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JAMIE GERMANO |
Wrestling for acceptance
Participation increases for girls, but so do critics who complain they don't belong
By James Johnson
Democrat and Chronicle
(Feb. 6, 2000) --
It's been a week or two, but Amber La Forme still rolls her eyes at the memory. La Forme and her teammates on the Eastridge junior varsity wrestling team had a dual meet scheduled against a Monroe County League opponent.
When the Lancers arrived to weigh-in she discovered that the match she was going to wrestle in wasn't going to take place after all.
According to her, the boy did not want to wrestle a girl.
''You practice so hard all week,'' says La Forme, a sophomore, ''then you don't have a match.''
There are coaches, wrestlers and parents who say a boy wrestling a girl is not a good match. They would prefer to have girls wrestling other girls. The problem is that interest is not high enough for Section V schools to start all-girls teams.
So the girls who want to wrestle, more often than not, have to go toe-to-toe with boys.
''I wish (people) would accept it,'' says Wayne junior Andrea Molino, who wrestled for two seasons on her school's JV team. ''But there's not much I can do about it.''
The argument that comes up the most when it comes to boys wrestling girls is that the boys are in a no-win situation.
You ''only'' beat a girl if you win. And if you lose?
''If you get beat by a girl you'll get a lot of ribbing from your teammates,'' says Peter Clarcq, a 189-pounder at Eastridge.
Spencerport senior Shawn Hibbs, a state champion last season, other wrestlers and coaches all seem to have stories about boys who quit or nearly did so after losing matches to girls.
''They ask themselves 'Should I wrestle? What's wrong with me?' '' says Hibbs. ''I don't think you should get like that.''
Hibbs says he was uncomfortable during his only match against a girl, even though he was leading 14-0 before pinning her.
''I wasn't ready for it,'' says Hibbs. ''Certain moves I thought 'I shouldn't do that.'
''I don't know too many guys who are comfortable with it. Some may feel they can be more physical with guys.''
Neither Section V nor the New York State Public High School Athletic Association track the number of girls wrestling. The National Federation of State High School Association says 2,361 girls in the country wrestled on boys modified, freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams during the 1998-99 school year.
The number was 1,907 in 1997-98. There are at least 11 girls wrestling at some level in Section V.
''The trend has been consistently going up (over the last 8-10 years),'' says NFSHSA assistant director Jerry Diehl. ''It's not a high incline, but it's going up.''
It remains to be seen whether interest will ever be high enough for girls to have wrestling leagues of their own.
Lloyd Mott, assistant director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, says there has been more of a push in the last two years from parents, plus female and male wrestlers to seperate the sexes.
''That would be a great thing,'' says Spencerport coach Bill Jacoutot. ''It's no different than in judo. I think you start causing problems when you start mixing the sexes.''
''It's going to possibly generate a bad taste in everyone's mouth. If they start their own programs, it could be like (the rise of) women's hockey.''
In their blood
La Forme, Rachel Prince, her teammate at Eastridge, and Molino all come from wrestling families. Brothers. Cousins. Uncles. They all wrestled while La Forme, Prince and Molino watched, at first.
''I always used to go to my brother (Jeremie's) practices (at Greece Athena),'' says La Forme. ''He would come home and say 'I still need to practice', then he would practice on me.''
Prince has two brothers and both are on the Eastridge varsity.
''My father would always talk about (wrestling) with my older brother Aaron and my younger brother Kyle,'' says Prince. ''Then, all my uncles were into it.
''That's why I had to do it. It's fun and I think it's the best sport. You work with your muscles and your mind.''
Molino remembers going to matches with her father Dan, who wrestled when he was in high school.
''It's always been my favorite sport,'' she says.
Andrea's interest in wrestling picked up even more after watching former Attica standout Emme Conway, a Section V tournament runner-up in 1996 as a freshman.
''I told her no because I didn't see too many (girls) out there,'' says Dan Molino, whose daughter joined the Wayne program as a freshman. ''I started to put some things together and I thought, if you want to wrestle, I'll let you try it.
