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Sarasota Herald-Tribune
December 1, 1998,
Stereotypes die hard. Always have.
Men are the hunters and gatherers. Women are the
nurturers. Only within the last quarter century has society accepted that
the opposite
sexes are capable of fulfilling either role. And, like
Lemon Bay junior varsity wrestlers Emily Rivera, Heather Pettigrew and
Angela
Hernandez, of doing anything.
Except in Texas, where you might be a redneck if you're
a member of the Texas Wrestling Officials Association, which disbanded last
year
rather than be forced to referee high school matches
involving boys vs. girls.
And you might be a redneck if you're a part of the Texas
Interscholastic Wrestling Association, which refused to recognize female
wrestlers, either ignoring their matches or officiating
without posting points for the team.
Of course by suggesting that any given member of a group
is a redneck, I am guilty of the same type of prejudicial stereotyping that
is the
fountainhead of discrimination. And to deny girls the
opportunity to participate in a sport that has been a bastion for boys, for
no reason
other than their gender, is sexist, discriminatory and
just plain wrong.
The issue is not whether girls can compete, but rather
why shouldn't they be allowed to try. Any attempt to bar girls from
participating in
rough-and- tumble sports is not for their own
protection; it is to preserve antiquated values that today no longer make
sense.
The sad part is that some men hold females in such low
regard, they sincerely believe they have the girls' best interests at heart.
''They can't make us do this,'' John Rizzuti, former
president of the TWOA, told the Associated Press last year. ''Hell will
freeze over
before I officiate girls being brutalized by guys. . . .
There's one guy I call The Punisher. If a girl fought him, I'd tell them to
call an
ambulance - she's going to the hospital. What in
heaven's name are parents teaching these girls where they want to jump into
the ring with
brutes?''
They're teaching their daughters that in today's world,
women can and should have all of the same opportunities men have enjoyed for
generations. And while I'm sure The Punisher is a force
to be reckoned with, hairy and mean and hungrier than The Tasmanian Devil,
who's to say that as girls acquire more wrestling
experience, there won't be a Punisherette?
Either way, girls will learn a demanding sport, deriving
the same feelings of accomplishment boys have wrested since Homer described
his
first cranium-lock.
This year high school wrestling in Texas is under the
Texas University Interscholastic League's jurisdiction, which has created a
separate
girls' wrestling league.
That's all they ever wanted, a chance to compete,
against boys, or in a league of their own.
''I respect anybody that can do this sport,'' Lemon Bay
coach Mark Pearcy said of his first-year female wrestlers. ''I've got no
problem
with them if they're working hard and doing what's
expected of them . . . and they've been doing everything that I demand of my
male
wrestlers.
''I give them credit; they've endured what a lot of guys
said they couldn't do. They've not only endured some physical stuff, there
was
probably some mental and emotional stuff from guys who
didn't really want them here.''
Of course to some the idea of girls wrestling is too
new, too radical. Like permitting women in the workplace. Or allowing the
man to cook
dinner. Perhaps that will catch on to.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GIRL POWER;
EMILY RIVERA AND HEATHER PETTIGREW CHALLENGE THE
ALL-BOYS WORLD OF HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Sarasota Herald-Tribune November 26, 1998,
Why would someone subject herself to possible ridicule
and embarrassment while getting thrown around like a ping pong ball in a
smelly,
dingy room that somehow passes for a gym.
The question is particularly pertinent to Emily Rivera,
who was named Junior Miss Englewood in the Pioneer Days festivities last
year.
Before her family and friends had a chance to fantasize
Emily's life as one filled with beauty pageant honors and fashion shows, the
15-year-old switched gears on them.
Her partner, Heather Pettigrew, finds herself in a
similar situation. The 16-year-old had been swimming competitively for more
than seven
years, before she decided to abandon the genteel sport
and enter the male domain of high school wrestling, where smiles and pats on
the
back are replaced by snears and growls of opponents
figuring how fast they can slam you to the canvass for a three count.
