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By Matt Jacob 3/14/2000
Special To The Post-Dispatch

Stephen Neal only wanted a bit of security. He wanted the opportunity to wrestle for four years at California State University at Bakersfield without having to worry about whether the next meet would be his last as a collegian.

But the future of wrestling at Cal State-Bakersfield and at many other colleges has become murky as schools strive for compliance with Title IX, the 1972 legislation aimed at curbing discrimination based on gender in educational institutions that receive federal funding.

Since the 1990-91 season, the number of NCAA institutions that sponsor wrestling programs has dropped from 280 to 243. Division I programs offering the sport dwindled from 111 to 94.

Administrators cite many factors to explain the drop, but the chief reason is that schools are attempting to gain parity between men's and women's athletics programs.

Wrestlers sue to save team

In the fall of 1995, Bakersfield coach T.J. Kerr informed his team that the athletics department would begin cutbacks in the number of roster slots and funding available on men's teams. Doing so, the Bakersfield administrators said, would help the university achieve gender equity. Today, the wrestling team receives 40 percent of the funding it garnered in 1993.

"What they're saying is that it's OK to cut men from teams just because they're guys," said Neal, a two-time NCAA heavyweight champ who graduated last year. "What they're doing is discriminatory."

After Neal and his teammates were unsuccessful in persuading officials to cease cutbacks, they filed a suit against the university, charging that capping a team's size discriminated against male athletes.

An unfair quota system?

The Office for Civil Rights, a program within the U.S. Department of Education, is charged with investigating claims of Title IX inequities. In 1979, the office said schools could demonstrate compliance by proving one part of a test:

* Are participation opportunities substantially proportionate to enrollment?

* Is there a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented sex?

* Is the institution fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex?

Dr. Mary Frances O'Shea, the office's national coordinator for Title IX athletics, said the group does not advocate one part of the test over another. But critics argue that investigators primarily look for proportionality when searching for compliance.

Leo Kocher, wrestling coach at the University of Chicago, is a staunch advocate of eliminating the test. And while he understands O'Shea's insistence on "separate but equal" compliance measures, Kocher said schools are ultimately coerced into achieving proportionality, which he likens to an unfair quota system.

"Any school that looks at this test realizes that Prongs 2 and 3 are not really safe," Kocher said. "They don't like the uncertainty involved, and they don't want their federal funds withheld.

"The simple fact is this: If a school is not compliant in terms of proportionality, then they're in the crosshairs of organizations like the National Women's Law Center and the Women's Sports Foundation."

Prep wrestling is on the rise

Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation, said a "lack of interest" from college presidents and athletics directors is to blame for the elimination of wrestling programs.

O'Shea pointed out other factors and emphasized that her office does not advocate such decimation.

"Schools that choose that route do so, typically, because of exorbitant cost factors involved with sustaining a program, because a school's conference doesn't sponsor the sport or because the program is not competitive," she said.

While collegiate wrestling shrinks, wrestling remains popular at the high school level, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

The number of schools offering boys wrestling programs increased from 8,404 in 1990-91 to 9,022 for the 1998-99 season. Total interscholastic participation also increased - from 230,763 to 235,973 - over the same period.

Female participation in high school wrestling is growing, too. In 1990-91, only 21 schools sponsored a girls program and 132 athletes participated. Those numbers blossomed to 661 and 2,361 by the 1998-99 season.

Most college wrestling programs fail to bring in revenue for their school. They also tend to carry a large number of athletes on their rosters. That makes wrestling susceptible to being eliminated in favor of creating increased opportunities for female athletes.

"Few sports are eating up more money and not giving back," Lopiano said.

Group seeks change in laws

As their opportunities to compete collegiately dwindle, wrestlers have some allies in trying to save the sport.

Eric LeSher is president of Iowans Against Quotas, a grass-roots coalition that supports a change in the way the government enforces Title IX in collegiate athletics. He says the current method of enforcement is a quota system that denies male athletes adequate opportunities to compete.

