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WHY NOT?; GIRLS READY TO GRAPPLE WITH E. VALLEY WRESTLING PROGRAMS
Copyright 1997
Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
THE ARIZONA
REPUBLIC
December 23, 1997
Dozens of guys bolt out of the Mesa wrestling room
for a conditioning run, but the caboose of the train winding out screeches
to a halt.
"Clear!" a boy bellows before they can turn a corner
through the boys locker room that leads to the exit door.
Now, Mesa sophomore Kim Balogh can proceed, but it's a
regular reminder of history in the making. Balogh is the first girl to
compete in
the storied Mesa wrestling program.
She may be alone there but not in the East Valley. Girl
wrestlers dot the area at Apache Junction, Chandler, Corona del Sol, Mesa,
Red
Mountain, Seton Catholic, Tempe and Westwood.
"I was kind of scared what they'd think, but
everything's been cool," said Balogh, who ranks fourth out of seven
130-pounders at Mesa.
"They don't seem to mind at all - to my knowledge. I've
fought guys in judo. To me, it's no different. I've grown up fighting guys.
I have an
older brother."
Many of the girls who stick with the wrestling programs
have martial arts backgrounds. Having familiarity with those similar skills
enabled
Balogh, who wrestled at Powell Junior High last year, to
earn her peers' respect quickly.
When she took down a Mesa senior in the second week of
practice, all eyes were opened. Now, she is just another team member except
for the locker-room accommodations, separate weigh-ins
and the teasing that they are going to shave her head.
"At first, I saw her and thought about the way I was
raised to treat a lady," Jackrabbits junior Bryce Chapman said. "I was being
soft and
gentle and the guys were like, 'What are you doing that
for?' Now, I just treat her like any other guy."
Not everybody is so warm to the idea. Some parents,
coaches and teammates kind of feel like the guy on King of the Hill who
said,
"Wrestling a girl, that's a tough one. Win and you have
the shame of beating up a girl. Lose and hope she snaps your neck. That's
the
quickest way to go."
No girl has found her way to success on an East Valley
varsity squad since Japan native Miyuu Yamamoto was a Central Region
champion and sixth place at state for Corona del Sol
five years ago. At least one of her victims quit the sport.
Dobson Coach Russ Winer said he will forfeit any JV
match with a girl but would go on with a varsity match because of points
implications
on a season. His assistant coach was going to quit if a
girl had not quit the team earlier this year.
"It's not fair to the young men," Winer said. "Ten feet
out of the room, they'd have to go to jail for doing something they do in
the room. If
so inclined, let them join a judo or karate club and let
them get the physicality out of their system. It's a little bit ridiculous."
Winer worries about wrestlers grabbing crotches and the
sexual overtones of a half-Nelson, chest-to-chest pin. Westwood Coach Ed
Montalvo does not approve of the girls' inclusion
either, but he has junior Sarah Salazar on his team.
Montalvo attributes the increase of girls in the sport
to curiosity. At the same time, he wishes some of his guys worked as hard as
Salazar.
Montalvo and Seton Coach Bill Laurie, who also has a
girl wrestler, contend that girls do not have the upper-body strength to
compete.
"The guys don't like it," Montalvo said. "They say they
don't want to wrestle her. They say, 'If I did this on campus, I'd be kicked
out of
school.' "
Boys who wrestled a boy on campus also would be kicked
out, and those who fear touching a girl inappropriately don't think about
the
same possibilities with a male opponent.
Still, there is a hesitation.
"I've watched some wrestle and you know what they're
going to do next, and I've seen boys stop and you say, 'Oh yeah, that's
why,' "
Laurie said.
Girls in wrestling may be just burgeoning here, but it
has exploded elsewhere. Michigan held girls wrestling state championships
last year
with 120 competitors in 10 weight classes. Texas plans
to follow. Hawaii and suburban Chicago have girls prep wrestling leagues.
And it does not end there. Minnesota-Morris, New York
University, Cumberland (Ky.), Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Central
Washington all have college programs. Women's wrestling
will be a medal sport in the next summer Olympics.
"It's not totally unusual like it was three or four
years ago," Mesa Coach Richard Williams said. "There's only going to be more
and more
with it being an Olympic sport."
Chandler freshman Amanda Tapernoux is not thinking that
far down the line, but she is adamant that she will wrestle all four years.
