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Western wrestler Terri McNutt hasn't lost to an Ontario University Athletics opponent in four years.
By JIM CRESSMAN, FREE PRESS SPORTS REPORTER
London, Ontario, CANADA Thu, February 2, 2006
The slogan "take no prisoners" could be pinned on Terri McNutt.
The native of Joyceville --home of a medium security prison -- has done just that during her five years of university wrestling with the Western Mustangs.
The 23-year-old graduate nursing student has not lost to an Ontario University Athletics opponent in four years. She's won three straight OUA championships in the 55-kilogram class, with a bronze medal at the 2005 Canadian championships and a silver the year before.
"People find it interesting when they find out you wrestle, but people in general don't understand this wrestling, they think you do WWE," McNutt said yesterday as the Mustangs prepared for the annual Western Open on Saturday at Alumni Hall.
With a background in martial arts as a youngster, she got into wrestling in Grade 9. "The school offered women's wrestling and there's a lot that's related to martial arts -- the individual aspect and the competition part of it and knowing everything that happens stems from how hard you work, instead of relying on other people."
She's done well. Besides her success with Western, she's also been involved with the national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2003 Commonwealth championships in London.
At Christmas, she trained with the national team at a U.S. Olympic training centre near San Diego. "We had some friendly matches against U.S. wrestlers. We don't have anything like that up here, unfortunately. It was good training," McNutt said.
Mustangs coach Ray Takahashi, in his 20th year after wrestling for Western and a three-time Olympian, said McNutt has the perfect makeup to be an international competitor.
"She doesn't like to lose," he said. "One of her best qualities is she has a really good head for wrestling. She has a good upper body and she likes to throw and she knows how to pin, so she can win.
"Terri graduates this year, but her plan is to continue and be part of the national program because in wrestling, your peaking age is the late 20s.
"If you really want to reach your potential, you have to stay in it. We've got to get her more international meets."
Takahashi said women's wrestling took off in the late 1980s when the Canadian Wrestling Association made a commitment to the program. "Canada is one of the most pro-active nations," he said. "We're top four in the world in women's wrestling.
"We treat them the same, they work out with us in practice and that's why women's wrestling is the quality it is. In some ways they're more technical and many of them are very aggressive."
McNutt, who has dropped to the 51-kilo class this year, enjoys training with the men. "Some of the smaller guys are good training partners. Ray is good to train with, too. It's nice to have a coach who's my size. Sometimes with the conflicts I have with school and work, I'll come in and practice with him early."
McNutt commutes from Brantford, where she lives with her boyfriend of five years, Victor McLean. He's a firefighter in Oakville. "He's a hockey player. He's an athlete, so can understand what it's about," she said.
The Western Open, which begins at 9:30 a.m., is attracting competitors from Brock, Guelph, McMaster, Toronto, Queen's, Lakehead, Concordia, McGill and the University of New Brunswick, as well as top-calibre U.S. women's club teams from Kentucky and Missouri.
The OUA championships are Feb. 18 at Lakehead in Thunder Bay, with the CIS championships March 5-6 at Brock in St. Catharines.
McNutt will then attend the Canadian Wrestling Association championships in May, where placements will determine national team berths. She hopes to do a lot of international wrestling.
"I've got a few years ahead of me. I've got to do a lot of training, but I still have some time."
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Girls no longer on the sidelines
By Eve Hightower/Appeal-Democrat 2/2/06
When a girl slams a guy to the ground, nowadays her parents cheer proudly - as long as she's shoving his face into a wrestling mat.
But athletes like wrestler Ariel Green, who will take her muscle and skill to the girls' state wrestling championship this week, would be confined to the stands were it not for a vital federal law called Title IX, passed 34 years ago, which was celebrated Wednesday at the Capitol in Sacramento.
Former Yuba College volleyball coach Carol Jean Bordsen recalled the pre-Title IX era with the story of an athletic little girl who used to watch her brothers play baseball on the same team as Bordsen's son.
“She hung on the stands and watched, and you could tell she wanted to be out there too,” Bordsen said. “That doesn't happen anymore - girls like her just hanging on a fence.”
State legislators reaffirmed their support of Title IX - which prohibits discrimination in schools' sports departments on the basis of sex or sexual orientation - by signing the 20th annual resolution in its favor this week.
