving into the mainstream — must practice with, and compete against, boys.

Nationwide, about 5,000 high school girls wrestled last year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, nearly five times as many as a decade earlier. Those numbers are no doubt low, since many states failed to report girls’ wrestling participation, but whatever the full count, it is dwarfed by the quarter-million boys who wrestle.

Now that women’s wrestling is an Olympic sport, and, on some campuses, a college sport, girls’ wrestling is poised to take off. There is a Catch-22: Without many girls, there can’t be girls’ teams, and without girls’ teams, wrestling can’t attract all that many girls. The legal status of coed wrestling is not entirely clear, but in a few scattered cases, courts have ruled that if there is no girls’ team for them, they should be able to join boys’ teams.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/nyregion/17wrestle.html

[jedr]

1. We had girl wrestlers in my sons Jr. wrestling program in the '80's

They wrestled with girls when possible , but with the boys when not. They were fully aware of what they were getting into and gave the boys a run for their money, winning over them many times. These girls in this program had not reached puberty as of the time, however, as girls age 10-12 have the best mussel to weight ratio,they can do well, but getting groped is part of the game. 20 yrs later , I see no bad out come to the experience as long as the girls know what they are in for.

[Toots]

4. but getting groped is part of the game.

For the boys or the girls. Think the girls don't know about where to grab a boy?

[jedr]

7. Good point !!!!

[Jack from Charlotte]

10. Who's in charge of supplying the Jello? (nfm)

*

[PCIntern]

2. this is the icing on the cake...

I've said for years that I was born too early.

I surrender...

[USA_1]

3. I'm All For It ...

... but equality is a two way street. There are boys who want to play field hockey and volleyball and all too often they are denied the opportunity. It's time for a change so that all kids can get the opportunities they want.

[Wetzelbill]

5. this former wrestling coach is all for it, I think it's great...

I had a female teammate before when I was in 8th grade, I even wrestled a girl once when I was like 11 or something. To tell you the truth I was terrified to lose to her, the stigma is bad for a young boy to even consider. I won, but, you know, I had two teammates who lost to the same girl.(not the same one I wrestled, but they both lost to another girl) Badly. She pinned one kid in 12 seconds and made him cry, she pounded on the other guy and made him cry too. But they moved on. Nobody ever thought about it again and they ended up being solid high school athletes in other sports. It's one of those things that guys just have to get over. Women want to wrestle and they are here to stay. Some will be good, even good enough to beat a lot of boys, and some won't be all that good. Just like everybody else.

I do think there should be girl's teams, but without the numbers that is tough, so they should be allowed to compete with men. Girls wrestling men in college could be rough though, but if they want to do it, well I don't see why not. It will only help women's wrestling grow, especially as an olympic sport.

My female teammate, btw, was good. I truly respected her. She won a lot of matches, but as she got a little older and the boys grew up it became difficult for her to compete. She hung in there though. She was as good a teammate as I ever had.

I also believe women should be able to fight in MMA against each other. That's a sport that is beginning to grow a little bit as well. I am all for women combat sport athletes, they train hard and compete just like everyone else. Give them their due and let them do their thing.

[all.of.me]

6. my 16 year old daughter is a wrestler!!!!!!

she is the only girl on the team. i am so proud of her! it is the perfect sport for her. she has this physical presence and energy that is not right for team sports, running or swimming. when she hugs you, it hurts. when she thinks she has tapped you, you are bruised. this one-on-one power sport is great for her. she loves it, too.

as an aside, she is also the jv cheer captain. quite the kid!

[Wetzelbill]

8. that is awesome

Like I said, I wrestled a girl, had a girl teammate, and I am all for it. Good for her!

[all.of.me]

9. thanks!