''I told her right from the beginning what to expect. (People) are going to resent you, it's going to be an uphill climb.''
Dan Molino says that a couple of people have said ''they don't think it's right'' that his daughter wrestles boys, but for the most part people don't say anything about it.
''But I know that there were kids who hated it,'' says Dan Molino. ''Sometimes you get shunned out. The coach has to set the tone.''
Total mismatch?
Every girl who wants to join her school's wrestling team must undergo a physical fitness test. La Forme's included included sprints, agility drills, a one-mile run and prolonged chin-ups known as arm hangs to test her strength.
If they pass the tests, they and their parents then must sign injury waiver forms.
The girls then contend with the first few awkward days with male teammates that might or might not accept them.
''In one instance, (girls) came to make the team and then they sat there and did nothing,'' says Clarcq.
''(Prince and La Forme) come and work hard. We do a lot of things that will test you mentally and physically.
''We don't give them any breaks.''
Girls in the seventh and eighth grades, wrestling in the lightweight divisions up to 119 pounds, can hold their own against male opponents.
That begins to change as male wrestlers mature physically, enabling them to muscle their way to wins over girls.
Some male wrestlers refuse to square off against a female opponent under any circumstances at dual meets.
Eastridge varsity coach John Vandemark says that in 10 dual meets where a boy is matched up against a girl, the match won't take place in six of those instances.
''(Teams) say we don't have anyone at that weight or we're going to bump a guy up,'' says Vandemark. ''It's always done to make it look like that wasn't the reason, but it was.
''At tournaments, you can't avoid (those matchups). At a dual meet, (the match) doesn't happen.''
Andrea Molino says that some of her male opponents underestimate her skill level, strength and toughness. One for instance, stopped in the middle of a match to see if Molino was ok after accidentally knocking the wind out of her during a takedown attempt.
''There are some who are into it, doing all of their moves,'' says Molino. ''Some try to take it easy on me because I am a girl. I can tell by the way they react after the match (too).
''One kid that beat me, felt really bad. Another one called me a nasty name after I beat him.''
What's next?
How long will it be before there are all-girls teams in Section V?
Estimates range from five years to never.
''To win that battle, you have to start at the sectional-level,'' says Holley coach John Grillo. ''That could be done next year.''
Grillo, who opposses girls wrestling boys, recommends that each of the state's sections field a team.
Wrestlers would train with the boys teams at their schools during the week and then travel with their sectional teammates to meets and tournaments on weekends.
If enough participation interest is there Grillo says, perhaps countywide teams could be formed.
''Every section in New York should have one team of girls with a girl or two in each weight class,'' says Grillo.
Jacoutot says that schools could choose to field an all-girls team with less weight classes.
''Start small, get bigger,'' says Jacoutot. ''There's nothing wrong with that. Publicize it. Start pee-wee and junior-high programs.
''The girls have to sell it to a school and the school has to find competition.''
Organizers of the New York State Female Folkstyle Wrestling Championships on Sunday in Geneva hope their event will start to drum up interest in wrestling among girls.
A similiar event recently in Ohio attracted 50 participants.
''If we can do that well in our first year we think we will have had made an impact,'' says Jeff Huether, the New York tournament's coordinator and whose daughter Becky wrestles at Geneva.
''We have to start somewhere.''
Female championships
What New York State Female Folkstyle Wrestling Championships.
When 11 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 6, Weigh-ins, 7:30-9 a.m.
Where Geneva High School
Divisions There are three divisions for wrestlers: Kindergarten-5th grade; 6th-8th grade and 9th-12th grade.
For wrestlers $10 pre-registration, $15 day of event; All participants must purchase $20 USA Wrestling Card.
To register Call (315) 789-0645.
For spectators Admission is $2 per person or $5 for a family of three or more
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Mich. girl tosses aside competition Sophomore posts 50-10 record to reach state wrestling championships
By Debbie Howlett
USA TODAY
DAVISON, Mich. -- Keristen LaBelle wrestles for all the same reasons as her male teammates.
She loves the competition.