But there are no regrets for these two Lemon Bay High
juniors, who are on track to become the first female members of the school's
wrestling program. Eight girls originally signed up, but
these two were the only ones to survive a month of stale air, agony and any
other
kind of pain the human mind can imagine, in the small
sweatbox where the wrestling team works out.
Even head coach Mark Pearcy, who welcomes their
presence, is impressed by these two young females.
"We weeded out the ones who didn't want to be here with
some extremely hard work and these two girls stuck it out," Pearcy said.
"They
are working hard and doing all the stuff the guys are
going through, and they haven't asked for any special treatment. We've
thrown a lot of
stuff at them and they haven't quit."
With the matter of their resolve settled, the question
that obviously arises is why these two youngsters want to invade a world
that
heretofore was considered off limits for the feminine
gender.
"I couldn't do basketball because I can't shoot when
someone is trying to distract me and I'm not athletically inclined so I
figured wrestling
would be good and I always wanted to be the first girl
on the wrestling team," said Emily, who wanted to come out last year, but
was
frightened away because she was the only female.
The last time Emily received any notoriety, she was
being honored as the Englewood Pioneer Day pageant winner, but that was like
eating
your favorite ice cream; It took no effort and anyone
could do it, says Emily.
"I won, but it wasn't something I achieved. I went up on
the stage, said something real short and they picked me. Basically, I had
the looks
and knew what to do. Anyway, I'm not the beauty queen
type," she said.
The only looks that count in the world of grapplers are
hard stares that some wrestlers wear to frighten their opponents into
submission.
But Emily says that doesn't scare her off, though she is
not by nature an aggressive person.
"I had her in my history class and she's such a nice,
polite girl, I didn't know if she could do this," Pearcy said.
Emily added, "I'm doing fine. We get pinned a lot in
practice, but I'm enjoying it. The first day I was timid and shy and some of
the guys
gave us a hard time and others were worried that if they
lost to us they would lose their pride, but things have worked out."
When Heather decided to give up swimming, she was
looking for a sport and wrestling seemed the obvious choice.
"I don't like sports were there are objects being thrown
at you like in basketball or soccer and I wanted to so something out of
water, so
this seemed like a good choice. I saw some recruiting
videos and I wanted to know how they got into all those weird positions,"
she said.
"When I first started, a couple of guys said something
to me, but they backed off after they saw I wouldn't quit."
The obvious question facing the athletes, their parents
and school administrators is the nature of the sport with its close physical
contact,
but that hasn't seemed to be a problem.
"If there is unintentional touching, I can deal with
that. I support my children in whatever they do," said Emily's mother, Cindy
Rivera. "My
husband and son are big pro wrestling fans and I kind of
suspect Emily did this to get her dad more involved in her life."
Pearcy added, "At first, we were concerned about the
close physical contact, but we talked to the parents and everyone involved
and it
wasn't a problem. When you're out on the mat anything
goes, but it is more difficult for the girls because they have less upper
body strength
than most guys."
Both girls have wrestled some of the guys in practice
and they feel the problem of being in an uncomfortable situation has been
resolved.
"I think in the beginning some of the guys were thinking
if I put my hand here, it will not be right. I don't believe that's a
problem anymore,"
Emily said.
The driving forces behind the girls are similar in part.
They would both like to open up the sport to females and hope someday there
might
be enough participants to start a girls' team.
"Though it's very tiring, I like the workouts and I'm
starting to realize how unfit I am," Emily said.
"I want to prove to myself that I can do this because
everything else I have tried I quit. I won't quit this," Heather said.
For this season, the girls will most likely wrestle on
the junior varsity team, but they are hoping to be on the varsity next year.
Whatever,
the case, they don't plan on quitting.
Former Junior Miss Englewood Emily Rivera, 15, left, a
junior at Lemon Bay High School and Heather Pettigrew, 16, also a junior,
are
wrestling for the Mantas this year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Girl wrestler tries to become one of the guys
for Cougars
Jana Rapetti
Cougar Connection Staff
Isabell Morello, a student at El Dorado High School, spent a portion of
this season on the El
Dorado High School wrestling team.
