News Page
Seren Martin captures silver medal at the Women's Wrestling Nationals
Renfrew, Ontario, CANADA - Sunday, May 15, 2005
Seren Martin of the London-Western Wrestling Club captured the silver medal in the women's 72-kilogram class at the Canadian senior women's wrestling championships Saturday in Renfrew.
Martin, a native of Innerkip heading into her second year at Western in the fall, fell to Ohenawa Okuffo of the Guelph Wrestling Club in the gold-medal match. This is the first time that Martin wrestled at a Senior event as she is a first year Junior and reaching the finals for the GOLD is a quite an accomplishment.
Wrestling against Akuffo who is a National champion and has many International medals including a silver at World Cup, Pan- Am Games and has been on the National team for five years, Martin kept Akuffo to a low score in the match for GOLD. The experience won out this time but Martin is a true warrior and a keen competitor and will be back next year to wrestle for the gold.
On the way to the final, Martin, a Woodstock Huron Park secondary school grad, defeated Jacklyn Hedges of Alberta and Kerri Ann Evely of Newfoundland.
"It was a good win over Hedges," said London-Western Wrestling Club coach Josip Mrkoci. "Seren lost to Hedges in the (Canadian university) championships, so it was good to see Seren take the win from her. Seren is improving with every competition".
London-Western's other top placers included Belinda Chou, fourth in the women's 55-kilo class; Chris Cox, fifth in the men's 96-kilo class, and Terri McNutt, sixth among women at 55 kilos.
Martin, who won the Canadian junior (18-20) championship at 72 kilos in Regina in March, will be busy with the National Junior Program this summer. The junior team, made up of seven Canadian champs, will train and compete in Austria and Germany in late June, leading up to Junior World Women's Wrestling Championships in July 14-16 in Lithuania.
PHOTO - SEREN MARTIN , LONDON-WESTERN WRESTLING CLUB, - POISED FOR ATTACK
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2005 Canadian Senior Nationals - Women's Wrestling Results
Outstanding Female Wrestler
Martine Dugrenier (Montreal WC)
Individual Results
48kg
1. Carol Huynh - Burnaby Mountain WC (BC)
2. Alana King - Brock W.C. (ON)
3. Miranda Dick - Burnaby Mountain WC (BC)
4. Krista Wells - Univ. of Calgary WC (AB)
5. Vicki Sullivan - Guelph WC (ON)
51kg
1. Erica Sharp - Bears WC (AB)
2. Lyndsay Belisle - Burnaby Mountain WC (BC)
3. Vanessa Brown - Calgary Rebels (AB)
4. Stephanie Toffan - Mariposa WC (ON)
5. Sarah White - BMWC (BC)
6. Liz Martindale Brock WC (ON)
55kg
1. Tonya Verbeek - Brock WC (ON)
2. Brit Laverdure - U. of Calgary WC (AB)
3. Jessica Petersen - Burnaby Mountain WC (BC)
4. Belinda Chou - London Amateur WC (ON)
5. Laura McDougall U. of Calgary WC (AB)
6. Terri McNutt - London - Western WC (ON)
59kg
1. Emily Richardson - Burnaby Mountain WC (BC)
2. Breanne Graham - U. of Calgary WC (AB)
3. Jazzie Barker - U. of Calgary WC (AB)
4. Amy Dyck - Saskatoon WC (SK)
5. Justine Bouchard - U. of Calgary WC (AB)
6. Heidi Erole - Black Bears WC (NB)
63kg
1. Tara Hedican - Guelph WC (ON)
2. Viola Yanik - Saskatoon WC (SK)
3. Helen Hennick - U. of Calgary WC (AB)
4. Heidi Kulak - Bears WC (AB)
5. Megan Dolan - Brock WC (ON)
6. Amanda Gerhart - Burn(AB)y Mountain (BC)
67kg
1. Martine Dugrenier - Montreal WC (QC)
2. Megan Buydens - Saskatoon WC (SK)
3. Stefanie Howorun - Hamilton WC (ON)
4. Meaghan Wilton - Guelph WC (ON)
5. Rachelle Pinet - Club de Lutte Acadie Bathurst NB
6. Michell Mullie - Cattown WC (SK)
72kg
1. Ohenewa Akuffo - Guelph WC (ON)
2. Seren Martin - London-Western WC (ON)
3. Pam Wilson - Hamilton WC (ON)
4. Jaclyn Hedges - Bears WC (AB)
5. Kerri Ann Evely - Memorial University (NL)
6. Kristy Sargent - Salisbury WC (AB)
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Controversy over girl wrestlers(Video report):
2005-05-09
A battle of beliefs has parents and school officials grappling with a
very touchy issue. Should boys be forced to wrestle girls if it violates
their religious beliefs? It's a controversy that could soon move from the
wrestling mat to the courtroom. KING 5's Eric Wilkinson reports.