The sweat and hard work, the pain of hardening her body into a weapon with endless hours in the weight room and the slippery tedium of refining her technique on the practice mats -- none of that is for fun. It's aimed at just one moment.
''When you're out there and the referee raises your hand and the other guy's head is hanging down,'' LaBelle says, ''that's the best feeling.''
Six years ago LaBelle watched two older brothers wrestle at a weekend tournament and asked to try out. Her father and mother agreed, mainly to humor her. A couple of weeks of hard-nosed practice, they figured, would temper her enthusiasm. It only fueled the fire. She gave up tap and ballet. She quit the cheerleading squad. As a sophomore, LaBelle becomes the first girl to wrestle in the Michigan state Division I high school championships. The double-elimination meet started Thursday and runs through the weekend.
Other girls have wrestled boys in the lower divisions here and elsewhere, but none has come as close to seriously competing for a state title.
A blond strand of 20-gauge wire, the 5-3 LaBelle has compiled a 50-10 record wrestling at 103 pounds for the powerhouse Davison program. She can bench-press 180 pounds. ''She's very intense, very competitive. Technically, she's as sound as anybody,'' says her coach, Roy Hall.
LaBelle will be one of 16 wrestlers in her weight class from the biggest schools in the state. She has beaten five of the others in meets this season. Her goal is to place in the top eight and win all-state honors.
Her strategy: ''Be really aggressive. Keep on the guy; break him down. Keep shooting. Keep slapping his hands away. Keep banging his head down. Wear him out.''
The style is a hallmark of the Davison program, which won the state title last weekend and has sent a record 12 wrestlers, one in all but two of the weight classes, to the state meet.
''We're family,'' says Joe Whitman, a junior 135-pounder who is undefeated in 53 matches this year. ''She's our little sister. She gets us going. . . . It kills us to see her lose.''
For other boys, especially some of her opponents, it kills them to see her win.
At a tournament a few years back, one boy refused to wrestle her, saying it was against his religion. The idea still astonishes her: ''I was like, 'Wow, what kind of religion is that?' ''
More often it's the parents who have a hard time adjusting to the idea of their son losing to her. She often has to endure insults and angry words from adults in the stands while she's leaving the mat. ''You ignore it, shrug it off,'' LaBelle says.
She hopes one day to wrestle in a college women's program, perhaps at the University of Minnesota at Morris, where Doug Reese established the first women's wrestling program in the nation.
And, as LaBelle points out, women's wrestling will debut as a medal sport at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
First, though, she has the state meet in her sights.
''You have to believe you can beat anybody,'' she says. ''You let your meanness out and compete. It's awesome.''
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Wrestling grapples with a SPLIT PERSONALITY
By Dan O'Neill 3/12/2000
Of The Post-Dispatch
Big-time "rasslin" arrives in St. Louis on Thursday. We're talking gritty, grimy, emotion-gripping grappling. We are not talking personal managers, bimbos, folding chairs, fireworks or farm animals.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, amateur wrestling bears no resemblance to its professional hybrid. Comparing the two is like comparing synchronized swimming and swimming, miniature golf and golf, bowling and bocce ball.
"So far, we haven't been able to take advantage of the popularity of pro wrestling," amateur wrestling sage Dan Gable said. "If you take a strictly business approach, it would be smart to want to improve your business, which we certainly do. But the question is, at what cost?"
On the professional level, the wrestling business is good. The prime-time theatrics and shocking storylines of professional wrestling have seized a market. Pro wrestling has reached the children's department at retail stores, the action-figure aisles of toy stores, the living rooms of America.
With big profits involved, the ethical cost is insignificant to pro pushers like Vince McMahon and Ted Turner. The message being propagated is inconsequential. A lack of integrity, an absence of decency, is easily justified by ratings and revenues.
On the amateur level, the cost is unacceptable. Amateur wrestling, such as the NCAA Championships that will take place at Kiel Center beginning Thursday, remains the purest form of a sport that has been around since young Abe Lincoln was a wrestler of some repute in New Salem, Ill. But the amateur game is a gentleman's competition, based on sincerity and honor, insistent on sportsmanship.
