Girls Just Wanna Wrestle, But Who?

I found this article ( By Mako Furukawa) and had to add it to Joey's page.My daughter has wrestled boy's for the last 13 years all over the United States and we have only had 1 parent that wouldnt shake her hand after a match .After a hard fought match She came out on the winning end and the parent decided that his son didnt wrestle his hardest because she was a girl .We have never had a wrestler that would'nt wrestle her , so i think that all this talk of whether girls should be allowed to wrestle boys that has been a topic of debate in recent times is good for the sport of wrestling. As the sport grows for female athletes, it is my hope that someday, every school will have enough female wrestlers to support their own team. But until that time comes, should girls be allowed to wrestle boys? Some may think that there are only two easy answers, yes or no. However, there are many questions to be asked and answers to these questions vary from a simple, "No, they should not let girls wrestle at all." to the more elaborate, "Sure, but only if they sign a contract saying that both wrestlers are okay to wrestle each other."Here are both sides of the issue. Please read through it and let me know what you think of all this:

So why should girls be allowed to wrestle boys? One of the most common answers is that there are not enough girls in the sport to have their own teams or to only wrestle each other. In order for the sport to grow for them, they need to be allowed to wrestle the boys until there are enough to at least find female competition in the area. It is a fact that there are more and more female athletes are joining the sport of wrestling and a lot of the girls are only able to wrestle because they are allowed to wrestle the boys. This does not mean that this type of thing should go on forever but simply that it should be allowed to take place until there are enough female competitors.

One of the main concerns of mixed-gender wrestling is that boys feel unconvertible wrestling a girl because they might accidentally touch something. But the question one might ask here is when a boy wrestles another boy, do boys not use certain moves because they might touch something? For most people, the answer would be no. This is because wrestling is not a "sexual sport." It is competition between two athletes trying to see who is the better wrestler for that match. So why make it a "sexual sport" when a boy wrestles a girl? Does the society have such a mindset that when a boy and a girl have any contact with each other, this means it is "sexual?"

Another concern is that people think that girls wrestling boys just shouldn't happen. But things are changing and maybe so should society. Wrestling is not just for boys anymore and it is true that girls wrestling another girl is better not only for competition, but also for the growth of wrestling. But this growth needs somewhere to start. Wrestling is a great sport that should not be prohibited to some people just because of their gender. Shouldn't we allow the boys to wrestle girls until there are enough female wrestlers to form their own teams?

There are a lot of success stories and a lot of female wrestlers go on to have great careers. The sport of wrestling is growing for the female athletes and there is now even a female college wrestling team at the University of Minnesota-Morris. I would also guess to say that most of these women on that team got their start by being allowed to wrestle boys in competition and even defeating a good number of them.

This is also great for Title IX. While more and more schools begin to cut men's sports, if they were able to add a sport such as female wrestling, this should help in actually getting what Title IX is supposed to do. Add more female sports, not cut down on the opportunity for men.

Finally, the reason why most boys do not want to wrestle girls is the "macho" image that they want to keep. Some people join the sport of wrestling at first so that they can enhance their "looks." If a boy loses to a girl, he needs to recognize, and his team needs to recognize, that he just lost to a better wrestler. If the boy can not accept losing to a girl, maybe he should not have been wrestling. Losing is not end of the world. Sure it hurts to lose and no matter what anybody says, it hurts more for the boy to lose to a girl. But the boy needs to use the loss and work harder so that he can beat her next time. Not sit there and pout about it feeling embarrassed and quit the sport.

Girls wrestling boys should not be seen as girls wrestling a boy. It should be seen as two wrestlers wrestling each other as a competition. Female athletes need this opportunity to help the sport grow for them and someday, there will hopefully be enough females in this great sport to have a boys and girls wrestling team at the same school.

On the other hand, should girls be allowed to wrestle at all? Although many people would find this sexist, I have received several messages from people (male and female) who argue that wrestling is not a sport for a girl. In some areas of the world, it is "unladylike" to be in a sport, especially in one such as wrestling. A bit stronger argument is even if it is okay to for a girl to wrestle, what would the community think when you combine a girl and a boy and allow them to wrestle each other. Is this really a positive direction for the sport? If female athletes watch a girl wrestling a boy, will this really encourage more girls to join the sport? Or would seeing this type of thing going on discourage the community, parents, coaches, wrestlers, and potential wrestlers (male or female) to get involved with wrestling? No matter how we look at it, mixed gender wrestling would be against some people's moral and religious beliefs.

Also, is it fair for boy to have to wrestle a girl? Even if the girl is okay with wrestling a boy (which is also not always the case), a lot of times, the boy does not have a say in the situation. A lot of times, a coach will force a boy to wrestle a girl either in practice, or in a match. Or even if the coach gives the boy a choice, other wrestlers will tease him saying that he is "afraid to wrestle a girl," and the boy will not really have a choice but to wrestle her. If the boy goes out and wrestles the girl, and if he were to lose, he will never be allowed to live this down. He will be teased by people and sometimes even scolded by his parents for losing the match. This causes some of the boys to quit the team and leave the sport of wrestling.

Then, there are the legal concerns. In the era where looking at somebody wrong can be reason for a lawsuit, what happens if a boy or girl decides to touch another wrestler in the wrong place either intentionally, or by using a wrestling technique and not even thinking about it? Who is to be held responsible for this? Is it the schools (teams) which allowed the mixed-gender wrestling to take place? Or is it parents of the wrestler who might have not even known that their child was wrestling somebody of another gender? Or maybe it is the coach or the other wrestlers who forced the wrestler to wrestle somebody of another gender? Do both wrestlers (and maybe the whole team?) need to sign some kind of contract every time there is mixed-gender wrestling?

Another concern has been the injury concerns. It is a fact that males tend to be naturally stronger than females. Do we need to compensate for this and let girls wrestle at lower weight classes when they do wrestle boys? Or is this concern so large that girls should not be able to wrestle boys at all? Or maybe girls should not wrestle period? Or maybe, injury concerns really isn't a concern at all. Some boys who wrestle do not have the muscle structure as other boys do and they still don't get hurt. There will always be injury in wrestling but overall, wrestling is a very safe sport. On the other hand, when a boy wrestles a girl, he might get a bit more out of control making sure that he does not lose thus, maybe there really is a very large concern here. Maybe we need to cut mixed gender wrestling at the cadet level. Or do we need to not even let the little kids be allowed to wrestle each other?

So, what needs to be done? Do lawyers need to be present for our wrestling matches? Or are we just thinking too hard and worrying about something that we shouldn't even worry about? Wrestling is growing for the female athletes and people do have these concerns. Everybody has an opinion on this issue and I hope that reading this has helped educate people on both sides of the situation. Please let me know what you think by emailing me at wwcoach2001@yahoo.com .