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Grappling with the issue;
Girls should wrestle other females, but males are only
option right now
THE FORT WORTH
STAR-TELEGRAM
December 19, 1996, Thursday
World champion women's freestyle wrestler Tricia
Saunders does not
compete against men.
Women who participate in USA Wrestling-sanctioned
amateur events
do not compete against men.
Jessica Quiat, a third-year wrestler on the Overland
High School
junior varsity in Aurora, Colo., does compete against
boys -- but she
would rather not.
"I'd rather compete against girls because it would be a
lot more
fair as far as competition goes," said Quiat, who also
participates in
USA Wrestling camps and meets. "The fact is there
aren't that many
girls. If I want to make myself better, I have to go up
against
better competition and that's usually the guys.
Eventually, there
will be more experienced women in wrestling and I won't
have to do
that. "
Girls in Texas shouldn't have to do that, either.
No one should deny girls the opportunity to wrestle as
an outlet
for their athletic ambitions. Title IX ensures that
they have the
right to participate on boys teams, in the event that
comparable
girls teams do not exist.
However, a lawsuit that is directed solely toward
guaranteeing
their right to wrestle against boys misses the point.
The idea is to ensure that girls can wrestle, period --
thereby
opening up the avenues for other young women to pursue
this sport.
Arguing only for the right to wrestle against boys is
shortsighted
and could result in alienating other interested girls.
The larger picture -- introducing more young women to a
growing
sport -- is being missed. Texas is the only state in
the country that
does not sanction girls wrestling.
There are 55 girl wrestlers scattered across Colorado
high schools
-- and Colorado is among the states with the highest
numbers of
interscholastic female wrestlers.
Because of those small numbers, wrestlers like Quiat are
forced to
compete against boys who admittedly have an unfair
advantage in size
and strength, but that is starting to change.
In Canada, a majority of the high schools offer girls
wrestling.
In California, which has the largest number of girl
wrestlers at
541, there is a movement afoot to have girls-only
wrestling, just as
there is girls basketball or girls soccer.
Olympic freestyle wrestling coach Joe Seay says that's
the way it
should be.
"It's a contact sport where you are grabbing and
applying
technique," said Seay, who coaches Saunders and her
husband, Olympic
silver medalist Townsend Saunders, through a wrestling
club in
Phoenix. "At a younger age like junior high, size is
not much of a
factor because girls usually mature faster than boys,
but as they get
older, men have a definite size and strength advantage
over women.
Pair Tricia against a male, and she would not be as
successful. "
Female membership in USA Wrestling has more than doubled
in recent
years, jumping from 760 in 1994 to 1,733 in 1996.
According to a
sports participation survey by the National Federation
of State High
School Associations, 112 girls wrestled in 1989-90
compared to 1,012
this year.
It wasn't always that way: When Saunders began
wrestling, she had
to file suit against the Amateur Athletic Union to be
able to compete
in a state tournament in 1975.
"I wrestled over 200 meets against boys when I was
growing up, but
I don't compete against men anymore," Saunders said. "I
thought that
people had gotten over this in 1975 and I'm still
surprised to hear
that people are making a big deal out of this in 1996. "
Unfortunately in Texas, the inane opinions of a few
closed-minded
officials are forcing the hands of parents who want
their children to
be able to compete.
The only Olympic sport in which men and women compete
against each
other is equestrian. They don't play beach volleyball
against each
other. They don't play soccer against each other.
Women's wrestling
is not yet an Olympic sport, but is being considered for
inclusion in
2000.
When that happens, they won't be wrestling against men.
Until there are enough young women to field complete
girls teams,
the Arlington girls should be allowed to compete against
boys.
"In high school, finding people to work out is
difficult, but if a
person has an interest, she should be allowed to pursue
it,Seay said.
I think it's best for women to wrestle against other
women, but I'm
not going to deny anyone a chance to wrestle. "
-----------------------------------
These girls take down barriers;
Girls wrestlers show what they're made of in Far West
Championships.
The Fresno
Bee
July 1, 1995
Sure, it's nice to wrestle somebody of the same gender.
But it's even better to beat one of the opposite sex.
That was the consensus of the girls competing at the
first Far West Girls Wrestling Championships Friday at Selland Arena.
"I like it when boys cry," bragged Marcie Van Duser, a
14-year-old from Lake Arrowhead who beat 40 boys this year in freestyle.
Sanger's Rosanna Trujillo, 10, agreed, saying, "They
throw a fit, and I feel really good."
Boys vs. girls wrestling can be a touchy subject in
these parts, but it's something coaches and wrestlers are having to deal
with and accept
as the ranks increase.