“We must continue to encourage women of all ages to compete and contribute to sports at every level of competition and recreation,” said Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, as she celebrated the 20th National Girls and Women in Sports Day with athletes like Nwamaka Agbo, who runs track at the University of California, Davis.
Agbo said Title IX's benefits extend beyond the playing field as it has helped girls grow into strong, healthy, intelligent women.
“The mental strength combined with the physical conditioning showed me just what I could achieve if I really set my mind to it,” she said. “As an athlete, I've learned what dedication and drive can achieve for a person that truly wants it.”
Research suggests that girls who participate in sports are more likely to experience academic success and graduate from high school than those who do not, according to the Women's Sports Foundation.
A 1997 NCAA study for Division I, showed women student-athletes graduate at a higher rate (68 percent) than women students in general (58 percent).
“Not only are they more confident, but in some schools, girls out-shine guys,” said River Valley High School Athletics Director Tom Zaragoza.
Bordsen, who coached volleyball at Yuba College from 1962 to 1986, said athletes have gotten better.
“Girls are much more skilled than when we started,” Bordsen said.
Mary Ann Harrison, who has coached several sports during her 36 years at Wheatland High School, said girls' attitudes toward competition has also changed.
“They just wanted to play in the beginning. Now, they are more competitive,” she said. “Nowadays, girls come in saying they want a scholarship.”
Scott Turner, Sutter High School's athletics director, said girls are more focused on honing their skills.
“More girls are specializing. Volleyball players are playing club volleyball now. They're not all going on to play basketball. That's happening with soccer, too,” Turner said.
When she was in school, Harrison did not see the sort of aggressive competitors who play today.
“There was no such thing; we didn't compete in sports,” the Oroville High School graduate said. “Title IX finally put us in line with the men.”
Harrison said she did not find it too difficult to get Wheatland High in compliance with Title IX, but some schools lagged.
“I didn't feel I had to fight. My school was very supportive. But a lot of other high schools didn't even follow Title IX,” she said. “I can tell you schools that didn't allow girls to play. It took a long time to wake up to change.”
Harrison said boys' attitudes toward girls have changed since Title IX became law.
“Guys have more respect for young ladies and cheer for them,” she said.
While girls' and women's programs have expanded, they are still wrestling for equality, Oropeza said.
The California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance released a list of goals Wednesday for 2011.
Those goals include schools hiring more female coaches, game officials and athletic officials; equitable media coverage for female athletes; and full compliance with Title IX.
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Girl wrestler in a boys' world
Flowing Wells High School's Carly Siewerth, 15, is a 103-pound dynamo
By Kimberly Matas arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.02.2006
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Scrappy 103-pound Flowing Wells High freshman Carly Siewerth, 15, just wrapped up a season of takedowns, reversals and escapes as the only female member of the Caballeros wrestling team.
She spent part of the season wrestling at the varsity level, finishing with a 5-4 varsity record. At the state freshman championships in Cottonwood last Saturday, she won one of her three matches.
"I know she would have liked to have (had) more wins," Flowing Wells wrestling coach John Kneup said of the state tourney. "It was a close match until she got pinned in that last match.
Yet, he said, "she and I both know she gives it her all every time."
Siewerth started wrestling last year on a dare from a friend when she was an eighth-grader at Flowing Wells Junior High. Her friend's parents wouldn't let her join the team, but Sie-werth said her parents gave their permission.
"We said, 'Let her do it,' and now we're as hooked as she is," her mother, Val Siewerth, said. "We always go to all the kids' events — all their sporting things and whatnot. Her first meet was a meet in Benson. The first time on the mat, she pinned a kid."
Siewerth is the first girl Kneup has coached in his six years with the Flowing Wells program.
"Because I never had a girl on the team, I was a little apprehensive," he said. "After a couple of days, I realized there wasn't going to be any problem. She does everything the boys do and I didn't have to do anything differently.
"She wrestled at the junior high," he said. "She's a pretty quick study. She learned things quickly. She picked it up."
Siewerth has played other sports. She was on the volleyball team earlier this school year and will try out for softball in the spring. But with wrestling, "I enjoyed the competitiveness," she said.
Coaches at the junior high said it's not unusual to have a girl on their team, but most don't stick with the sport the way Siewerth has.