Morello began wrestling in the fifth grade. Her older brothers and
cousins
played football and
she would often work out with them. "My friends Tawnya Rojos and Alicia
Linnenbrink were
the two that got me started," Morello recalled.
"Wrestling has always been my love," Morello says. However, Morello did
not
wrestle her
freshman or sophomore years because, "there were some coaches who didn't
approve of
me wrestling." This year, Morello wrestled in the 170 division and was
on
JV. At one
tournament she was bumped up to varsity, but was unable to compete
because
none of her
opponents were in her weight division.
Morello is off the team since early January for reasons she declined to
discuss but indicated
that it may not be permanent. According to Morello, however, she is,
"officially off (the team)
right now."
"I really liked Isabell's attitude," Coach Trent Williams said, "She
showed
up, she worked
hard, she was a pleasure to coach, (and) she was a good person to have
on
the team."
Her teammates seemed to agree. Eric Ciampa, who wrestled with Morello,
commented that
he, "didn't know how she was going to react." Teammate Robert Gutierrez
said that at first "it
felt weird having a girl on the team (but) later on we considered her a
team mate."
"I think I've done pretty good for being the only girl on the team,"
stated
Morello, but "the guys
on varsity are gorillas compared to me!" Morello believes there are at
most
3 girls on other
wrestling teams but in most cases there are none. When it came to being
the
only girl,
Morello said, "it's kind of fun! I get my own locker room."
Because of her passion to wrestle, Morello plans to compete again her
senior year and hopes
to join the Navy following graduation. Morello is also considering
coaching
in the future.
Copyright 1998
©------------------------------------------------------
Girls
Wrestling
Re: Varsity Wrestling Forum (Admin)
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 03:57:23 GMT
From: Karen <unknown>
i was just wondering if anyone saw the 20-20 special
on girls wrestling........any opinions on girls wrestling
would be appreciated.......i want to hear from all sides
of the subject......I am a female wrestler and have had
the opportunity to wrestle both boys and girls........i feel
that girls have to wrestle guys in the growing age of
this sport.....Girls wrestling is goin to be included in the
Baystate Games this year....it is also goin to be an
olympic sport in the year 2004!
Thanx
Response to Girls Wrestling
Re: Girls Wrestling (Karen)
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 13:26:33 GMT
From: <unknown>
I did catch a little of te 20/20 special. I thought it was a
good segment. I feel that the two genders need to be
separate in this sport. Other than field hockey, I can't
think of any other sport where guy and girls both
compete on the same playing field. There are a few
reasons they should be separate:
1) It is uncomfortable for both guys and girls to wrestle
against the opposite sex. 2) Wrestling should be treated
like Baseball/Softball, Soccer, hockey, etc... 3) Title 9!
There is a push to have "equal opporotunity" sports in
all MA schools. That means if there are 9 sports for
guys there need to be 9 for the girls. I think that girls
wrestling would save the
sport!----------------------------------------------------------------
I was one of the girls on 20-20
Re: Response to Girls Wrestling
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 20:57:01 GMT
From: Karen <unknown>
i was one of the girls featured on that show.......it
seemed to show both sides fairly......i think girls need to
wrestle boys simply because there aren't enough girls
to wrestle them
RE: what school r u from
Re: What school are you from
Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 23:12:38 GMT
From: Karen <unknown>
i go to bridgewater Raynham.........where do you go?
date of baystates
Re: Baystates
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 01:41:15 GMT
From: Karen <unknown>
baystates are july 16 and 17 at Umass Boston
PLUS THEY ADDED GIRLS WRESTLING THIS
YEAR.....COME SEE ME WRESTLE EVERYONE!
KAREN
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A TRUE LOSER.....
Re: leave him alone (Karen)
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 17:06:05 GMT
From: <unknown>
YOUR MORE OF A LOSER FOR WANTING TO
COMPETE WITH BOYS.... MUST BE YOU
LIKED BE GROPED, GRABBED, AND
DOMINATED..... YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY THINK
YOU CAN EVEN COME CLOSE TO HALF-WAY
COMPETING AGAINST BOYS IN A SPORT LIKE
WRESTLING. STICK WITH A SPORT THAT
KEEPS IT IN IT'S OWN GENDER, MAYBE
THERE WILL BE WRESTLING FOR GIRLS IN
H.S. SOMEDAY.