"I think we'll have a girls division eventually down the
road," said Sanger Warpath Wrestling Club coach Dale Phillips. "A lot of
coaches
don't like it, but they might as well get used to it.
It's here to stay."
The girls seem to mind less than the boys.
"They're more of a challenge," said Van Duser, who
thinks of her male opponents as "just another person."
"I'd rather wrestle guys because it's a little more
difficult," said Christina Ventre, who hopes to crack the Porterville High
team as a junior.
Some of the boys aren't handling it so well.
"A lot of the time the boys, they're teasing me because
I'm a girl," Trujillo said.
Van Duser went through the same thing when she started
four years ago, according to her dad, Tom. "At first, the boys didn't
respect her
(but) now they do."
Ventre, 16, has gained respect from former Olympian Tim
Vanni of Porterville, but she had to work for it like anyone else.
"He really didn't talk to me at first -- he kind of
figured I'd quit in a week like the rest of the girls that went out," said
Ventre, who pinned
Oregon's Christina Hickey in the 117-pound final.
"But he's been helping me since then."
A lot of these girls got started in the living room with
older brothers, like Amber Gomez, a 10-year-old from Rock Springs, Wyo.
"Sometimes, I can beat up my brother, so they thought I
could wrestle," said Gomez, beaming after winning her first match ever, a
10-9
victory over Monica Olguin of San Diego. "My mom wasn't
sure, but she might have changed her mind now."
Teresa Buxton, the 16-year-old 125 1/2 regional champion
from Yamhill, Ore., started wrestling with her brothers as well but hasn't
wrestled another boy yet outside practice.
"It's going to be hard," she said. "I don't know what
they're going to tell me. I haven't asked yet."
If they're anything like Trujillo's mom, it won't be a
problem.
"I think it's wonderful," Karen Trujillo said.
"Honestly, at first it's like, 'Oooh, that's my baby girl.' But I'm like
that with all my kids."
USA Wrestling referee Kelly Jolley, after working all
the girls' matches, was a believer of the girls' movement.
"I think it's awesome," Jolley said. "Some of these
girls are tougher than the boys."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GIRL WRESTLERS HAVE NO MATCH;
NOT WITH BOYS IN WICKENBURG
THE PHOENIX GAZETTE
February 15, 1995
Early in December, during a wrestling tournament at
Wickenburg High School, a girl from Sunnyslope High School muscled her male
opponent to the mat and pinned him with lightning-quick
efficiency.
And as Altagracia Montes watched, she knew she had found
her sport.
"I got excited, I liked it and I wanted to do it,"
Montes, 18, a senior,
said. "I was always interested in wrestling, I just
never knew I could do
it."
So Montes and another girl, Marisol Benavides, began
attending practices
with the Wickenburg wrestling team.
With the blessing of the team's coach, the girls
hovered in a corner of the
gym, picking up moves and stances in piecemeal fashion
from the boys on the
team.
Eventually, the girls grew confident that they could
take on the boys.
But a decision last month by the governing board of
the Wickenburg School
District put a full-nelson on any thought of wrestling.
Board members passed a resolution banning girls from
participating in
contact sports, defined by the board as wrestling,
football and boys'
basketball.
The school board drafted the resolution based on
moral concerns about
wrestling's inevitable mishmashing of bodies, according
to Superintendent Pat
Schrader.
But politics shouldn't stop someone from doing what
they love, insisted
Benavides, who wants to wrestle during her final two
years at the high
school.
"If we want to wrestle and we can wrestle, they can't
stop us from doing
it," she said.
The move has raised questions about the apparently
uneven application of
federal laws that prohibit discrimination in athletics
based on sex.
"I think it's outrageous what they are doing up
there," said Louis
Rhodes, executive director of the Arizona Civil
Liberties Union. "Is there
any reason why girls and boys can't wrestle together? My
skin just crawled."
He said the Wickenburg decision stereotypes girls as
"too soft and
gentle" to participate in rough and tumble athletics.
"The justification (for this) is so insulting,
demeaning and sexist,"
Rhodes said. "These people didn't learn anything about
subtlety as far as I
can see."
But schools may have the right to keep girls away
from contact sports,
according to Voie Coy, the executive director of the
Arizona Interscholastic
Association, which regulates high school athletics.
The organization strongly encourages schools to allow
girls to participate
in contact sports, Coy said. In all, at least five
Valley schools have girls
actively participating on wrestling squads.
But officials ultimately may decide for themselves
whether to bar female
students from their football fields and wrestling mats.
