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Girl wrestler protests hair length rules
June 17, 1987,
Wednesday, BC cycle
A hearing over a hair length rule that has prevented
a Sutherlin teenage girl from participating in high school wrestling
tournaments
entered its second day Wednesday in Douglas County
Circuit Court.
The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union
on behalf of 16-year-old Asia DeWeese in an effort to overturn the rule
enforced
by the Oregon School Activities Association and the
Douglas County Wrestling Officials Association.
The rule states that wrestlers may not have hair that
extends below the top of a shirt collar. It applies to both boys and girls.
DeWeese has said she does not want to have to look like
a boy to wrestle on the boys' team.
The ACLU attorney in the case is Jim Arneson of
Roseburg, whose first witness Tuesday was William Mull, the assistant
wrestling coach
at Sutherlin High School. Mull said DeWeese's hair had
been restrained during matches and exhibitions by a rubber band and
protective
head gear.
Also taking the stand on behalf of DeWeese's case was
Elkton wrestling coach Stu Merchant, who said the rule did not decrease the
risk
of injury and that he could not imagine a circumstance
where long hair could cause injury.
DeWeese told the court that she had never encountered
any health or safety problems because of her shoulder-length hair and said,
''I
want to feel like a girl and still participate in
sports.''
OSAA attorney Janice Stewart contends that the rule does
not discriminate against females because it applies to both sexes and said
it has
no special impact on girls. Even if it did, Stewart
said, there was no intent to discriminate against them.
Stewart called Dale Thomas, an Oregon State University
professor of physical education, who said he helped formulate the short hair
rule
for the National Collegiate Athletic Association back in
the 1970s because long hair was then in fashion and it was a confusing style
to
referees. He said the rule was needed because long hair
could obscure wrestlers' vision and reduce their reaction capabilities.
Thomas said he could not recall women being considered
when the rule was adopted. He denied it was intended to keep them out of
wrestling.
------------------------------
Oregon girl wrestles to second-place finish
August 28, 1989,
Monday, BC cycle
Oregon resident Asia DeWeese won the silver medal
Monday at the world wrestling championships in Switzerland.
DeWeese, 19, of Sutherlin, Ore., reached the title round
in the international competition before losing to defending champion Ann
Maria
Halversen of Norway.
Before her graduation from Sutherlin High School,
DeWeese was a mamber of the boy's wrestling team because there was no
program for
girls.
While in high school, she fought a requirement that she
cut her hair short to be eligible for the team.
However, she lost the legal challenge in which she was
aided by the American Civil Liberties Union.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GIRL WRESTLER;
THIS 126-POUNDER GETS MUCH ATTENTION AT JIM THORPE HIGH
Los Angeles
Times January 27, 1985,
Sunday, Bulldog Edition
In a city and a high school named for an American
athlete who found the rules of sport as difficult as the competition, a
young wrestler
has been struggling with both opponents and tradition.
She is Michelle Green, 17, a 126-pound wrestler for Jim
Thorpe High School.
Acceptance of a girl in the once all-male domain of high
school wrestling has come slowly in this scenic, snow-coated region of the
Pocono
Mountains.
At the start of the season, coach Rich Flacco said, few
members of the Jim Thorpe High squad would wrestle with Green in practice.
Now, he said, most of Green's teammates willingly help
her with techniques and offer encouragement.
Having seen wrestling programs dropped for lack of
interest at other similarly-sized high schools, Flacco took a pragmatic view
of Green's
tryout.
"If we're going to have a wrestling program, we gotta
have bodies," said the coach, who must fill 24 varsity and junior varsity
positions
from a student body of about 300.
Others have not shared Flacco's tolerance.
Ed Papernan, a columnist for the local MidWeeker, wrote,
"Pinch me, it has to be a bad dream." The Northwestern Lehigh School Board
ordered Pleasant Valley High School to forfeit a bout,
rather than put a boy wrestler against Green.
Pleasant Valley wrestling Coach Ken Santoro said his
first response was to take on the challenge by sending a wrestler out with
orders to
"rip her arm off." But he eventually agreed with the
board's decision, on the feeling the match might create an awkward situation
for a
wrestler at an age where some boys are still nervous
around girls.
"Some kids at that age have never kissed a girl, and
they're supposed to go out there and wrestle her?" said Santoro.
Although a lean roster has forced Santoro's team to
forfeit up to six out of 12 varsity matches this year, he said he would
oppose having a
girl on his team. He doubted whether a girl could endure
a rigorous practice session.
"We're talking about a good cross face, bloody noses,
ripped skin from really grabbing into a hold . . . " he said.