Tapernoux never considered the notion until her history
teacher, Dennis Gurecki, also the wrestling coach, told her class, "Any of
you guys
or girls who think you're tough come out on the
wrestling team."
"Some guys teased me and my friend, saying, 'You'd be
great for that,' probably because they know I can kick their butt," said
Tapernoux,
who wrestles at 145. "We're like, 'Yeah, right,' but
then I thought, 'Why not, it will give me something to do.' "
Tapernoux could not find a girl to join her but checked
with the boys to see whether they were fine with it first. They are, but her
parents
are iffy, her great-grandma "went ballistic" and her
badminton coach lectures her every time they see each other.
Corona Coach Dave Vibber knows how good a girl can be
with the years of training, something that is happening more in the kids'
programs. Aztecs junior Tina Arnds is the first girl to
stick with the program since Yamamoto, who was a 17-and-under female world
champion. Arnds played JV football, too.
"She holds her own," Vibber said. "After a year or two
now, I'm not looking out of the corner of my eye to make sure she's OK.
"She went to wrestling camp, where there was four other
girls, and rocked them. She's very competitive. She just gets out of her
class
when she wrestles boys at 140, and it has an effect on
her success."
Tapernoux can't be fazed. She has been pinned in 30 and
45 seconds in her two freshman matches so far. She figures just putting on a
singlet gets her over any embarrassment.
It's a no-lose situation, as she sees it. She is cool
for trying and awesome if she succeeds.
"While I'm here, I'm not a chick," Tapernoux said. "I'm
a wrestler. Most guys are pretty cocky when they get out there and say,
'This is
going to be easy.' I'd love to beat a guy that cocky,
but I'd feel sorry for him."
GRAPHIC: Color Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona
Republic; Mesa High School sophomore Kim Balogh hits the mat with junior
varsity teammate Nathan Rasmussen during practice.
---------------------------------------
Girl's dreams of wrestling pinned to mat
The Deseret News
(Salt Lake City, UT)
November 20,
1997, Thursday
As Michelle Chaston entered her senior year at Hunter
High School, she looked forward to earning a letter in wrestling.
On Tuesday night, plans changed.
The Granite District Board of Education voted to
prohibit girls from wrestling on high school or junior high teams, citing
concerns about
potential litigation from sexual harassment complaints.
"To allow girls and boys to wrestle one another or a
male coach to teach girls the art of wrestling, the chances for sexual
harassment are
overwhelming.
I'm not willing to put the Granite District budget or
state risk management in jeopardy for those kinds of lawsuits," said school
board
President Lynn Davidson.
Davidson said the federal law permits school boards to
prohibit girls from participating in contact sports. The federal Title IX
considers
wrestling a contact sport.
Sporting a black eye suffered in wrestling practice, the
17-year-old said Wednesday the bruise was incidental compared to her
emotional
wounds over the school board ruling.
"I'm just kind of hurt right now. I've done it for two
years. It's kind of like a second family to me, and now I can't be a part of
it all," she
said.
Her own family is assessing its options, which include
asking the school board to reconsider its action. "I want to change it if I
can. I don't
think it's going to happen this year," she said.
If something is to happen, it has to happen quickly.
High school wrestling practices are under way. Interscholastic matches begin
next
week.
Although she's never won a match, Chaston said she
enjoys the challenge of the sport, trying out as a sophomore because she
wanted to
try it.
Her father, uncles and a younger sister have wrestled
competitively.
She has lifted weights to build strength and worked out
to increase her endurance.
"It's improved my confidence in everything," she said.
Hunter High wrestling coach Craig Stauffer said
Chaston's skills had improved considerably over the past three years.
"I feel really bad for Michelle. She's roughed it
through, been beat up a bunch and she really wants to get better. It's
really unfair for her,
especially since there isn't an opportunity for her to
wrestle with other girls," Stauffer said.
Taylorsville High wrestling coach Mark Campbell,
president-elect of Utah's high school wrestling coaches association, said
women's
wrestling is a growing sport. Michigan conducts a state
tournament for girl wrestlers.
"It's a tough situation when you have a girl that
wrestles. There's obviously a lot of pressure for a guy to win; there's a
lot of peer pressure
on him.
"The way our society is, it doesn't deem a female should
be in a full-contact sport with a male. I agree it would be nice if girls
just wrestled
girls."