This video report is here:
http://www.king5.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.king5.com/ki_050905girlwrestlers.wmv
Should Boys Be Forced to Wrestle Girls?(Also, Audio* from Radio Show):
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005
by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
http://www.gender-news.com/other.php?id=84
Also Click here for the AUDIO* from his radio show:
http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2005-05-09 and then
click where it says MPS audio... He talks about this subject five minutes
into his program and has a ex national ranked wrestler as a guest. This is what
Dr. Mohler has to say about this "... As Andrew Spradlin, a former
All-American high school wrestler, reported on
my radio show Monday, wrestling with a girl would require a boy to
initiate..."
"Johnny, Beat That Girl Or You're Suspended."
http://www.dartblog.com/data/002422.html
Boys wrestling girls
http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/archives/014664.html'
Wrestle My Daughter!
http://freedom-of.blogs.com/jt/2005/05/wrestle_my_daug.html
Somebody Pin My Daughter, Please!
http://www.plastic.com/comments.html;sid=05/05/12/19085376;cid=2
Girlfriend in a Headlock
http://www.hubsandspokes.com/archives/2005/05/girlfriend_in_a.html
Discrimination fine, if it's against Christians
http://jacklewis.net/weblog/archives/2005/05/discrimination.php
http://www.darleenclick.com/weblog/archives/2005/05/sorry_im_with_t.html
And In This Corner
http://www.thenarrow.org/archives/2005/05/and_in_this_cor_1.html
Wrestling the Irrational
http://sillyseattle.blogspot.com/2005/05/wrestling-irrational.html
--------------------------------------------------
A grain of ambition and a ton of strength
By Penny Gillson, Editorial Assistant 5/16/05
Arms entangled with his opponent's, Chris Light shoved hard as shouts of encouragement erupted from the handful of coaches and parents watching. A determined grimace creasing his face, he forced the other wrestler toward the ring boundary. His opponent attempted to side step, but with a quick move, Light locked his arms around the boy's chest and lifted him up, sending them both careening out of the ring.
It was a point, but a mouth full of sand as well. The two got up and quickly brushed of the sticky grains as they headed back to the center of the ring.
On Saturday afternoon at Bullards Beach in Bandon, for many of the 40-plus mainly high school-age competitors, this was their first taste of beach wrestling. High school bleachers gave way to folding chairs and drift logs. The closest thing to a unitard was one more-daring coach's snugly fitting swim trunks. There were no mats, just two ropes encircling carefully chosen sand areas - groomed to make sure there were no hazards.
Despite the change in setting, the bouts were taken no-less seriously. After all, it was a historic event: the first-ever Beach Wrestling Championship in the United States.
Wayne Van Burger, division director of USA Wrestling-sanctioned beach wrestling, read about the up-and-coming sport after the Athens Olympics. The International Olympic Committee opted to include beach wrestling in the 2008 summer Olympics because many countries are interested in the sport, but cannot afford facilities or even mats for their athletes.