There are no capes or whips, no stage names like "Sexual Chocolate" or "The Undertaker," no "Mean Gene" narrating. Amateur wrestling is a challenge of speed, strength, endurance and discipline. It is a test of technique, temperament and courage, a war of wills.
"The pros have become so raunchy," University of Illinois coach Mark Johnson said, "flipping people off, grabbing each other, women in the ring with men, that sort of stuff, that I hate to see them even use the word 'wrestling.' They bring the whole sport down."
Gable is the Babe Ruth of U.S. amateur wrestling, a 1972 Olympic gold medalist and a tireless ambassador for the sport. After compiling a 305-7 record as an amateur, he became the most successful coach in college history, leading Iowa to 15 national championships in 21 seasons. He stepped down as Iowa's coach two seasons ago, but he remains a visible part of college wrestling's premier program. He also is coach of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team.
While Gable disdains the seedy sensationalism that goes on in pro wrestling, he does envy the amount of attention the sport generates. "For some reason, they've hooked up," said Gable, 52. "I don't know if that tells us we're not doing enough, not doing the job of promoting our sport or what.
"But television is a big part of that. We need to be on ESPN SportsCenter highlights. If they would just show an exciting finish of a match, or a decisive point being scored in a big match, but they don't. It won't be there."
While pro wrestling is decadent, loud and laminated, amateur wrestling is understated and underappreciated. A National Federation of State High School Associations survey showed wrestling is a popular endeavor at the high-school level and ranked No. 6 in overall participation (235,973 student-athletes), behind football, basketball, track, baseball and soccer. It was ahead of activities such as tennis, swimming and golf.
The sport has experienced slight gains at the high school level in recent years. Numbers showed that approximately 6,800 more students - which included an increasing number of girls - participated in 1999 than in the previous school year. Wrestling ranked fourth in growth among boys athletic programs. But most coaches and wrestlers say the impact of pro wrestling on their sport is minimal, crediting developmental programs at the elementary school and junior high youth level for the increase in participation.
What has had a much bigger impact is Title IX. The bill passed in 1972 that prohibits discrimination in sports on the basis of gender has had a destructive backlash for wrestling. To comply, many institutions have elected to balance the scales by dropping sports, rather than adding.
As a result, there are seven states, including Kansas and Colorado, that have no wrestling programs at their state universities. Statistics show there are 35 high school wrestling programs for every one in junior college or college. Gable adds that among the 12 prominent high school athletic programs, wrestling ranks last in terms of scholarship opportunities.
Yet, state high school championships draw big crowds. And gatherings of 14,000 or more pack wrestling hotbeds like Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa or Williams Arena in Minneapolis for college matches.
"I'm all for equal opportunities for women,' said Gable, who has four daughters. "But when a college drops a sport where the structure below is so solid, they're doing things the wrong way."
So, while one genre of wrestling compromises morality, distorts reality and thrives, the other endorses integrity and devotion and struggles for acceptance. Those who appreciate the entertainment value of both wish there was more common ground between the fictional and factual worlds.
"I enjoyed (pro wrestling) growing up," said Parkway Central grad Scott Schatzman, who will represent Northwestern at the 141-pound class. "My dad and I used to stay up late and watch it until the early morning hours. That's one of my most vivid childhood memories. But other than running into people who ask you if you know how to do the back-breaker, it's had no effect on my amateur wrestling. It's a shame amateur wrestling can't get some of that publicity."
Rumors have suggested McMahon and his World Wrestling Federation are interested in University of Minnesota heavyweight Brock Lesnar. Seven of the 10 weight classes competed in college are below 175 pounds, meaning most of the athletes are too small to step directly into pro wrestling. But Lesnar, 6 feet 4 and 275 pounds, has a 56-inch chest to go with a 36-inch waist. He has a regular spot on a radio show in Minneapolis and has the kind of bravado that translates well on stage.
"The thing about it is, it's on television four days a week," Lesnar said. "It has exposure constantly. Really, there's not enough publicity for amateurs. It's hard to explain how it works with publicity. But I wish amateur wrestling could find a way to benefit from it."