The school board also rejected a proposal to establish a
girls-only wrestling program in junior high because of a relatively low
level of
interest. About 13 girls had completed participation
forms, a district spokeswoman said.
The district will conduct a survey within 30 days to
determine what sport will be offered to junior high girls so they have an
equal number
of sports as boys.
"We're trying to determine what sport would reach the
most number of kids," Davidson said. Soccer and softball are two options, he
said.
Davidson said he regretted the district did not address
the issue before the start of the wrestling season.
"It was heartbreaking. We had a couple girls in tears
because they really wanted to wrestle."
Chaston said the school board decision has caused her to
second-guess a decision to question a Utah High School Activities
Association
policy. It requires female wrestlers to forfeit matches
to males who don't want to wrestle them.
"Now I feel like because I spoke up, I got a worse
punishment," she said.
She questions concerns about sexual harassment because
male wrestlers could make similar charges against male competitors.
"When you go into wrestling, that's something you
understand can happen," she said. "Some guys will do things to win. It
doesn't matter if
you're male or female. I don't understand why they'll
accept a guy doing those same things to a guy."
-----------------------------------
GIRLS WRESTLE DESPITE SPORT'S ROUGH REPUTATION;
PREPS: SOMETIMES THE TOUGHEST PART OF COMPETITION IS
GETTING PAST ATTITUDES OF COACHES AND
OTHER ATHLETES.
November 11, 1997,
Tuesday, Orange County Edition
When Daneen Smith decided to go out for wrestling
as a freshman at Esperanza High, she knew she would be in for some
finger-wagging.
Smith, however, is not easily deterred. And despite
pleas from family members and friends, she went ahead with her plans. Three
years
later, Smith is getting ready for her third season.
"When I told my mom I was going out for wrestling, she
was so upset. My dad said if I want to give it a try, then I should do it.
But my
mom hated the idea. But after awhile, after my mom
watched me wrestle, she started to get into it," Smith said.
Smith, who also plays soccer and swims, said she's
always been a competitive person. And as long as she could remember, she had
wanted to try wrestling.
"I'm a girl who likes to play rough," Smith said. "In
soccer, I'm always getting in trouble for knocking down people and playing
rough. But
that's what I love about wrestling. It's a rough sport."
Smith said sometimes when she wrestles a guy, she'll
notice him holding back. "I guess he thinks he's going to hurt me or
something. But
when I show him I'm serious about winning, he'll start
wrestling hard. . . . He doesn't want to get beat. Especially by a girl."
Smith, along with five others on the team, is among a
handful of girls in the county who compete in wrestling.
"I really like to wrestle. Since I've been wrestling,
I've gained a lot of self-assurance," Smith said. "I would like to see more
girls come out.
And maybe one day there will be a separate division for
girls."
In most cases, coaches grudgingly accept girls who try
out for their teams. But others, like Steve Marshall, who coaches Smith, is
happy to
see the girls' interest in the sport.
"I think it's great that girls are coming out for
wrestling," Marshall said. "I would like to see the girls' ranks grow to the
point that a separate
division would be created. Like what happened with
girls' water polo."
Marshall said despite what some coaches might think, he
does not treat the girls differently than the boys.
"I tell them before they join that if they think they'll
be treated any differently than the boys, they're wrong," Marshall said.
"But in most
cases, these girls aren't looking for special treatment.
They want to wrestle."
At Villa Park, Coach Steve Stewart said two girls have
come out for the team. Stewart, a veteran coach, is starting his first year
there. The
former University and Esperanza coach has a reputation
for running a tough program.
"The girls are new to wrestling. And when they came to
me about joining the team, I explained to them how difficult the sport can
be. That
it requires dedication and commitment. They seemed to
understand that, so I say, 'Why not,' " Stewart said.
Although Southern Section rules do not prohibit girls
from going out for wrestling, Stewart said the bottom line is that it's
tough for girls to
make the varsity lineup.
For the most part, the only action the girls see is in
frosh-soph, junior varsity meets, or varsity meets in which the score is
lopsided.
Sometimes the girls are on the "B" team at tournaments.
"It's tough for a girl to get some varsity matches,"
Marshall said. "I can only think of one girl, and she was from Pioneer in
Whittier . She
was pretty good and was wrestling since she was a young
girl. But she was only one wrestler."