The move is comparable to volleyball leaving the gym for the sand.
"I envisioned it was getting back to the roots of wrestling," Van Burger said, "when it started in Athens. They wrestled on the hard ground."
Today's athletes shouldn't find ancient Greece customs too hard to get accustomed to.
"As kids grow up, it seems like they're always wrestling in the grass, in the living room," he laughed.
Van Burger recently retired as head wrestling coach at Marshfield High School. Through wrestling, he has visited Micronesia and other areas of the world.
"I like the idea of the international competition that could evolve from this and I thought it'd be a nice way to keep my finger in it," he said, adding it also is a good way to promote the sport.
Several other coaches attending the competition with their teams from around Oregon could see the sport's potential, too.
"These kids just do the same thing over and over again," said Dan Erickson, coach of the Osprey Wrestling Club, which includes students from Lowell, Oakridge and Pleasant Hill schools. "Wrestling is a tough sport. (Beach wrestling) is another way to make it fun."
Erickson said he heard about the competition through Van Burger and thought beach wrestling would offer his wrestlers a new experience. After a practice at a Pleasant Hill School beach volleyball court, they headed to the coast to participate in what he considers a historic event.
One Osprey wrestler, eighth-grader Adam Sprague, was a little surprised after winning his first bout, but eager to get back in the ring for more.
"It's a lot harder than normal wrestling," he said, adding it was difficult to get traction because his feet sank into the sand when he tried to move his legs. "I think it's more fun, just the atmosphere," he said. "(You're) not wrestling in the regular mat room."
The Osprey Club wasn't the only group taking a long drive to participate. Coach Jim McNeely brought several wrestlers from Portland-area Cleveland High School to partake in the chance to wrestle on sand.
"It's exciting to be part of the first event in the nation," McNeely said as his team warmed up with stretching exercises and some rambunctious antics as they got a feel for grappling in the sand. "It might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
McNeely said he's already heard rumors about a summer league starting.
"It's a great way for us to be involved in wrestling in the off-season," he said, "and keep involved as a team."
Several coaches used the open age limits as an opportunity to show their pupils how it is done, even though for some of them it'd been a long time since they'd been in the ring.
"It's the one chance I get to enter," said Marshfield Mat Club coach Derek Hite. Hite laughed he wasn't sure what to expect, but he'd be OK as long as he didn't get hurt.
Hite said about five of his 5- to 6-year-old students had come to compete and they were all excited. For his students, the season ended in April.
Toni Borgogno, a Coos Bay resident and mother of three entrants, was one of just two women to enter. While the petite blonde with pigtails was eager to wrestle, neither woman had anyone else sign up in her weight class.
"It'd be better if there were girls," Borgogno said enthusiastically, "but I'll beat them anyway!"
Borgogno took the opportunity to do some exhibition wrestling with her sons, something she said she's used to because at home her hugs often come in the form of a headlock.
"I think next year will be better (for beach wrestling)," Hite said, "because there'll be more time to get the kids geared up."
Van Burger said he, too, is already looking ahead to beach wrestling's future. Many were asking when the next event would be, he said, adding he had an inquiry into setting up some sand rings at an upcoming festival in Eugene.
And perhaps the most important thing: "Everybody just seemed to have a good time," he said.
Saturday's winners
The winners of the first-ever Beach Wrestling Championship held at Bullards Beach were:
€ Senior division (light weight) - Doug Samarron, West Linn
€ Senior division (heavy weight) - Alvin Riggs, Osprey
€ Senior division (women) - Toni Borgogno, Marshfield*
€ High school division (light weight) - Chris Light, Cleveland
€ High school division (heavy weight) - Kyle Hunnel, Cleveland
€ High school division (women) - Lauren Van Burger, Marshfield*
€ Kids division (light weight) - Blake Holmes, Coquille
€ Kids division (heavy weight) - Adam Sprague, Osprey
*There was only one entrant in each of the women's divisions.
