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Kelso School Board discusses girls' wrestling team

By Stephanie Mathieu
Dec 12, 2006 - 06:57:43 am PST

Creating a separate girls' wrestling team at Kelso High School next year could affect the district's equal opportunity requirements and its budget, coaches told district officials Monday night.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) sanctioned the program this fall and plans to create a state champion format for the new sport.

The sanction might have caused the record turnout of female wrestlers in Kelso this year. This season, the team has 17 girls, coach Bobby Freund said. The team typically has one to four females each season.

Freund and assistant coach, Ray Cattin, anticipated the district's athletic department could recognize girls wrestling as early as next year. If they don't, girl wrestlers would still see changes at the championship level because of the new WIAA rule.

The wrestling program is already on a tight budget, and the team spent 28 days fund-raising last year, the coaches said. They predict the female players will cost the program nearly $3,500 once athletic gear and tournament fees are calculated.

"There was such a huge jump in the numbers of girls," Cattin said. "The biggest issue right now is just the fact that it's cost a lot of money to get this going."

The district is in the process of hiring two new coaches for the wrestling program. In the mean time, Erinn Morton voluntarily coaches the 17 girls. But skyrocketing participation is a good problem to have, Cattin said. The district can either keep up with the interest of girl wrestlers or find itself scrambling to adjust later.

A separate girls wrestling program could positively affect the district's Title IX numbers, which require a certain male-to-female ratio for sports participation, Superintendent Glenys Hill said. Title IX was created through 1972 legislation that prohibits sexual discrimination in academics and athletics at schools.

The district has had trouble in the past attracting enough female athletes and added a girls' bowling league this year.

"They're serious about what they're doing," Freund said of the female wrestlers. "They work very, very hard."

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Well
wrote on December 12, 2006 10:13 AM:
"I think its cool they are having this chance BUT where is the boy;s Volleyball team? Where is Kelso's boys Bowling Team?"

L.W.
wrote on December 12, 2006 10:43 AM:
"Why couldn't the girls fundraise? If the funraiser is put on right it can bring in some big bucks! And well is right where are the other boy's teams? They have every right to play the sports they want to also!"

Please read carefully
wrote on December 12, 2006 11:23 AM:
"To "Well" - You should probably read more carefully before embarrassing yourself with already answered questions. In order to even up the number of girls participating in sports with the number of boys participating in sports, girls wrestling and bowling were added. The number of sports doesn't have to be equal, just the number of boys and girls participating."

I Love Title IX
wrote on December 12, 2006 11:48 AM:
"Well you dont get to add boys sports you just get to add girls sports and girls numbers because of title IX you have to try and have the same number of girls playing as boys and you hae to spend the same amount on girls as boys it has nothing to do wo=ith the fact that all girls sports loss money and are supportted by boys footballand basketball revenues. Title IX is all about remales being equal not sports being fair."

Well
wrote on December 12, 2006 2:40 PM:
"To please read carefully. I can say the same of you. My point is not about IX, it is not about equal number girls playing sports as it is boys. My point is, they all talk fairness about letting girls be allowed to play boys sports. I never see anyone let boys play girls sports, such as volleyball, oh and lets even go down to youth baseball, girls play baseball, but you don't see the boys getting to play softball. That is what I am talking about."

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Hes Memorial wrestling event still thriving

By TERRY CARTER
For The Chronicle 12/13/06

This year's Doc Hes Memorial Classic wrestling tournament promises to flood Bryan High School with more than 1,000 wrestlers.

It is quite a contrast to the first event 10 years ago, which attracted nine teams, according to Bryan coach Mike Zito.

Forty-three teams and nearly 1,400 wrestlers are expected to compete in Saturday's event, ranking it as one of Texas' largest annual high school wrestling tournaments.

Houston powers The Woodlands, Klein, Cinco Ranch and Cy-Fair along with Bryan and San Antonio Madison are among the top schools participating.