Alan Clinton has coached wrestling at El Modena High for
14 years. His teams are ranked in the top 10 every season. There are no
girls
wrestling on his team.
"My personal opinion is that like any sport, if girls
have their own division, then I'm all for it. But I just can't get behind
coed wrestling,"
Clinton said. "I mean, we try to teach our young men
moral values and respect for women, then we tell them to go out an beat the
crap out
of them? No, it should be separate."
Like Clinton, Anaheim Coach Joe Mark has no girls on his
team.
"I don't have a problem with it. But I would like to
talk to the parents before a girl comes out," Mark said.
----------------------------------------------
AISD equalizes wrestling opportunities
THE FORT WORTH
STAR-TELEGRAM
November 3, 1997, Monday
ARLINGTON - If girls wrestling doesn't grow in
Arlington, it won't
be because the school district and coaches didn't try.
The season kicked off Saturday with a scrimmage between
Arlington
and Bowie, but unlike years past, the Arlington school
district has
set aside separate funding for girls wrestling in the
district.
Whatever funds boys wrestling receives, so will the
girls, athletic
director James Hyden said.
"We're going to pay for the same things we pay for the
boys,"
Hyden said. "We're going to fund their uniforms, their
entry fees for
tournaments, travel and referees.
"If it sounds a lot like Title IX, that's what this is.
"
The increased number of female wrestlers in the area
justify the
move. Last season there were only 15 girls wrestling in
the five
District 8-5A schools in Arlington. This season there
are at least 33
female wrestlers in Arlington.
Lamar has no female wrestlers, but Arlington coach Henry
Harmoney
said he has eight female wrestlers, Martin coach Tony
Warren said he
has seven, Sam Houston coach Nick Purler said he has 10
and Bowie
coach David Mudgett said he has eight.
Each coach said the numbers fluctuate - some girls quit
because
they find out wrestling is harder than they thought and
some don't
attend on a regular basis. But Harmoney said he has the
same problems
with males.
"It's a tough sport," Harmoney said. "When you get guys
to come
out, you get 30 to 40. You always lose five to 10 and
you don't
notice it.
"With girls, you lose one or two and you notice it. "
Warren said the numbers could increase in a few weeks.
"One thing I think might make a change is cuts on
basketball
teams," Warren said. "Wrestling is an opportunity for
girls to earn a
varsity letter. "
Arlington female wrestler Darcy Roman said she is not
surprised at
the increase. Roman, a junior, believes girls are more
interested in
wrestling now that they know they will be wrestling only
females at
meets.
The Texas Interscholastic Wrestling Association is in
its last
year of sanctioning schoolboy wrestling in Texas. The
University
Interscholastic League will begin sanctioning the sport
next season,
but TIWA already has incorporated UIL rules. Chief
among them - that
males will not wrestle females and that a separate
division for each
group be established.
All of this comes on the heels of last season's lawsuit
against
the TIWA by Sam Houston wrestler Melony Monahan and
Martin wrestler
Courtney Barnett. Both female wrestlers had a lawsuit
filed against
TIWA seeking an injunction and $ 20,000 in damages for
not allowing
high school girls to wrestle.
They lost the lawsuit, but the girls were eventually
allowed to
wrestle boys last season. This season, they will not.
"Parents approve," said Roman, who wrestled last season.
"When you
see girls wrestling girls, girls say, 'Cool. ' And
parents approve.
"I like girls wrestling girls. A lot of guys are
uncomfortable
wrestling girls. I don't want to make a guy
uncomfortable. "
Not that these girls couldn't hold their own. Mudgett
said some of
his female wrestlers are as tough as his male wrestlers.
"Four of them are the toughest girls I've ever seen,"
Mudgett
said. "We've got a good situation over here. We've got
good girls who
want to work hard and be winners.
"Anybody who wants to work as hard as my guys do, I'm
all for it.
If they're willing to do everything everybody else does,
that's fine. "
Numbers game
The number of girls participating in wrestling is up to
33
compared to last season's 15 participants. A school by
school
breakdown:
Lamar 0
Arlington 8
Martin 7
Sam Houston 10
Bowie 8
The first meet for Arlington schools is 9 a.m. Saturday
at Bowie
High School. Separate but equal AISD makes sure
female wrestlers
have same opportunities as males