----------------------------------------
Women's groups, OCR spar over Title IX surveys
By Erik Brady, USA TODAY 5/17/05
WASHINGTON — The culture wars over Title IX are raging again. The rhetoric is familiar, but the particulars are new and the stakes high.
In mid-March, the Bush administration embraced surveys that can be distributed by e-mail as a way for schools to show their sports programs meet the interest and abilities of their female students. Schools that say they find no interest in adding new sports are presumed to comply with the law.
Women's groups cried foul. They accused the U.S. Department of Education of providing schools a loophole to get around Title IX, which bans sex discrimination at schools receiving federal funds.
Education Department officials say the model survey is not a loophole — and may well result in new women's teams.
The culture wars last raged in 2002 and 2003 when a commission named by the administration debated changes to Title IX policy. But all had been mostly quiet since July 2003, when the administration, in effect, rejected commission recommendations, including some on surveys, and reaffirmed longstanding policies on the law's participation requirements.
Then, two months ago, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights provided schools with a blueprint on how interest surveys alone can earn a presumption of compliance.
At its core, the chasm between the OCR and its critics is one of philosophy. Women's groups say opportunity leads to interest and surveys freeze discrimination in place. The OCR says there is no fairer way to measure interest than to ask directly. The courts will decide which side is right if a case comes to trial in the years ahead.
Fundamental disagreement
Courts consistently have backed the position of women's groups in Title IX cases. But in those, courts gave deference to OCR rules. Here women's groups would for the first time argue against OCR regulations. How a court might rule is anybody's guess.
In the meantime, it is too early to know if schools will choose to use the model survey in great numbers. The NCAA Executive Council passed a resolution last month urging schools not to use it.
Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel at the American Council on Education, a group representing colleges, says it is wrong to suggest schools are looking for loopholes. "The spirit of Title IX permeates every college in America," he says. "They want to do the right thing."
Neena Chaudhry, senior counsel for the National Women's Law Center, wants to believe that's true. "But our experience is if you give schools an easy way out, they're likely to take it," she says.
The government and the law center can't even agree on what the OCR's letter is. Chaudhry calls it a fundamental change in Title IX policy. OCR calls it technical assistance to existing policy.
James Manning, who heads the OCR, signed the March 17 clarification letter that began the current controversy. Manning says he loves the law. His daughter walked on the rowing team at Clemson and competed for four years. "She had an opportunity only because of Title IX," he says.
Manning's critics think of surveys as a way to deny interest. He believes surveys often will find it. He says that is because tiny percentages of women or girls who say they have interest in playing a sport can obligate a school to take steps toward adding a team.
For example, he says, a school with several thousand female students might have to look into adding volleyball even if only two dozen or so say on a survey they are interested in playing it.
The raw number needed for sports with smaller rosters, such as golf, would be even less, perhaps only a dozen or so.
"What we're hoping for," Manning says, is "that schools will use (the model survey) as a vehicle to find out whether they're meeting the interest of their students. That's their obligation and I'm quite confident there will be schools that use the survey that will find there is unmet need and they will have to respond."
Manning gives a hypothetical example of a school with 1,000 female students where just 200 respond to an interest survey and just 25 say they want to play volleyball. The school would have an obligation to take further steps, such as organizational meetings and tryouts, which could lead to a new varsity team even if only a dozen or so had the ability to play. Members of a club team might well run an organized campaign to make sure dozens of students express interest. "That's natural," Manning says. "We expect those types of dynamics will be in play."
On the other hand, Manning says, some schools that use the survey "will see that they are providing sufficient opportunities and there is no additional requirement" for them to do more.
Which is just the trouble, according to Jocelyn Samuels, a vice president of the National Women's Law Center. She argues use of interest surveys, absent other criteria, will underestimate women's interest.
"Students who have an interest in playing a certain sport won't go to a school that doesn't have it," Samuels says. "If you do a survey of the students who do come, the common-sense reality is you're not likely to find interest. It is a self-limiting principle."