The group has received help from other organizations that oppose the use of gender quotas. But their cause has failed to achieve much action in legislative circles.

"Our stance is not that politically correct, but we try to encourage congressmen to take active stances," LeSher said. "It is difficult for them to take the bold step and introduce legislation fearing constituents would peg them as anti-women."

Court case is pending

A federal district judge agreed with Neal and his teammates in February 1999, forcing Cal State-Bakerfield to cease the cutbacks. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in December. That gave the university authority to begin cutbacks again.

The case is pending a rehearing before the same court. It eventually could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Neal is now a part-time assistant coach at Cal State-Bakersfield as he continues to train for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials. He went on to capture the 1999 freestyle world championship but maintains that winning his court battle would be an equally substantial victory.

"I'm a wrestler, so I look at all of this like I would if I were out on the mat," Neal said. "I've been down by a lot in matches before, but I never give up hope no matter how bleak the situation is."

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A life-altering experience Riverside senior has gone from troublemaker to just plain trouble as a wrestler

Janie McCauley/The Spokesman-Review

Wrestling saved Lauren Alderson.

Ask her how, and the tough side she exhibits on the mat transfers into a sensitivity that most students at Riverside High School have never seen.

Tears come to her eyes.

``Wrestling saved my life,'' she confides. ``I would've been dropped out, pregnant or on crack right now.''

Five years ago, Alderson was headed down the wrong path.

She rebelled. She became the ``wild child'' in her Christian family. She challenged religion. She challenged her parents.

She moved out of their home and lived with a friend for three months before returning home. She partied hard and left school near the end of eighth grade to study on her own.

``I was a troublemaker,'' said Alderson, who comes across as a mature 17-yearold.

She's thankful she found wrestling. And she has become pretty good at it.

She will compete in the United States Girls Wrestling Association National Championships this weekend in Lake Orion, Mich.

Alderson -- who is a senior at Riverside as well as in her second year of the Running Start program through Spokane Community College -- was ranked No. 5 nationally at 120 pounds in the organization's Feb. 12 rankings. She finished fifth in that weight class at the tournament last year.

Wrestlers are divided into 14 equal weight classes after weigh-ins. About 400 girls from seventh grade through high school are expected to compete.

Alderson never imagined she'd be entered in such a tournament. A friend talked her into turning out for wrestling when they were freshmen.

It sounded fun and Alderson made the decision on an impulse. She called home the first day of practice and begged her mother to bring her some wrestling shoes. They were ratty, but they worked.

Alderson's friend, who wrestled at 168, only lasted one day. Alderson was disgusted and promised herself she wasn't quitting. But she did give it thought at times. Competing in a male-dominated sport was rough initially.

Alderson knew nothing about wrestling. She had never heard of a reversal or a takedown.

Her father, Steve Alderson, a former wrestler, was concerned.

``It's not the sport I'd pick for her, but it has done her a world of good,'' he said. ``It's a discipline sport and prepares you for the trials of life. It has done a lot for her self esteem and confidence.''

And her toughness.

Alderson has been laughed at by opponents and referees. She's been asked over and over again if wrestling is a sexual thing for her.

``When you're wrestling, you're not thinking about touching each other wrong,'' she said.

People have assumed she's lesbian.

And the father of a senior wrestler wouldn't let his son turn out during Alderson's freshman season because a girl was on the team.

``She's gone through things that I will never be able to understand and many of the individuals on our team will never be able to understand,'' said Riverside coach Scott Friedman. ``In many regards, she has been a trailblazer for girls wrestling in the state of Washington and an inspiration for many guys on our team for the many things she's been able to accomplish in such a short time.

``She battles and scraps, and actually is one of the hardest workers in our room. She's earned the respect of every wrestler and the student body of the high school here.''

That's fine with Alderson. But she's not wrestling for attention.