Flacco dismisses any suggestion that a female opponent
might confuse a male wrestler's competitive instincts.
"If anything, I think they would be wrestling tooth and
nail because they don't want to get beat by a girl," said Flacco, who was a
112-pound high school wrestler at Cheltenham, Pa.
When Jim Thorpe school official Virginia Wells-Smith was
informed of the Pleasant Valley decision, she said she understood the
"no-win
situation" an inter-sex match might pose for a boy
wrestler.
"Either they will be accused of beating up on a girl in
a bout or they would be totally embarrassed should they lose a decision to a
girl," she
said.
So far, none of Green's opponents has had to face the
agony of such a defeat, although her Palmerton High opponent endured some
hooting from the crowd when the match went into the
second round. Her only victory came in the Pleasant Valley forfeit.
Green, the wrestling team's statistician last year, said
she likes "rough sports." Her first choice was football, but she figured a
126-pound
girl would have no chance of making the team. Encouraged
by her boyfriend from last year's team, 18-year-old Lance Malatak, she chose
wrestling.
The attention has occasionally been irritating, she
said, such as the reporter who asked her "questions about my makeup, things
like that . .
. nothing about wrestling."
But Green readily acknowledges a close-contact sport
like wrestling, with combatants frequently intertwined in pretzel-like
maneuvers,
carries the potential for awkwardness in a match between
the sexes.
"Sure, there's a few moves that I would be embarrassed
to use," she said. "You avoid those unless you absolutely have to."
Flacco said Green has been going through the normal
learning process of a novice wrestler. And she has company on the Olympians,
who
are 0-5 in dual matches.
"Some coaches say their team is young and inexperienced,
but don't really mean it," Flacco said, while in the background the team
goes
through a warmup regimen equally suitable for wrestling
or breakdancing -- a rapid succession of crab-like walks, gorilla-like lopes
and
snail-like crawls.
"We have an inexperienced team," he adds. "Young or old,
they're inexperienced."
The practice sessions, the school cafeteria, are
loose-knit and spirited, and Green always has a partner. Like the other
wrestlers, Green
receives shouted sideline instructions from Flacco and
tips from her partner while they're engaged in neck holds.
On the mat, gender seems to disappear. Green is treated
like any other wrestler in gray sweats.
During one break, Green's partner shakes off his
headgear, pops open the cafeteria door and lets out a loud whistle.
"Who was that?" another wrestler asks.
"Cheerleaders," he replies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ocampo has historic plans : Channel Islands senior has sights set on qualifying for Olympic trials
Ventura County Star
January 20,
1998, Tuesday
Channel Islands High senior Olivia Ocampo may stand a
mere 4-foot-9, but her wrestling accomplishments are reaching historic
proportions.
The 103-pound wrestler made history on Dec. 13 by
tearing her way through the Vaquero Classic to became the first female to
win a
varsity wrestling tournament in California, Channel
Islands coach Valo Barajas said.
She followed that effort by capturing another varsity
title at the 12-man bracket Matador Classic in Bolsa Grande on Jan. 10.
"Coming into this season, I didn't expect her to take
any tournaments," Barajas said. "Just forget about the fact that she's a
woman. Her
improvement as a wrestler is tremendous. It's
outstanding, whether you're a girl or a boy. It's awesome."
The sky's the limit for Ocampo now, as she enters new
and unchartered territory for a female wrestler. She's a pioneer and every
succcess
she has in the future will ultimately be historic
firsts.
If this season goes as Ocampo and Barajas plan, she
could hold Marmonte League and CIF-Southern Section titles at season's end
and
have had good showings at the CIF-SS Masters and state
tournaments. Barajas believes those goals are far-fetched, and adds Ocampo
has even bigger plans in mind following her high school
career.
"She's 14-3 this year," he said. "Her losses have come
to some really tough kids. I believe she has a real legit chance at placing
at the CIF
Masters, which I think is the toughest 16-man bracket
tournament in the nation. Her technique is outstanding. She's championship
material.
She wants to qualify for the Olympic team trials."
"After I'm done with high school, coach (Robert)
Ferguson, Valo and I are going to open a place where I can train for the
Olympics,"
Ocampo said.
Ocampo's success this season is a far cry from her
previous two years of wrestling. As a sophomore, she wrestled mostly at the
junior
varsity level and didn't fare well. Last year, she won
just six times and had a record far below .500, but she began to learn what
it took to
become a winner. She ended the season by capturing the
first 103-pound title at the all-girls Southern California High School
Wrestling
Championships.