"We tend to have at least one girl every year the last few years," said one of the junior high coaches, Todd Auternreith.
"Sometimes the girls take it seriously and sometimes they are here for other reasons," he said. "Carly is a dedicated athlete and she's dedicated to all the sports she's played. She's very coachable. She does what we tell her to do, which helps her be successful. She's always working hard and giving it her best effort."
Carl Corona, who's been coaching wrestling at Flowing Wells Junior High for 31 years, said it's smarts in addition to skills that have made Siewerth successful.
"What helped her out is, she's very intelligent, she works at it. She's a good kid, works hard, is intelligent, athletic and has great support from her parents, which all equals a good kid nowadays."
Siewerth said she plans to compete on the high school team as a sophomore and will continue wrestling throughout this year with a club team at Flowing Wells, Arizona USA Wrestling, organized by Flowing Wells assistant coach Dan Garcia. The team travels to state and national tournaments from March through August.
Senior Steven Prior and freshman Leland Mason have both run wrestling drills with Siewerth.
"I was kind of worried about how she'd react, but she wrestles with high intensity and never gives up," Prior said. "I was surprised how determined she was and never stopped."
Mason wrestled for the first time this season and said Siewerth "beat me pretty badly."
"She's really flexible," he said, "so it's hard to do some of the moves we get taught on her."
But Siewerth also helped Mason work on his own moves.
"She really helped me out when I was brand new. She taught me a lot of stuff, basic technique, helping me get it down," he said.
Siewerth's one weakness was her limited upper-body strength, Kneup said, but she worked on that throughout the season.
"The one problem with her is her upper body and her back. ... She's not as strong as some of the boys. That's been her biggest problem this year," said Kneup, who opened the school's weight room at 6 p.m. twice a week so his wrestlers could pump iron.
"She was always there," Kneup said. "There've been several times it's just been the two of us lifting weights."
Carly is " always giving it her best effort," says one of the junior high coaches.
Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star
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Girl wrestler? No big deal, boys say
13-year-old would have made headlines in my day, but times change.
Jim PfifferFebruary 1, 2006
JIM PFIFFER/Star-Gazette |
This was supposed to be a column about a 13-year-old girl breaking gender barriers to wrestle on the boys team at Broadway Middle School in Southport.
That plot hasn't changed, but the story has taken unexpected turns, leading to a surprise ending for the author.
This is a story about Emily Buck, a 13-year-old Pine City girl who loves staying in shape and playing sports - soccer, swimming and track. She acknowledges she's a terrible basketball player, but she wanted to do a winter sport. Wrestling was the only option.
Emily joined the team eight weeks ago and posted a 3-9-2 season record. Her last match was Saturday at a tournament with 260 wrestlers. Emily was the only girl. She lost 8-6, but it was her best match of the season, says her dad, Dave Buck, a local wrestling coach of 30 years.
Emily is the first girl to wrestle at Broadway and one of a few Elmira girls to wrestle, period, say coaches.
That was the reason for the column - an 85-pound girl making gender history and proving that girls can compete with the boys.
To do that, Emily would battle sexist stereotypes and unfair treatment. Wrestling a girl is a no-win match for a boy. He's expected to win. If he defeats her soundly, he's a bully. Worse, wrestling moves put hands in intimate areas. How can a boy treat a girl like a guy on the mats?
Guess what? Most of those assumptions are old school - acquired some 35 years ago when this writer was a high school wrestler and coed sports were nonexistent.
Times changed. Boys and girls have been competing against each other for two generations.
"Ten years ago, her gender would have been a big issue," says Emily's father. "Kids are more accepting about it than adults. Adults are living by the old rules, not the kids."
That's why a few coaches and parents whined about their boys wrestling a girl, says Emily's coach, Tom Wilson.
"But I never heard any of the kids talk about it," Wilson adds.
Emily is a member of the wrestling team - no more, no less. Yes, the boys had concerns about wrestling a girl.
"I thought I would have to be careful so I wouldn't hurt her," says John Chilson, a 13-year-old, 75-pound eighth-grader and one of Emily's practice partners. "Not any more. I just wrestle her. She's pretty good."