``People always ask me `Are you out for the women?''' she said. ``I'm not out to prove anything. I hear that girls at the high school look up to me and I'm like `Why?' It's neat, but I didn't mean to. I'm not a feminist. I'm just out to wrestle.''

Steve Alderson has come to accept his daughter as a wrestler.

``It's a great sport,'' he said. ``It's just hard when your little girl is getting beat up on and you can't protect her from that.''

Alderson said she had broken blood vessels under both eyes and bruises covering her arms the first couple weeks.

She claims to know the number of lights on the ceilings in every gym she visited her first season because she was on her back so often getting pinned.

It took two years to earn her teammates' respect, she said.

Actually, she had their admiration sooner, said senior Joben Nuesse.

Nuesse, who won State 2A at 122 pounds last season and 129 pounds this year, said the coaches tested her from the get-go. And she passed.

``There had been girls on my eighth-grade team, but none as tough,'' Nuesse said. ``She's the toughest girl I've ever met. She can pretty much take anything.

``Some of our best guys would wrestle her a whole practice just to beat up on her. They just went all out with her. ... She just took all our abuse.''

She took abuse from other teams, too.

Nuesse remembers in their sophomore season when an opponent cross-faced her for a whole match without trying to score points.

Nuesse was happy when he got to wrestle the guy next.

``I didn't like that; you have to try and score points,'' he said. ``When I wrestled him, I made him cry a couple times.''

Yet Alderson rarely needs anyone to defend her, Nuesse said.

She stands just 5-foot-3 and weighs 125 pounds, but she is extremely strong. Her body fat is 14 percent, about 6 percent below the mean for college women athletes.

Alderson is no longer shy about her weight since it gets announced every time she competes. She wears a singlet just like everybody else.

She pulls her straight, long, dark hair up into a Lycra swim cap and her wrestling head gear goes over top.

She never wears makeup when she wrestles.

``I like to put on makeup and be a girl,'' said Alderson, who has two tattoos and piercings in her tongue and naval. ``But I'm in a guy's sport and guys don't wear makeup.''

As a junior, Alderson cut weight to make 115 pounds and wrestle varsity. Once, she had to shed 7 pounds in one day.

She said she would run for 2 hours in five layers of clothing after already having practiced 2 hours with the team.

``It was hell,'' she said. ``You go so long without food. After 1 hour I would be stumble running. I would start to cry. An assistant coach said if I was crying, the weight must be coming off.''

Alderson, who will walk on to the women's wrestling team at the University of Minnesota at Morris this fall, gained weight after severely straining her back last June. She wasn't able to do any physical activity for more than three months. So she wrestled 129 pounds this season on junior varsity, winning about half her matches and only getting pinned three times.

She feels fortunate to have been able to practice against Nuesse, who has been a role model, a friend and like a brother.

``My team is like my family,'' she said. ``Your team has to support you when you're the only girl. They're the ones weighing in with the other team and hearing comments. They're like my big brothers.

``I'm so thankful,'' she said. ``When I'm down I've still got wrestling. It has kept me going.''

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EVEN MORE HOLDS BARRED:

Has the WNBA paved the way for a Women’s WWF? Oh, sorry, we’re talking about sports here...The first annual Michigan Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Championship took place last Saturday at Olivet. Female college students from around the state competed in 10 weight classes. United States Women’s Wrestling Association founder and director Kent Bailo says the sport “can and will be the emerging, growing sport of the new millenium.” Why not? In the Midwest, at least; NASCAR will never catch on here, anway.

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Grappling with new territory

Kadambari Murali

NEW DELHI, SEPT 2: A visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium where the Indian women's wrestling camp is staying will give lie to the song: I married a female wrestler as massive as can be/and she had bulging muscles which quite fascinated me.
The girls are fascinating -- this by having the courage to take up a sport that is still in its infancy in India -- but there is little evidence of the bulging muscles in their trim frames.