Ocampo, a student of the martial arts for more than
seven years and recipient of a black belt in taekwando, worked hard during
the
offseason with Ferguson, her martial arts instructor and
Channel Islands' assistant wrestling coach. It was her involvement with the
martial
arts that made wrestling the logical choice for Ocampo.
"I saw all my friends wrestling, so I decided to try
out," she said. "I'd been taking martial arts for a while and wrestling was
the closest thing
to it."
Ocampo's teammates have been supportive. They chose her
as one of the team's three co-captains.
"I think that says a lot about her character," he said.
"It gives credit where credit is due. She speaks with a soft voice, but the
guys respond
to her. It's refreshing to see that."
"My teammates are the ones that motivate me," she said.
"They are very supportive."
That's a luxury that other female wrestlers in the area
don't have, Ocampo said. During the course of the season, she has had many
opportunities to talk to other female wrestlers and has
found that some don't get the respect or the support that she does.
"At some schools, the girls have it far worse than I
do," she said. "They say that the boys hate them, they don't respect them.
But I don't
get that."
The response to Ocampo's success has been tremendous,
Barajas said, from her opponents and from the crowds that attend Channel
Islands' matches.
"(The crowd) loves it when she's in first," he said. "It
tells you a lot about what people want. They want to see good wrestling,
especially if
it's coming from a girl."
"I haven't gotten any negativity from my opponents,"
Ocampo said. "We'll talk sometimes before and after matches about our
previous
matches, but the comments about me are mostly good.
Sometimes they say I'm hard to handle."
Ocampo will face one of her toughest tests of the year
this weekend at the California Invitational, a 42-man bracket in Morro Bay.
"When you get to the quarterfinals, it's some pretty
tough competition," Barajas said. "Then two weeks after that you have the
league finals,
then CIF and then the Masters. This is when she's going
to start peaking."
Ocampo has had help from many coaches and supporters.
"It would be absurd to say I'm her coach and she's good
because of me," he said. "I just feel really fortunate to be part of her
life. She's
going to be making history in California, if not the
nation."
November 20, 1998
----------------------------
Sunday Conversation with Tony Warren;
A coach who takes a stand
THE FORT WORTH
STAR-TELEGRAM
January 19, 1997, Sunday
Everywhere Martin High School wrestling coach Tony
Warren has
gone, controversy has followed.
Last season as Sam Houston's wrestling coach, he
adamantly
supported female wrestler Melony Monahan's right to
wrestle in Texas
Interscholastic Wrestling Association meets.
This season, he's at it again.
Last month the parents of Monahan and Martin wrestler
Courtney
Barnett, in conjunction with the American Civil
Liberties Union,
filed a lawsuit against TIWA seeking a court decision
that would
allow the girls to compete.
Characteristically, Warren has been outspoken in his
support of
the wrestlers.
Warren, 30, doesn't understand what the big deal is. He
believes
everyone should have the opportunity to wrestle. He
says that's what
he has believed since he began coaching Grand Prairie's
Poly American
Wrestling Club in 1986.
And he is not the only believer in Texas high school
wrestling. On
Friday night, the University Interscholastic League
voted to sanction
the sport.
Warren talked with reporter David Lance about his
beliefs, his
team and the future of wrestling in the state.
What's your stance on girls wrestling boys?
If anybody puts the work in, they deserve an opportunity
to
wrestle. Irrevelant of sex, or if they're physically
impaired,
visually, hearing. I think if you have what it takes
and put in the
time, you deserve the opportunity.
And considering that girls are allowed to compete
everywhere else
in the nation, Texas should be no different.
What's your stance on girls wrestling girls?
Ideally, I would like to see a viable women's division.
I thought
last year when the TIWA (Texas Interscholastic Wrestling
Division)
put in the women's division, they were going to support
it.
When it was voted out, I told them at the state
tournament that
this situation right now that's occurring would happen.
Just because
a few people decide, on their own opinion, that it's not
right,
doesn't mean that's how it's going to work out.
If they do put in a women's division, that's good. But
I still
feel the girls, because of the lack of competition, lack
of numbers,
ought to be allowed to compete against the guys and
improve their
skills.
That in turn will help the women be able to compete on a
national
level and international level.
Do you think the judge's ruling against the injunction
is a setback?
No. I think the information that was provided to him
wasn't
detailed. Considering it was over the Christmas
holidays, and to be
away from your homes and families, and to come in and
say, 'We feel
these girls are being discriminated against' and just
get one or two
(examples) instead of detailing. I don't think
that's a setback.