The event is made up of four tournaments, one each for varsity boys, varsity girls, junior varsity and first-year wrestlers.

The Doc Hes Memorial Classic name replaced the more generic Viking Invitational in 2001, after Bryan High School trainer and wrestling supporter Scott Hes died of a heart attack on campus just days before the tournament.

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Woody featured in Sports Illustrated in full-page photo in Faces in the Crowd special edition

Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
12/13/2006

Nicole Woody of Odenton, Md., a 2006 Junior World champion in women’s wrestling, was featured with a full-page photo on page 8 of the December 15 issue of Sports Illustrated.

This special edition was entitled “50 Years of Faces in the Crowd.” The entire issue focused on what SI calls its “most enduring feature.”

Woody is shown tripping a male opponent for a takedown finish in a photo by Simon Bruty.

The Faces In the Crowd feature concerning Woody said this:

“Nicole, a junior at Arundel High, won the junior world championship in women’s freestyle wrestling in Guatemala City after beating Diana Piza of Ecuador, 4-0, 3-2 in the title bout at the 97-pound class. In July, she won her third straight title at the junior women’s national championship and was named the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler.”

Wrestling is also mentioned in a state-by-state section on pages 46-47. The segment is concerning Oklahoma and says:

“Oklahoma State has won 34 national team wrestling titles, and the state had 20 wrestlers in FACES, fifth most behind Pennsylvania (49), Michigan (32), Ohio (26) and California (30).”

The photo shown is of 1960 Olympic champion Terry McCann, who was training in Tulsa when he was chosen for FACES. (Ironically, McCann attended Iowa in college).

Wrestling has been one of the most prominent sports in the FACES feature during the 50 years, No. 9 among all sports that were included in this program.

The top 10 sports of all time in Sports Illustrated’s Faces In the Crowd are:
1. Track and Field, 1,980
2. Basketball, 1,124
3. Golf, 1,016
4. Football, 991
5. Baseball, 962
6. Swimming, 874
7. Tennis, 840
8. Soccer, 631
9. Wrestling, 514
10. Bowling, 441

A total of 233 sports have been represented, including many “pastimes such as Beer Barrel Throwing, Marble Shooting and Swamp Buggying.”

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South Cariboo wrestler takes competition to the mats

By Arlene Jongbloets
Free Press staff
Dec 13 2006

Local wrestler Marina Dykstra pins her competition at the Williams Lake Fall Brawl.

Tossing her mom around down in the basement is where you’ll often find 12-year-old, Marina Dykstra.

It’s not that she’s a bully or a mean-spirited young girl.

Marina is actually a female wrestler and one of the best in the area. With a shortage of competition close at hand to practice with, Marina has to make use of who’s available and her mother, Donri, just happens to be the one closest to her size and willing to take the punishment.

“We have a wrestling mat in the basement and I’ll let her throw me around for practice. It’s better than trying to toss Dad,” laughed Donri.

While Marina trains twice a week with the Williams Lake Wrestling Club, the extra work-

outs at her 108 Mile home help her keep up a competitive edge.

She recently came away from her last match, the Fall Brawl, held Dec. 2 in Williams Lake, with a gold medal finish. It was a big win because of the three opponents she faced, Marina was the youngest, with one being two years her senior.

“It was tough and she had to work for it,” said Donri. “She used the techniques and moves she’d been taught and did well with the leg shots. She’s also competitive and very strong, with a good drive.”

Donri said her daughter is used to being on the podium, with only two losses recorded last season and if she keeps at it, there may be an even bigger podium in her future.

“There is Olympic female competition and I think she could get there,” said Donri.

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Kids in Sports: Who Did Themselves Proud

Douglas E. Abrams
special to NewsChannel 32
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

They continue to make headlines: parents facing jail time for assaulting coaches, referees or other parents at games for children as young as 6. Some observers take these incidents as evidence that participation in sports actually can damage the character of children as they grow up.