Interpretations at odds
Title IX became law in 1972. Its underlying policies, including its three-part test of participation requirements that is at issue here, were codified in 1979. Courts have upheld the policies in a series of cases over the years.
The OCR's letter to schools addresses the third part of the test — and, depending on whom you believe, desecrates it or provides guidance on one way to meet it. A school must pass only one part of the three-part test:
•Prong 1: A school's male and female athletes are substantially proportionate to enrollment. (That means if a school is 54% female, about the national average, then about 54% of its athletes should be female.)
•Prong 2: A school has a history and continuing practice of expanding opportunities for female students. (That means if a school has added teams for women or girls recently and over the years, it is probably in compliance, though only for a time.)
•Prong 3: A school can demonstrate that the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex have been fully and effectively accommodated by the present program. (About two-thirds of 130 schools investigated by the OCR over a decade used this method.)
"The requirement is to fully and effectively meet the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex. That's Prong 3 in a nutshell," OCR attorney David Black says. "There is no better way of doing that than putting the question directly to every one of your students and giving them the opportunity to express their interest."
Samuels says there is a better way — the way it has been done in the past. She says schools have long been required to look at a range of factors under the third prong, which could include interest surveys, but which also could include what club sports are played by women on a college campus and what sports are played by girls in high schools from which a college draws.
Black says schools are "only responsible for fully and effectively meeting the interest on campus at the time." Chaudhry says that ignores the reality that varsity athletes are typically recruited, not drawn from the student body.
Schools that choose to use the model survey are required to give it to all female undergraduate students. Eric Pearson, executive director of the College Sports Council, an advocacy group for men's sports, says schools should also be required to survey all male students; the clarification only recommends that. "We're pleased with the clarification" otherwise, he says. "We hope it leads to schools having greater flexibility" to meet the interest of both sexes.
If a survey shows female interest is fully accommodated and male interest is not, schools could add teams for men and still comply under the third prong. "That's a possibility," Manning says. "Yes, indeed."
Court question looms
The OCR's letter tells schools a presumption of compliance can only be overcome by "direct and very persuasive evidence" of unmet interest. Chaudhry says that unfairly shifts the onus from schools to students.
Black says there is no shift — the burden has always been on students or on the OCR. Arthur Coleman, an attorney in Washington who worked for the OCR in the Clinton administration, agrees investigations have long worked that way.
Valerie Bonnette, who once worked at the OCR, runs Good Sports, a consulting firm on Title IX issues. She says she will advise clients not to use the model survey because she does not believe it will hold up if challenged in court.
"The clarification did not go through any level of review outside the agency," she says, "which means it is less persuasive as a legal document."
Black says there was no requirement it be made available for review. He also says he is confident the document "will withstand scrutiny." But he adds, "What a court will or will not do is anyone's best guess."
Gerald Reynolds, former head of the OCR, said at a commission hearing if the OCR instituted "a reasonable survey instrument, then I think a court would bless it."
School choice
Pam Bernard, general counsel of the University of Florida, says her school will continue to employ the broader approach to Prong 3 it uses now.
Manning says he expects many schools to continue with the approach they already feel comfortable using. But, he adds, "We do think this survey is an attractive option for schools to consider."
Jim McCarthy is a policy and public affairs adviser to the College Sports Council, which maintains that Prong 1 is a quota system that hurts male athletes. McCarthy thinks use of the model survey will become widespread among colleges. "We think even if college administrators say they don't want to use it, their legal departments will tell them they should," he says. "It is an additional shield against litigation. We think schools will come to see surveys as the safe side of the street."
Some athletics directors complained at Title IX commission hearings that Prongs 2 and 3 are subjective compared to the by-the-numbers approach of Prong 1. Iowa athletics director Bob Bowlsby, who served on the commission, says he assumes the idea of the clarification is to give schools a more objective way to meet Prong 3. "And I'm in favor of that," he says.