Renu, Nirmal and Niresh, three members of the camp, are all slim, petite and in the course of the conversation, come across as `the-girls-next-door'.

As 18-year-old Renu Bala puts it, ``in wrestling, speed and quick thinking is of the essence, not muscle.'' Renu, Nirmal Kaur and Niresh Kaur are from Punjab, along with a couple of others. There are a few from Haryana, some from Delhi, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. These are girls who have taken to the sport despite opposition from families, ridicule from friends and sometimes even after being branded as not being froman ``achcha khaandan'' (good family). They have entered a field where a broken or swollen ear is practically the norm; where the type of training they need to do leads to knobbly knees and sore backs; where they have to get over their initial inhibitions about the dress worn by wrestlers (Nirmal calls it the katta-huan kapda -- cut piece of cloth ); and they have a job at hand ``to win over suspicious male wrestlers.''

According to them, most of the women wrestlers here are ex-judokas, who find the going easier as the techniques are similar. ``Except,'' smiles Niresh, ``some things, which take a little time. In judo you are standing, in wrestling, there's a lot of bending. In wrestling, you get a point for moving back, in judo, it's a foul.''

Renu, formerly an athlete, says: "Near, where I trained in Faridkot, there was a men's multi-gym where I was introduced to this sport.'' She had her head constable father's support. ``He told me that athletics has too much competition, I should opt forthis as it is a new sport.''

Nirmal, who has three brothers who are all uninterested in sports, was also encouraged by her parents. She says she has nothing to lose. If she does well, she will continue, if she doesn't, she may get married. But she will give it her best shot.

The camp, run by coach Hargobind Singh, began on August 16 and goes on till September 7 after which they leave for Sweden for the World Championships.

The girls are optimistic, but not too hopeful about medals. ``It will be an experience, as it will be the first senior camp to go abroad for competition. The girls abroad are very fast and have much more experience, women's wrestling being about 10-years-old in the West,'' says the eldest of the trio, 23-year-old Nirmal Kaur.

A junior team went to Poland earlier this month and 12-year-old Raminder Kaur returned with a bronze medal in the 38-kg category.

The seniors will be competing in six categories, 46, 51, 56, 62, 68 and 75 kgs. Renu, unfortunately, will not be in contention,as she is under age. The cut-off age for seniors is 20. She is happy to be at the camp though.

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Misc Posts

Posted by Brandi Rosenbrock on January 28, 2000 at 15:10:57:

In Reply to: girl wrestlers posted by rob struckhoff on January 21, 2000 at 19:35:36:

: girl suck at wrestling
: they should not be allowed to wrestle
: shannon williams sucked at wrestling she didn't pin one opponent

I wrestle 125 on the varsity high school team. I don't think all girls suck
I am ranked #1 in the usgwa. You guys need to leave us alone.We work very hard
to be in this sport,you just give it a bad name.
Are you affraid of getting beat by a girl?

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Womens Wrestling Section

Women's Wrestling continues to grow and get more media coverage daily.
Three of the girls who were at our Women's Camp this summer are in
photos in an article published today in School Sports - a national high
school sports publication. The campers are Edie Burbank-Schmitt, Daphne
Putka and Sharon Ophir. Check this article out at

www.schoolsports.com/article.asp?ref=EFrd&ArticleID=8687&regionid=2

This month's Wrestling USA magazine features an article by U.S. Girls
Wrestling Association (USGWA) Director, Kent Bailo. Kent and his
organization are committed to the promotion of Women's Wrestling and
creating more opportunities for girls to compete against one another.
Check out the USGWA web page at WWW.USGWA.COM

If you know any women who wrestle or are interested in trying wrestling,
have them contact me and I will ad them to my Womens Newsletter list.

If I can ever help you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me.
--
Ken Chertow
Gold Medal Wrestling Camp
http://www.kenchertow.com