--------------
Learn about stuff before you knoc k it
Re: A TRUE LOSER.....
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 22:57:27 GMT
From: Karen <Schwinn7nd@aol.com>
THERE ACTUALLY IS GIRLS HIGHSCHOOL
WRESTLING.....MAYBE BEFORE YOU START
MAKING FUN OF SOMETHING YOU OUGHT TO
DO YOUR RESEARCH....THERE IS GIRLS
REGIONALS WHICH I PLACED 4TH IN AND
THERE ARE GIRLS NATIONALS.....PROBABLY
DID BETTER THAN YOUD EVER DO IN ANY
GUYS TOURNAMENT....GET A CLUE
----------------------------------------------------------------------SOMETHING
FOR KAREN !!!!
Re: Learn about stuff before you knoc k it (Karen)
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 16:27:57 GMT
From: <unknown>
LISTEN HEAR CHICKIE, FIRST OF ALL I HAVE MORE GOLD IN MEDALS
AT HOME THAN YOU'LL PROBABLY HAVE IN A LIFETIME. INCLUDING A
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH FEMALE WRESTLING, AS LONG AS IT'S FEMALE AGAINST
FEMALE.
MATTER OF FACT IT'S SOON TO BE IN THE
OLYMPICS.
BUT, WHY A GIRL WOULD WANT TO COMPETE WITH BOYS (ESPECIALLY
WHEN THE PHYSICAL ADVANTAGE IS THE WAY IT IS), SHE NEEDS
THERAPY ALONG WITH THE BUTT KICKING SHE GETS FROM THE GUYS.
WHAT DO YOU POSSIBLY THINK YOU CAN ACHIEVE FROM COMPETING
WITH GUYS, IN A SPORT LIKE WRESTLING.
BESIDES THIS YEARS BAY STATES GAMES IS HAVING A FEMALE DIV.
I WOULD SUPPORT FEMALE WRESTLING IN THIS AREA 100%, BUT LET'S
KEEP IT IN ITS OWN GENDER......
AS FAR AS LEARNING ABOUT STUFF BEFORE I KNOCK IT....JUST FOR
YOUR INFO I'VE BEEN INVOLVED IN WRESTLING FOR 29 YEARS, HOW
DO THAT COMPARE WITH YOUR KNOWLEDGE AN INVOLVEMENT?
GOOD LUCK IN WHATEVER FEMALE TOURN. YOU ENTER.
IF YOU NEED INFO ON FEMALE TOURNS. GO TO INTERMAT.COM
ITS A GREAT WRESTLING WEB SITE.
----------------------------------------------------------------------SOMETHING
FOR YOU
Re: SOMETHING FOR KAREN !!!!
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 22:54:49 GMT
From: Karen <Schwinn7nd@aol.com>
all i was simply saying is that there is female highschool
wrestling and that i am involved in it. i wrestle girls in
girls tournaments.....i'm entered in the baystate games.
but to knock girls that wrestle guys in guys meets in
unnecessary. how do you expect us to learn to wrestle
at all without this experience. There aren't nearly
enough opportunities for me to wrestle girls as there
are guys. its not that i'm trying to prove myself against
a guy....i'm trying to achieve something as a
wrestler..something i cant do without experience. The
only reason we wrestle guys is so we can be better
prepared to be entered in girls tournaments......there
are only 1907 girl wrestlers nationwide!!......thats an
average of a little less than 4 girls per state.....So i ask
you, with your years of experience if you have a
solution to this i would love to hear it
----------------------------------------------------------------------Untitled
Re: SOMETHING FOR YOU (Karen)
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 15:46:47 GMT
From: <unknown>
UNFORTUNATELY YOUR LIKE A PIONEER......THIS IS SOMETHING NEW
AND LIKE EVERYTHING THAT'S NEW AND GETTING STARTED, IT'S A
SLOW PROCESS. I GUESS ALL SOMEONE IN YOUR SHOES CAN DO, IS TO
TRY AND ORGANIZE A CLUB PROGRAM OR SOMETHING COMPARABLE. BUT
IT TAKES A HUGE COMMITMENT. MY DAUGHTER WANTED ME TO GET
SOMETHING GOING....I TOLD HER THAT IT WOULD TAKE YEARS AND BY
THE TIME IT WAS AN ORGANIZED AND A RECOGNIZED SPORT AT THE
H.S. LEVEL SHE WOULD BE GONE FROM H.S. AND I DIDN'T REALLY
WANT TO COMMIT TO STILL COACHING WITHOUT A DAUGHTER ON THE
TEAM. FORTUNATELY SHE UNDERSTOOD....