"It's up to the school district whether an individual
can participate,"
he said. "Our rule is that girls can compete. But
excluding them, that's
strictly a school district decision."
The result, Rhodes charged, is the creation of an
athletic glass ceiling
based on a school district's political leanings.
"We generally believe that for every one violation
there's a hundred
more," Rhodes said. "I'm sure this isn't at all
uncommon."
Wickenburg not alone
While Wickenburg appears to be the state's only
school district to
explicitly prohibit girls from playing contact sports,
it is not alone in
frowning on their participation.
An assistant principal for Peoria High said the
school discourages girls
from trying out for wrestling, though only one has ever
attempted to do so.
"Right now we would try to discourage her," Rick
Johnson said. "It's
just a matter of the nature of the sport."
Before approving her participation, a girl's parents
would be called in to
see a wrestling match and talk with administrators,
Johnson said.
The Title IX provision of the Education Amendments of
1972 protect women's
rights to equal treatment in public education, which
includes athletics.
But Wickenburg officials say they are adhering to the
civil rights section
of the Education Department's code of regulations.
Those federal regulations state that schools can keep
girls off male teams
if the sport involves physical contact.
Rhodes contends Wickenburg officials are using the
education department
codes to wriggle out of their responsibility under Title
IX.
He pointed to the Title IX stipulation that requires
schools to compensate
for the loss when females are barred from male teams by
providing an
equivalent sport for them.
"They're not in compliance because they're not
offering anything else,"
he said. "If they set up a program and actively become
advocates for their
kids to make sure it comes off, then it's fine."
No separate team
Schrader said the school will provide a female
sponsor for girls wishing to
wrestle on the team and would allow them to wrestle
other girls in
tournaments, but the school won't set up a separate team
for them.
To some, that's discrimination.
"It's still money going to a disproportionate part of
the population. It
shows the double standard at its wicked best," Rhodes
said.
After hearing the news that the board had opted to
prohibit girls from
contact sports, Montes and Benavides withdrew from
practice, believing
erroneously that they had been thrown off the team.
The school district apologized to the girls for the
miscommunication and
promised to allow them to continue scrimmaging each
other, but stood firmly
behind its decision to prohibit them from competing with
males.
"Girls can wrestle girls but not boys," Schrader
said. "I guess I'm old
fashioned that way.
"I don't know how you feel about that when you're
touching each other all
over the place . . . it's a tough one, but of all the
sports wrestling is the
one that bothers me the most."
The need for separate sports in Wickenburg first
arose when a boy sought to
play on a middle school girls' volleyball team late last
year and was not a
knee jerk reaction to the wrestling controversy,
Schrader insisted.
Glenn Hill, the high school's assistant principal,
conceded that the
board's decision reflects the conservative character of
Wickenburg, a small
highway town northwest of Phoenix.
Hill, who supports the decision, said he approached
Montes and Benavides
about their desire to wrestle and attempted to dissuade
them from entering
what he described as a violent, sometimes disfiguring
sport.
"I told them, 'You are two pretty little girls, are
you sure you want to
do this?' " Hill said.
Properly handled
Elsewhere, girls have been rolling around with boys
on the mats for several
years.
Kristie Odom, the Sunnyslope girl whose performance
inspired Montes and
Benavides in Wickenburg, entered the sport three years
ago to get into shape.
After spending her freshman year on the Sunnyslope
High basketball team,
Odom opted for wrestling because she said it offered
better conditioning.
"My sophomore year I had to decide," she said. "I
broke it down into
which would get me into better shape. If a girl can
physically and mentally
take it I think they should be able to."
Odom said she was never improperly handled during any
of her wrestling
matches.
In time, male wrestlers and coaches come to accept
the presence of girls,
said Owen Dejanovich, a vice principal at Sunnyslope.
"It's being accepted by the kids themselves," he
said. "And (coaches)
look at it and say this is what is expected and we're
here to provide for
kids."
But supporters of Wickenburg's decision said there
are physical barriers to
integrating the sexes.
Wickenburg's wrestling coach, Jon Hill, said that
despite being sorted into
equal weight classes, male and female wrestlers possess
disproportionate
levels of strength.
"Guys are going to be a lot more physical, and the
girls could get hurt,"
Hill said.
Moreover, the prospect of doing battle with the
opposite sex conflicts with
the chivalrous standards young men are held to outside
the gym, according to
Hill.
"We're telling them to kick her around the mat . . .
that she's no longer
a girl, she's an athlete," Hill said. "It's a silly
situation, but if you
stop to look at it, that's a lot of pressure for a
16-year-old kid."