Emily has the same concerns about injuring opponents and worries about intimate holds. Those fears evaporate when the match begins. If they spend time worrying about appropriate holds, they'll get pinned.
Emily knows she has much to learn. She was pinned in seconds in her first match. She lost the next four, too, then tied the fifth and won her sixth match.
"Some days you go home after a tough practice, you're frustrated and want to say you're done," Emily says. "But then you go back the next day and you do OK."
Emily expects her male opponents to wrestle hard. Some of them don't want to lose to an opponent with a long red ponytail. Not all the sexist fears are gone.
Emily appreciates a tough match.
"It makes me a better wrestler," she says.
She passed the boys wrestling physical fitness test and lifted weights all season with her team. Although she lacked the upper body strength generic to most males, she made up for it in speed, technique and flexibility.
"I can touch my nose to my knee," she explains. "Most boys can't do that."
While friends support her, Emily doesn't see herself as a pioneer expected to do her best.
"I try hard in all sports," Emily explains.
She's trying a sport that has lost popularity in Elmira since the 1990s, Buck says. Before then, the Southside and Elmira Free Academy high school matches were standing-room-only. Both schools had junior varsity and varsity teams. Today the two schools combine to field one Elmira varsity team.
Wrestling is a tough individual sport. There's no one to pass the ball to when you get in trouble.
Interest has improved the last few years, Buck says. Emily is trying to convince her girlfriends to go out for the team.
What will really rescue wrestling will be enough girls to form all-female teams, and enough public support to finance them.
Women's wrestling became an Olympic sport in 2004, and a handful of colleges have all-women teams and scholarships.
Emily is making a difference - in herself and the sport. And the sexist misconceptions of an old columnist.
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Shuriah Niazi 2/3/06
Fatima Bano is fighting all odds to continue as a wrestling coach...
Fatima Bano, 32, is that rare Indian woman who teaches wrestling to young children and teenagers. However, her journey as a wrestling coach has not been an easy one.
Bhopal-based Fatima, who was fond of sports since childhood, won three national medals in kabaddi — a male-dominated sport. It was her kabaddi coach who advised her to learn wrestling. However, her parents were very critical of her learning a `man's game'. Fatima went ahead anyway in 1997 and trained as a wrestler in Patiala. She later participated in various national and international competitions and won awards. She learnt all the tricks in wrestling from her coach, Shakir Noor, who encouraged women wrestlers; it was he who encouraged Fatima to take up full-time coaching.
However, her family, which lives in a middle-class, Muslim-dominated neighbourhood, saw no future in wrestling. In 2003, Fatima managed to get some land for an akhara (ring) from the government and invited apprentices. The government also gave her Rs 4,000 per month as salary to run the akhara. She coaches the children for free.
Fatima admits that women do not get any support from their family in a game like wrestling. Yet her family's opposition and shortage of money have not prevented her from nurturing big dreams.
Currently, 10 teenagers and young children, including two girls, are learning the nuances of the sport from Fatima, who says it feels good to see girls practising in the ring. Women have to constantly fight against odds to take up this sport, which is dominated by men, she adds.
Ansar, 15, Fatima's student, says that he has not only learnt wrestling from her, but has also become more confident as a fighter. Another student, Adib, 16, says he has learnt "hundreds of techniques" from Fatima. "These techniques will be helpful in other countries too."
One of her girl students, Aditi, started learning wrestling only as a self-defence mechanism. But today, she wants to bring laurels to her country in this field. Fatima has also coached players in the US, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
For her friends, Fatima is just like anybody else, except that she maintains a strict routine of exercise, diet and coaching, and is dressed in a track-suit. Her friend, Seema Rehman, says: "What I like about her is the fact that she feels proud to be a wrestler and enjoys her profession."
Fatima is the third among four girls and a son. Her father, Syed Nasirullah, does not want his daughter to continue with the game. "She has earned nothing from this game. She has invested money from her own pocket. She should now settle down like her sisters," he frowns.
Although Fatima was presented with the Vikram Award in 2001 — which is the State Government's highest honour in sports — not many opportunities have come her way in terms of competitions or assignments. Her monthly salary is not enough to run her akhara. She says she can "train the students better if I get more money or help from the government."
Fatima believes that there is ample scope for both boys and girls in wrestling, and is confident that some day she will produce a player of international class from her akhara.