GOOD LUCK AT THE BAY STATES GAMES.
I HOPE THERE'S A HUGE TURNOUT OF GIRLS, THAT WOULD DEFINITELY HELP THE
CAUSE.
WHO KNOWS WITH THE FLEXIBILITY OF FEMALES, THERE MIGHT EVEN
BE A DIFFERENT SET OF RULES, AND POSSIBLY SOME NEW HOLDS.
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR QUEST....SEEYA AT THE BAY STATE GAMES.
Girls wrestling is the coolest
Re: Girls Wrestling (Karen)
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 16:48:39 GMT
From: John <metalhead360@yahoo.com>
Any girl who wrestles I give Mad Ups to any day of
the week. I love you all.
Let them wrestle each other
Re: Varsity Wrestling Forum (Admin)
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 14:14:09 GMT
From: <unknown>
If you force schools to have a seperate program for
girls it will force some schools to eliminate the boys
program. The current structure seems to be working,
why mess with it just to satisfy 1 or 2 girls that don't
want to play with Barbee and Ken anymore.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boys vs. Girls (ABC story...)
Posted by Bill Streifer
March 01, 1999
A recent ABC T.V. story highlighted the problem with girls playing
against
girls. The issue was
wresting but I suppose there could be a similar problem in soccer...
(note: wrestling opponents are selected by weight, regardless of sex...
which is not true in soccer)
The article stated that
* A team that included girls had to NOTIFY the opposing team several
days
in advance, so that boys
who objected would have the opportunity to withdraw.
* Some boys who lost to a girl (although rare) gave up wresting forever.
* Girls enjoyed matches against boys, and girls don't feel sympathetic
to
the feeling of boys who object
to it.
* Boys don't "lighten up" when wresting girls... infact, they kick up
their
effort a notch to avoid the
worst (a loss!).
Re: Boys vs. Girls..wrestling's different than
anything else
Posted by Keith on March 01, 1999 at 22:52:18:
In Reply to: Re: Boys vs. Girls..wrestling's different than anything
else
posted by Mike Kimbro on
March 01, 1999 at 22:34:57:
As I've expressed before, I believe this type of competition is
potential
for disaster. It seems to reach
our sense of the that "good over evil" need we have. That the meek can
rise
and vanquish the
powerful. And when the girls win, this seems to fulfil that hidden sense
of
fairness. But when the more
realistic thing happens, we try to look for issues and excuses of why
these
senses were offended. "The
boy was being too rough." "Disproportionate emphasis was directed at the
girl." And frustration results.
I've seen it happen, and it's not pretty. And it negatively impacts what
should be normal competition,
and puts it in a different perspective where it shouldn't go.
Wrestling is a completely different situation. I went to one of the top
wrestling high schools in the
country, and graduated with the great Dan Gable. If they had girls
wrestling back then,it would have
been an outrage. We need to progress, and think more equally of the
sexes,
but this isn't the way. If
we recognize one sex is different (or superior) then the other, then
it's
not acceptable to say it's OK for
one sex to participate in the other sex's domain, when the reverse or
turnabout is not allowed. Friendly
competition is fine. Learning from the other is acceptable. But to place
the competitors in fully open
and no-holds barred competition, you're ripe for some problems. (and I'm
a
bleeding heart liberal!)