I know they (the defendants) think it's a major victory,
but
that's not the case.
What kind of backlash has your team experienced over
this issue?
There's talk. I've heard some people say I'm going to
be
blackballed by coaches and officials, and next year
people aren't
going to allow us into their tournaments and teams are
not going to
dual against us.
Over the years, there's been scenarios that have come
up, where I
had the Elite team (one high school team for all of
Arlington) and we
were going to be blackballed. When we started beating
established
programs, they didn't want to wrestle us. And when the
Arlington
schools came out and did well in the old region setup,
they wanted to
put us in another region.
How is your relationship with other coaches?
I think if coaches look at me for what I've done and
given the
sport of wrestling the last several years, if they
choose not to
wrestle us based on this women's issue, that's
unfortunate.
A lot of these coaches need to evaluate why they're
coaching. It's
not for themselves; it's supposed to be for the kids,
and promoting
their growth and strengthening their values.
And when you say 'You can't because I said so' without
having
justified reasons, it makes you lose a lot of
credibility.
What do you think of UIL sanctioning?
If the UIL takes us under, girls wrestling becomes a
non-issue.
That was one of the arguments I was trying to stress to
the TIWA and
the officials. Why not have this in place to show this
is no big
deal, this is how they do it everywhere else.
But once again opinions got in the way and I hope it
hasn't hurt
us, because if we're not voted in, then the wrestling
organization
within this state needs to be restructured and the
coaches should
have more impact as opposed to a select few in making
decisions that
are going to affect us statewide.
How far has the sport come in last two years in
Arlington?
Anybody that watched the tournament, the competition
level in
Arlington is just increased by large portions. We went
from 22 teams
in the Elite teams to the numbers that we've got
throughout the city.
We're averaging 30 to 50 kids (per team) and that says a
lot. And
the quality of wrestling has really improved, like it
has statewide.
Is wrestling improving in Texas?
Last year the competition in the state tournament was
the best
I've ever seen. Throughout, from the low end - 103
pounds - all the
way through the heavyweights. That's encouraging.
That's one of the reasons I take my kids to Oklahoma as
often as
possible - so they can see that caliber of wrestling.
We may not win
that many matches, but my kids are exposed to a level of
competition
that won't be seen here in Texas. Not for a long time.
They get to see how a kid prepares for a match or a
tournament. Up
there, you never see a kid called down to a mat where
he's sitting in
the stands. They're already down there warming up,
thinking about
what's going on.
And I want my kids to understand that there's more to it
than,
'Oh, that's my name on the loudspeaker, I guess they
want me to
wrestle right now. '
How is your team wrestling now?
I felt like when I transferred over here that we had
potential for
a good team. I can't say enough about how hard this
group of kids has
worked. Especially with the core I have now. They've
worked as hard
as any group I've had.
My sophomores and the few freshmen that I have, really
deserve a
lot of praise. Because they come in and they're always
here working
in practice.
Didn't you have to suspend some wrestlers?
Over Christmas break, I had some letdowns with some
kids. They
didn't show up to practice, didn't show up to dual
tournaments, and
it resulted in some suspensions.
Consequently, we have some that, because of grades, I
removed from
the team. The majority of them that were suspended,
that hadn't
turned in the right information to validate why they
weren't there, I
removed them from the team.
I suspended seven, seven that weren't starters.
Who's wrestling well for you now?
My seniors. Matt Harrison (103 pounds) and Bo Harris
(160), Daniel
Clearfield (145), they're wrestling well. Joe Pettigrew
(145) has
done a good job for us and he's just a sophomore.
Because of the suspensions, I had to put sophomores in
different
weight classes and move people around. Dusty Barton
(140) showed a
lot, coming into the AISD tournament and winning it.
I've got a whole group I'm proud of. The expectations I had and
what I felt our potential was has changed to some extent
because of
the suspensions. But I feel in the long run, that's
going to benefit
us the most. Because I know I've got kids I can count
on.
How much do you like Martin?
I enjoy Martin. It's been nice since the very first day
I stepped
over here. The administration and the coaching staff
has been great.
The only thing that would make this job any better would
be if we had
a permanent wrestling facility.
I couldn't ask for any better for a job. The kids are
good and I
enjoy it. The only frustration has been dealing with
the issues of
the girls wrestling. I was hoping it wouldn't get to
this extent, but
it has.
How has it affected your wrestlers?
It's been hard on the kids. They want to see their
names and
pictures in the press, and when it's directed on
something the way it
has been because of the novelty, there's been some
jealousy.
I told them as long as they continue to work hard and
experience