I disagree. After coaching for nearly 40 years, I know that most parents and the adults who supervise kids in sports successfully teach fair play and instill good values through athletic competition. My annual "Top 10" list profiles youth athletes who demonstrated these values from coast to coast in 2006:

10. Sophomore Aaron Boss lost in the finals to Michaela Hutchison, the first girl to win an Alaska state high school wrestling title against boys. "I don't look at it as losing to a girl," said Boss. "I lost to a wrestler."

9. The South County (Va.) Raptors football team was disqualified from the playoffs after the league commissioner fired the team's coach. The coach's offense? Shifting the commissioner's son from defense to offense for a game. "I own the league," the commissioner reportedly said, and "the entire league exists so he can play defense."

The commissioner offered to hire another coach so the team could compete in the playoffs, but the kids rejected the offer. According to 13-year-old linebacker Michael Holland, the fired coach "is nice. He listens." The commissioner subsequently backed down, rehiring the coach (and his staff) for the playoffs.

8. Freshman distance runner Sarah Lopez of Hacienda Heights (Calif.) was named the winner of a high school race after the initial winner was disqualified for cutting her off. But Lopez knew that the fault for the incident was hers, so she gave her medal to the disqualified opponent. Said Lopez' coach: "Kids will make the right decision" when given the opportunity.

7. The Roberson High School (N.C.) boys' soccer team scored an apparent goal to defeat a rival battling them for the conference title. But when Roberson players told their coach that the ball actually never crossed the goal line, the coach declined the goal, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. "I'd rather have a tie than win on an unfair call," said John Mitchell, the student who took the shot.

6. Drew Cvancara disqualified himself from his North Dakota high school's regional golf tournament by reporting that his recorded score of six on one hole should have been a seven because he hit out of bounds twice. If the senior had remained silent, he would have qualified for the state tournament by one stroke.

5. Teams of the Central Missouri Eagles Youth Hockey Association - I serve as their coaching director - collected hundreds of stuffed animals and delivered them, one by one, to hospitalized, abused and neglected children. The Eagles "play to win," said 12-year-old Haley Bartow, "but we also play to help other kids out."

The Jefferson City-based Eagles received an "Honor the Game" award from the national Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University and a special proclamation from the Missouri Legislature on the floor of the state House of Representatives.

4. Senior Kevin Pawlos, an honors student and hockey all-star at Bishop Canevin High School near Pittsburgh, won a $500 scholarship for his athletic accomplishments. He donated the money to his coach, whose wife had just given birth to a disabled child.

3. Adam Callahan, a varsity wrestler at Carlisle High School in Ohio, also plays soccer and tennis. Born with dwarfism, he stands 4 feet, 8 inches tall. When he was 12, he declined surgery to make him taller because "this is the way God made me."

2. After winning a tournament, the Whitestown (N.Y.) Wolfpack pee wee hockey team voted unanimously to send its trophy and a sympathy card signed by the 11- to 12-year-olds to a team that had withdrawn from the tournament a week earlier after one of its players died.

1. Eleven Centralia High School (Ill.) varsity football players were working on a community recyling project when a pickup truck slid off a hydraulic lift at the store where they were collecting used tires. A mechanic was trapped underneath. The players lifted the multi-ton vehicle off the man, saving his life. Player Travis Patten dismissed suggestions that they were heroes. "If I was in that spot," he said, "someone would have done it for me."

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Sarah Lopez's coach is right about kids making honorable choices, but those choices are result of values instilled in them by millions of parents and coaches. Those adults join the children as quiet heroes of youth sports for 2006.

Douglas E. Abrams, a law professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia, also serves on the expert panel of the Center for Sports Parenting at the University of Rhode Island.

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NewsChannel 32 wants to know about your team or player who's shown exceptional sportsmanship on or off the field. Fill out this form and the best will be featured on our newscasts.